Little in business or life gets done without a negotiation, so executive education programs that deal with mediation have the potential to deliver significant value for your professional and personal life. 

In executive courses in negotiation, participants, who come from broad array of backgrounds, learn foundational skills for managing complex and multinational negotiations in different cultures and regions — such as how to prepare, lead and adapt negotiations. This includes effective communication and coalition building, as well as leveraging social capital to negotiate successfully. 

Executive courses in negotiation also delve into the social psychology of negotiation, in terms of how to influence people and gain stakeholder buy-in. 

These hands-on programs enable participants to experiment with new techniques and test their negotiation effectiveness in the safety of the classroom. Through role plays and simulations of real-life business scenarios, led by expert faculty, participants learn to manage conflict and build trust, how to find alignment and achieve successful deals. 

In some cases, participants will be involved in hands-on activities, such as predicting their counterpart’s behavior, and dealing with “dirty tactics”.  

Through feedback from classmates, they take an objective look at their negotiation style. In some executive negotiation programs, they receive individual executive coaching to help develop their own personal style and play to their strengths. In doing so, they gain greater confidence, and develop a systematic approach for a variety of situations. 

They leave with a robust framework for negotiations, whether they’re online or in person, and learn how to align their strategy with strategic business objectives. Ultimately, participants learn how to create value for their organizations, make better decisions and deliver hard results. 

Here are the top 10 executive courses in negotiation:

Real estate accounts for half the world’s assets, so it is an important economic driver. But the sector is facing uncertainty due to the COVID-19 pandemic, bringing the industry to the fore for senior executives, investors and policymakers worldwide. Climate change and changing migration patterns are also raising questions for the industry. 

To be successful in this uncertain climate, industry professionals might take a real estate executive education course to learn analysis techniques, financial modelling, and quantitative tools to manage portfolio risk. The programs are offered by business schools across the world, with many of the courses introducing additional flexibility via the live online format. Other programs are delivered on campus in conference-style. Most of the programs are multidisciplinary, melding perspectives from other academic departments or institutions, including schools of design and law.

The best executive courses in real estate cover all aspects of real estate including leasing, lending, development and finance. Some programs may also focus exclusively on a specific topic, such as real estate investment. Generally, participants will learn about market dynamics and trends, including developments in securitization and derivatives, as well as transactions and capital sources. They also learn how to refinance debt and calculate cash flow from real estate assets with varying capital structures. Some of the modules touch on residential housing, while others focus on income-generating commercial properties. 

The best real estate executive courses offer ways for real estate and investment professionals to get ahead in their industries, by strengthening their strategic decision-making capabilities.

Management consulting is one of the most popular - and lucrative - career paths that can also set you up for a successful transition into the corporate world. Coveted for its stimulating variety of client work across industries and functions, the industry is dynamic and diverse. 

An executive education program in consulting can help people to get ahead in this dynamic world. Due to their popularity, some business schools even run entire executive programs specifically in management consulting. Generally on these courses, participants are taken through the various phases of a strategy project including defining and structuring the problem, conducting analysis, developing and communicating recommendations. This includes managing stakeholder expectations, drawing on diverse perspectives and building trust with clients.

Many of the best executive courses in consulting may also include a practical component where students consult real companies - an opportunity to put academic theory into practice in the real business world. 

Other schools run courses in related fields such as strategic management, problem-solving, product management and digital transformation. This helps consultants who wish to specialize and carve out a niche for themselves. 

Family companies are the engines of economic develop across the world, and they play an important role in labor market, employing the vast majority of private sector workers. They also tend to be more resilient than other companies with lower insolvency rates through crises. 

However, family business face unique challenges, and that is where executive education can help. A number of the world’s leading business schools cater to family-owned companies with specific executive courses. 

A common theme among the course providers is how to transition from one generation to the next, along with the unique governance challenges faced by family firms. 

Many of the best executive courses in family business management also offer executive coaches to support the implementation of academic theory into the real world, and may even offer a personalized leadership development journey. The programs are hands-on, with participants learning through a blend of theory and role-play.

Some of the courses are partnerships delivered between multiple institutions, with participants spending their time at both schools in different parts of the world to develop a more global perspective on family enterprise. Other programs are delivered entirely online, offering greater flexibility and convenience to participants. 

These executive education programs are for all members of family-owned companies in addition to non-executive directors and board members, along with investors and other stakeholders. 
 

Today’s executive boards face unprecedented challenges, from the global pandemic and its economic fallout to civil unrest, cybersecurity threats and growing calls for greater diversity and inclusion. 

A number of business schools have responded by launching a wide array of executive education courses in governance over the years. They cover a variety of topics such as role defining, succession planning, board appointments and how to raise organizational performance.  Participants emerge better equipped to tackle the issues raised by the COVID-19 crisis. 

The best executive courses in governance take an in-depth look at all aspects of corporate governance including the legal and regulatory frameworks as well as the behavioral and psychological issues. A key element is peer learning from an experienced group of participants who are current, emerging or veteran board members and executives. 

