Latest news with #ExecutiveEducation
Trade Arabia
03-06-2025
- Business
- Trade Arabia
London Business School to start open education programme in Riyadh
London Business School has announced the launch of its first open executive education programme in Saudi Arabia, which will be offered at the new Executive Office in Riyadh. The move follows the college's global recognition and inclusion among the world's best executive education providers, according to the recently released Financial Times Executive Education 2025 ranking. LBS has been ranked among the world's leading providers of Executive Education in the newly released 2025 Financial Times Executive Education Rankings. Announcing this, LBS said the programmes will commence in the 2025–2026 academic year and aim to support the kingdom's priorities for economic diversification, innovation, and leadership capability in line with Saudi Vision 2030. This announcement follows the School's commitment, shared in April, to open an office in Riyadh dedicated to advancing human capability and leadership development in the region These new Riyadh programmes represent the next phase in LBS's regional strategy, building on the School's established presence in Dubai and its long-standing engagement with Gulf organisations and executives. Helen Kirkentzis, Assistant Dean of Executive Education and General Manager at Riyadh Office, said: "We are delighted to be acknowledged by our clients and participants for the impact of our programmes on leaders globally. Our success is driven by our dedicated faculty, staff and learning partners, and the high standards of our participants." "Launching our open programmes in Riyadh strengthens our commitment to supporting leaders and working more closely with our partners in Saudi Arabia and the wider region," she stated. According to LBS, three new programs will contribute to the development of leadership skills in Saudi Arabia. These are: *Women in Leadership: Empowering women executives with the skills to lead confidently, supporting Saudi Arabia's ambition to increase female participation in the workforce. *Leading Teams for Emerging Leaders: Equipping rising leaders with strategies to build high-performing teams and drive organisational success in a dynamic economic environment. *Next Level Leadership: Providing senior executives with advanced tools to navigate complexity, align with Vision 2030's priorities, and lead transformative change. The launch of the new programs in Riyadh marks the next phase of the college's regional strategy, which builds on its established presence in Dubai and its long-standing partnership with institutions and executives in the Gulf region. London Business School has once again been recognised as one of the world's leading executive education providers by the Financial Times Open Executive Education Rankings 2025, the fifth consecutive year that the school has strengthened its position in these prestigious global rankings. Florin Vasfari, Executive Dean of Executive Education in the Middle East and General Manager at the Riyadh Office, said: "Launching our first programmes in Riyadh is a natural next step as we deepen our long-term partnership with Saudi Arabia and the Gulf."
Zawya
02-06-2025
- Business
- Zawya
London Business School to launch first programmes in Riyadh as school is ranked first globally in the FT Executive Education open programme rankings 2025
LBS secures top global positions in the 2025 Financial Times Executive Education Rankings, placing first worldwide in Open Programmes and second in Custom Programmes LBS has also seen a significant rise in participation from Saudi executives in its open enrolment Executive Education programmes in recent years, growing by more than 250% in just four years RIYADH, Saudi Arabia: London Business School (LBS) has today been ranked among the world's leading providers of Executive Education in the newly released 2025 Financial Times Executive Education Rankings. Building on this global recognition, LBS announced the launch of its first Executive Education open programmes in Saudi Arabia, which will be delivered in the new executive office in Riyadh. The programmes will commence in the 2025–2026 academic year and aim to support the Kingdom's priorities for economic diversification, innovation, and leadership capability in line with Saudi Vision 2030. This announcement follows the School's commitment, shared in April, to open an office in Riyadh dedicated to advancing human capability and leadership development in the region. The new Riyadh programmes represent