Global CEO Program

The Chief Executive Officer Program prepares current and aspiring CEOs to make high-impact strategic decisions, accelerate AI and emerging-technology adoption, build resilient organizations, and drive growth in an increasingly complex and competitive landscape.

Over four months, participants progress through three live online courses covering organizational resilience, crisis leadership, and leadership legacy. Between the first and second courses, participants attend a required three-day CEO Immersion at the Chicago Booth campus. After completing the program, participants may also join an optional two-and-a-half-day shared CXO experience.

Throughout the program, participants explore how customer demand, AI-driven transformation, geopolitical and economic change, talent strategy, organizational culture, and stakeholder expectations are reshaping the CEO mandate. They develop practical frameworks to evaluate emerging technologies, prepare the workforce for AI-led change, strengthen organizational performance, and lead through uncertainty.

Upon completion, participants will be prepared to lead as next-generation CEOs who can align executive teams and stakeholders, build AI-ready organizations, and drive sustainable growth.

• Craft and execute a strategic vision to drive growth through innovative, demand-driven approaches.
• Build a resilient, agile organization that can adapt to change and disruption.
• Evaluate and accelerate the adoption of AI and emerging technologies to strengthen efficiency, competitiveness, and organizational performance.
• Prepare the workforce for AI-led change through talent strategy, upskilling, and digital capability building.
• Align boards, executive teams, and key stakeholders to execute transformation and build trust.
• Communicate with clarity and confidence, especially during crises and recovery.
• Cultivate a values-driven culture and CEO legacy that create lasting impact.

This program is designed for senior business leaders, including:

• Current CEOs seeking to strengthen their strategic decision-making, leadership agility, and ability to navigate disruption.
• Aspiring CEOs preparing to assume enterprise-level leadership responsibilities.
• Senior executives seeking to build resilient organizations and drive sustainable growth.
• C-suite leaders responsible for organizational transformation, innovation, or enterprise strategy.
• Executives seeking to strengthen board alignment, stakeholder management, and cross-functional collaboration.

Please note that guest speakers and instructors are representative and subject to change.

Across three focused live online courses and a three-day CEO Immersion, build the capabilities to strengthen organizational resilience, lead through crises, drive growth, navigate disruption, and create an enduring leadership legacy.

Course 1: Building a Resilient Organization

This course explores the CEO's role in fostering innovation, transformation, and agility, with a focus on accelerating AI and emerging-technology adoption. You will assess organizational AI readiness, prepare for disruption, and build the capabilities required to compete in a rapidly changing environment. You will also examine how talent strategy, upskilling, and competition for digital talent can enable workforce reinvention and long-term organizational resilience.

Course 2: Crisis Leadership

Strengthen your executive presence and public-speaking skills, develop clear strategies and messages, and learn how to stay on message under pressure. Through lessons from real-world crises, you will build the communication judgment and leadership confidence needed to guide stakeholders through uncertainty.

Course 3: Creating Your Legacy

Examine what leadership legacy means and how ethics, values, and leadership choices shape long-term outcomes. You will explore how leaders build enduring impact across changing contexts, establish credibility and authority, and integrate reflection, systems, and succession into a cohesive legacy.

*The modules are subject to change.

1. CEO Immersion Experience

Chicago Booth's Global CEO Program includes a required three-day, in-person immersion designed to help participants translate strategy into action. Positioned between the first and second live online courses, the experience brings together instructor-led sessions, collaborative discussions, and executive peer learning focused on the responsibilities of today's chief executive. Attendance at the CEO Immersion is required to complete the program.

Over three days, participants will explore:

Day 1: Growth Strategy and TSR for CEOs

• Develop a forward-thinking, demand-driven approach to growth and market leadership.
• Connect consumer demand, market-share growth, and total shareholder return.
• Build the organization, culture, and team mindset required to implement a sustainable growth strategy.

Day 2: Managing Innovation and Disruption

• Assess different forms of disruption, including AI-driven transformation and political and economic change.
• Evaluate strategic vulnerabilities and emerging opportunities.
• Develop adaptive plans and financial strategies for periods of uncertainty.
• Align innovation with organizational values and culture while sustaining performance through change.

Day 3: Leading a Values-Driven Company and Crisis Leadership

• Develop and lead a values-driven organization whose operations align with its culture, mission, and business performance.
• Make strategic decisions that reinforce ethics, governance, purpose, and performance.
• Lead stakeholders with calm, clarity, and credibility during periods of pressure and uncertainty.

The immersion also provides opportunities to engage directly with Chicago Booth faculty, industry leaders, and senior peers while experiencing the Chicago Booth campus and the vibrant city of Chicago.

Experience Highlights

• Instructor-led sessions
• Executive peer learning
• Industry perspectives
• Chicago Booth campus experience

2. CXO Experience

After completing the program, participants may join an optional two-and-a-half-day shared CXO experience, learning alongside senior executives from across Chicago Booth Executive Education's portfolio of CXO programs.

Designed to encourage cross-functional exchange, the experience gives participants an opportunity to broaden their leadership perspectives beyond the CEO role. Participants strengthen relationships developed throughout the program, engage in collaborative discussions with executives from different business functions, and learn from Chicago Booth faculty and industry leaders.

Experience Highlights

• Cross-functional executive networking
• Instructor-led sessions
• Industry speakers
• Chicago Booth campus experience

*The in-person experience agendas, session topics, instructors, speakers, and activities are subject to change.

Flexible Live Online Learning
Participate in one instructor-led live online session each week. Across three focused courses, explore organizational resilience and AI adoption, crisis leadership, and leadership legacy through discussion, strategic reflection, and practical application.

CEO Immersion Experience
Between the first and second online courses, participate in a required three-day, in-person immersion focused on growth strategy and TSR, managing innovation and disruption, and values-driven and crisis leadership.

CXO Experience
After completing the program, join an optional two-and-a-half-day shared experience with senior leaders from across Chicago Booth's CXO portfolio, featuring instructor-led sessions, industry perspectives, executive networking, and cross-functional collaboration.