The programs are highly interactive with participants developing the skills and insights to serve effectively — and how to apply them in practice. The aim for many governance courses is to strengthen financial return, enterprise risk management and governance diversity. 

Some of the courses focus on digital transformation, and how participants can evaluate opportunities and threats for their companies. Others focus on emerging issues such as CEO succession plans, shareholder activism, cyber risk, diversity and inclusion. Many executive courses in governance will also explore ethics, while sustainability and regulation are also key themes. 

Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming business and life more broadly. Referring to the development of computer systems that can perform tasks that once required human intelligence, AI is being applied to a number of business settings to create new economic value. 

In a data-driven world, executives need a thorough understanding of the power of AI to boost their individual and organizational performance, as well as its ethical implications for wider society and the threats it represents. Indeed, by 2025 the global AI market is expected to be worth almost $60 billion. 

To compete in a tech-driven economy, many business leaders, managers and technical specialists are enrolling in executive education programs—in artificial intelligence or machine learning—now run by dozens of the world’s leading business schools. In these programs, participants will learn about the current capabilities and business applications of the technology, and its future potential. More than that, executives will learn how to manage integration projects and communicate with technologists. There are also lessons to be learnt in avoiding common pitfalls. 

Other courses focus on specific and significant economic sectors such as financial services, where AI and machine learning are driving radical changes in the decision-making processes of financial institutions. Here are the top 10 executive courses in AI and machine learning:

Increasingly, demand is rising for corporate leaders who consider more than just the bottom line: they include environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) factors in their organizational strategy. 

Leaders are being urged by consumers, investors, regulators, and society to shift their methods of value creation as environmental and societal concerns have grown. Sustainability is now a business imperative. 

And as such, a growing number of business schools provide executive education courses in corporate sustainability leadership, which cover ESG investing, sustainable supply chain management, and employee and consumer engagement. Participants will also learn how to develop innovative business models and how to disclose sustainability practices to meet increasing and conflicting stakeholder demands. 

Using a mix of interactive lectures, simulations and action learning, the executives will develop practical and impactful strategies for building consensus and making change. With companies facing greater pressure to tackle societal challenges such as inequality as well as climate change, these skills are critical to any leader’s future success. 

The private capital industry has grown to more than $7 trillion, thanks to the low interest rate environment and lofty stock market valuations. This has inflated the values of the biggest private capital firms and prompted other companies to launch new divisions. This is a big opportunity for business schools with the right courses.

Professionals who work in private capital – which includes the venture capital and private equity industries – face numerous challenges. As the number and size of investment funds increases, so is competition for top quality deals.

Executive education courses take participants through the full investment lifecycle, from screening and valuing potential investments to carrying out due diligence, negotiating terms, determining financial projections and choosing an exit strategy.

Participants will typically include all the parties involved in a financial transaction, including investors, banks, founders, shareholders and advisors. They develop strategies to lower risk and increase returns.

The executive programs are hands-on, incorporating academic theory with the latest insights from industry practitioners, real-world case studies, practical group projects and visits to top venture capital firms at some schools.

Participants gain the latest thinking from industry leaders and academics, and exchange experiences with a unique class of industry leaders. They ultimately improve their knowledge of the best practices to become more effective investors and save themselves from costly mistakes. Here are the top 10 executive courses in venture capital and private equity.

Sustainable investing is an increasingly hot topic in the financial community. With global environment and social challenges so numerous and so pressing, and with millennials participating more in the markets, there is a huge shift towards ESG (environmental, social and governance) investing. However, there is still a great deal of uncertainty in this area.

As investors shift their focus towards investments that minimize the risks and maximise the opportunities, it has become more important to stay up to date in this novel sector. A number of business schools with strong reputations for finance have started to offer executive education programs in sustainable finance and ESG investing, however course options remain limited, which reflects the burgeoning and fast-changing nature of the field.

The programs cover the foundational knowledge and key concepts and strategies in sustainable investing, in addition to providing insights on the latest market developments and real-world examples that illustrate emerging best practices. Participants will learn the associated investment risks and opportunities across different classes of assets, and learn how to measure and assess their impact.

The courses are taught not just by academics but leading experts from financial institutions. They are highly practical in nature, with participants strengthening their creative problem solving skills through case studies. The executives are also given the opportunity to work on a personal workplace project, so they leave ready to put the academic theory to work in the markets.

Cybersecurity is no longer the domain of the IT department: it is a topic that is gaining importance in the business world. It is a critical part of nearly every aspect of business decision-making, from due diligence in mergers and acquisitions to supply chain security and enterprise risk management. Therefore, managers who understand the growing cyber threat to their organizations, and what they can do to mitigate, the risk have a competitive advantage.

Several business schools are now offering executive courses that give senior managers the skills in cybersecurity risk management they need to better protect their organizations. As the cost of breaches soars, building cyber resilience is an urgent priority for leaders in business and the number of programs, while limited for now, is expected to grow in line with cyber as a board-level issue.