the next phase in LBS's regional strategy, building on the School's established presence in Dubai and its long-standing engagement with Gulf organisations and executives. Reflecting on the School's latest recognition, Helen Kerkentzes, Associate Dean of Executive Education and General Manager, Riyadh office, said, 'We are delighted to be acknowledged by our clients and participants for the impact of our programmes on leaders globally. Our success is driven by our dedicated faculty, staff and learning partners, and the high standards of our participants. Launching our open programmes in Riyadh strengthens our commitment to supporting leaders and working more closely with our partners in Saudi Arabia and the wider region.' Professor Florin Vasvari, Executive Dean of Executive Education, Middle East and General Manager, Riyadh office said, 'Launching our first programmes in Riyadh is a natural next step as we deepen our long-term partnership with Saudi Arabia and the Gulf. We are proud to support the human capital behind the Kingdom's transformation driven by Vision 2030, equipping leaders and organisations with the skills and perspective to thrive in a rapidly changing world.' Three New Programmes to Advance Leadership in the Kingdom Launching in the coming academic year, the following open programmes will be delivered in Riyadh: Women in Leadership: Empowering women executives with the skills to lead confidently, supporting Saudi Arabia's ambition to increase female participation in the workforce. Leading Teams for Emerging Leaders: Equipping rising leaders with strategies to build high-performing teams and drive organisational success in a dynamic economic environment. Next Level Leadership: Providing senior executives with advanced tools to navigate complexity, align with Vision 2030's priorities, and lead transformative change. Programmes will be in-person and are designed for leaders across all sectors. Global Recognition in the 2025 Financial Times Executive Education Rankings London Business School has once again been recognised as one of the world's leading providers of Executive Education in the Financial Times (FT) 2025 Executive Education Open and Custom rankings. This marks the fifth consecutive year that LBS has improved its position in these prestigious global rankings. In the latest results, LBS achieved the number one spot worldwide for Open Executive Education Programmes, rising from second place last year. The School's open programmes ranked first globally for 'quality of participants. The School attracts world class, diverse participants, and equips them with the future ready skills they need to lead, which highlights the unique calibre and impact of their community. LBS's Custom Executive Education Programmes also saw a significant rise, climbing five places to second globally, and ranked first for 'New Skills & Learning'. LBS is the only business school to be ranked in the top three for both the FT Open and Custom Executive Education Rankings in 2025, reflecting the depth and relevance of their tailored learning experiences. With the opening of its Riyadh office and its established Dubai campus, London Business School is strengthening its regional presence to meet the evolving needs of Gulf organisations. The School continues to invest in executive education that supports the Gulf's vision for knowledge-based, inclusive, and sustainable growth. About London Business School London Business School's vision is to have a profound impact on the way the world does business and the way business impacts the world. The School is widely acknowledged as a centre for outstanding research. As well as its highly ranked degree programmes, the School offers award-winning Executive Education programmes to business leaders from around the world. As well as its main campus in London, London Business School has a campus in Dubai, and a presence in three additional international cities: New York, Hong Kong and Shanghai. The School equips its diverse student body with the tools needed to tackle today's business challenges and connects them with many of the world's leading thinkers. The School has more than 53,000 alumni working in more than 157 countries. Together, they are a community defined by a wealth of knowledge, business experience and worldwide networking opportunities. London Business School's 259 faculty members come from over 30 countries. They cover seven subject areas: accounting, economics, finance, management science and operations, marketing, organisational behaviour, and strategy and entrepreneurship.
Forbes
22-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
High-Performing Teams Aren't Born – They're Led
By Hilde Rosenboom, Executive Education, ESMT Berlin In one of our ESMT programs for emerging leaders, young leaders participate in the tower building exercise. Assigned to construction teams and given building blocks, we ask them to construct the tallest possible tower. One team member is the designated leader – they may direct the team, but not touch the blocks. The team's builders may not speak. After a set time, we measure the towers. The teams that build the tallest towers perform the best. In the second round, leaders must leave their teams. Leaderless and silent, the builders continue. Surprisingly, some teams perform better – building taller towers – without their leaders. You probably won't doubt that organizations benefit from capable leaders. But what exactly can leaders do to enhance their teams' performance? Shot of a group of businesspeople stacking building blocks together in an office In uncertain times, organizations often revert to familiar strategies –focusing on individual performance, efficiency, returning to the office, or protecting the status quo. 'Never change a running system' becomes the guiding principle. But which of these beliefs are actually supported by science? And are there overlooked, evidence-based levers for improving team performance? It's time to put the leadership toolbox to the test. There is a vast array of frameworks, theories, and studies describing the dimensions crucial to team performance. Their sheer volume suggests it is empirically and theoretically nearly impossible to pinpoint where high performance originates and what leaders can do to achieve it. That's not surprising when you consider how hard it is to define 'high performance.' A high-performing team is one that consistently delivers exceptional results – relative to comparable teams. This definition shows how context-dependent high performance is and underscores the critical role of leadership. Leaders must develop their own context-specific understanding of what high performance and team excellence looks like. Despite the complexity, research findings and frameworks can be clustered into three key dimensions that leaders can focus on to improve team performance. The first dimension: a compelling direction with shared vision and goals. Mission statements and team goals are often carefully crafted to avoid disagreement, which can make them uninspiring. Yet, teamwork is necessary for pursuing goals that cannot be achieved alone – and a team is only as good as its goals. One key to team success is their continuous engagement with overarching goals, interpreting what they mean in different situations. This sense-making process creates clarity, enabling team members to make better decisions on their own. A hand places a wooden cube with "T" next to other cubes, spelling out SMART, standing for Specific, ... More Achievable, Measurable, Realistic and Timely concepts. While 'SMART' goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-bound) are often cited as best practice, most goals don't – and shouldn't – meet all five criteria. That's why smart goals are really quite dumb. As psychology has shown, people are more inspired to pursue something than to prevent something. Motivation mainly comes from seeing progress, not only from reaching final goals. Learning goals are more motivating than performance goals – growth matters more than numbers when it comes to motivation. Not all goals need to be quantitative. Stretch goals – ambitious targets – are more motivating than aiming for a minimum goal or a goal that is certainly achievable. The second dimension: a strong team characterized by high psychological safety. In our programs, leaders can assess the level of psychological safety in their teams. According to Amy Edmonson, the Harvard professor and researcher who coined the term, psychological safety is the belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes. Assessment results often land in the middle range, with leaders frequently astonished by how much room there is for improvement. The absence of psychological safety is not easily spotted – it shows most in what teams don't do: They don't disagree, propose unusual ideas, or raise difficult questions. They remain silent. Yet, psychological safety is one of the most powerful levers for high-performing teams. Google's Project Aristotle found that the most critical variable for team success wasn't individual talent or team composition, but psychological safety. Team performance exceeds the sum of individual performers when psychological safety is high. That's why overemphasizing individual performance diminishes team performance. The third dimension: a supportive work environment with the right resources, information, and space for reflection. The 'sandwich feedback' approach (praise – critique – praise) is so familiar that most people see through it: the praise merely cushions the critique. This exposes a broader issue: feedback usually follows problems, not successes, and often targets individuals rather than teams. But it pays off to give and solicit feedback on team performance, after both successful and unsuccessful efforts. Accounting for the whole team's perspective, not just individuals, can uncover additional levers to improve team performance. When a team reflects together, leaders can more easily identify ways to improve the team's work environment or structure. Cropped shot of two businesspeople stacking wooden blocks together in an office While leadership may seem redundant in some tightly constrained situations – as the tower exercise suggests – leaders are far from optional when it comes to sustained high performance. They play a defining role in shaping what performance means, motivating teams through meaningful and challenging goals, fostering a psychologically safe environment, and enabling learning, growth, and feedback. High performance is never a fixed formula. It requires leaders to adapt continuously to context, challenge assumptions about what works, and use research-backed tools to reflect on and fine-tune their leadership approach. Done right, leadership doesn't just manage performance – it inspires teams to build higher than they imagined possible.
