Carlson General Management Program
Program Details
About the Program
Advancing into senior executive roles requires more than deep expertise in a single function—it requires the ability to lead across the enterprise. The Carlson General Management Program equips experienced leaders with the cross-functional knowledge, strategic tools, and leadership capabilities needed to drive organizational growth and transformation. Through two immersive in-person modules and a live online session, you’ll strengthen your ability to lead teams, align stakeholders, and make high-impact decisions. Each component of the program is designed to expand your perspective, elevate your leadership effectiveness, and prepare you for the complex challenges of enterprise-level responsibility.
Experience
The program combines two in-person modules at Minnesota Carlson with one live online session, offering flexibility for busy executives. You'll engage with world-class faculty, industry practitioners, and a diverse cohort of peers from various industries and functions. Through interactive sessions, immersive simulations, structured reflection, and peer exchange, you’ll acquire practical tools and actionable insights that translate directly to your work.
Learn how you can customize this program for your organization.
Program Contact
- Email: [email protected]
- Phone: 612-625-5412
- Request Course Catalog
Who Should Take This Course & Why
- Develop the enterprise mindset needed for executive leadership by expanding beyond functional silos
- Enhance your strategic, financial, and operational acumen through hands-on sessions in areas such as strategic execution, finance for senior leaders, and resilient supply chains
- Build confidence in data-driven leadership by applying tools and frameworks related to AI, analytics, and digital transformation
- Strengthen your ability to lead people and change through experiential simulations and sessions focused on team dynamics, ethical decision-making, and leading transformation
- Communicate more effectively with boards and cross-functional stakeholders by understanding organizational governance and leveraging customer and market insights
- Shape the culture and legacy of your firm by aligning values, performance, and innovation
- Expand your executive network by engaging with a diverse cohort of senior leaders and gaining insight from other industries and perspectives
Participant Perspective
Participants share their experience in the program and explain how their learning has led to growth for themselves and their teams.
Faculty Perspective
Professors Theresa Glomb and Aks Zaheer discuss the shift in mindset that leaders must undergo as they take on more enterprise responsibilities.
Schedule
Day 1 Session Overview
Strategic Alignment & Execution at Scale: Explore practical tools and frameworks to align strategy with operational priorities, navigate uncertainty, and overcome execution challenges. You’ll leave with actionable methods to lead with clarity and purpose, ensuring strategy translates into measurable outcomes across the enterprise.
- Enterprise Global Collaboration: Effective enterprise leadership requires moving beyond silos to build trust across diverse teams and regions. This session will help you cultivate a broader leadership mindset and identify specific actions to strengthen collaboration, build stakeholder trust, and drive alignment with your organization’s broader goals.
Day 2 Session Overview
The CFO Mindset: Finance for Senior Leaders: Understanding financial drivers is essential for senior leadership. This session helps you adopt a CFO’s perspective by demystifying financial reports, key metrics, and value drivers critical to decision-making. Through discussion and practical frameworks, you’ll build confidence to engage in financial conversations and make informed, growth-focused decisions.
- Leading with Integrity: Ethical Judgment & Stakeholder Trust: Maintaining trust requires leaders to navigate complex ethical decisions. This session offers a practical decision-making framework to assess stakeholder impact and build a culture of integrity that supports long-term success.
Day 3 Session Overview
Customer Centricity: Leveraging Marketing Insights to Drive Growth: Customer-centric organizations outperform competitors by anticipating and meeting evolving needs. This session offers frameworks and case studies to help you apply marketing insights, align offerings with expectations, and drive sustainable growth.
- Leading Peak Performance: Creating a high-performing team takes intentional effort. You’ll explore actionable strategies to sustain energy, foster well-being, and promote positivity. Using a practical framework—work hard, have fun, choose kind, be present—you’ll walk away with techniques to build momentum and trust, helping your team thrive.
- Panel Discussion: Hear directly from local executives as they share their leadership journeys, challenges faced, and the pivotal lessons that shaped their approach to enterprise leadership.
Half-Day Live Online Session Overview
Disruptive Innovation: This interactive session equips you with the mindset and tools to lead through disruption. Explore frameworks to identify opportunity, evaluate risk, and drive innovation while balancing operational demands. Through real-world examples and discussion, you’ll examine how leaders can position their teams for transformative growth.
Day 1 Session Overview
Making Decisions that Shape the Future: Strategic decision-making involves balancing data, intuition, and vision. This session builds your ability to assess risk, weigh priorities, and make confident decisions that shape the future of your enterprise.
- Engaging with Boards: Senior leaders must communicate effectively with board members to drive strategy. Gain insights into board dynamics, best practices for presenting critical issues, and strategies to build productive relationships. Learn how to align board input with long-term goals and governance responsibilities.
Day 2 Session Overview
AI & Digital Transformation: AI and digital tools are reshaping how value is created and delivered. In this session, you’ll learn how to apply analytics—descriptive, predictive, causal, and prescriptive—to enhance decision-making. Explore how traditional and generative AI can unlock new avenues for strategic growth.
- Supply Chain Resilience: The New Competitive Advantage: A resilient supply chain is key to navigating disruption. Using the supply chain leadership model, you’ll explore how to design and maintain resilient systems that mitigate risk and support long-term success.
Day 3 Session Overview
Leading Change with ExperienceChange Simulation: Leading successful change requires planning, adaptability, and buy-in. In this interactive simulation, you’ll practice managing resistance, aligning teams, and executing change initiatives in a risk-free environment—building real-world confidence and capability.
- Culture & Legacy: Shaping the Future: As a leader, you shape both culture and legacy. This session helps you reflect on your leadership impact and define the kind of future you want to build. You’ll explore ways to intentionally cultivate a high-performance, values-aligned culture that leaves a lasting imprint on your team and the broader enterprise.
Faculty & Instructors
Professor, Curtis L. Carlson Chair in Strategic Management
Senior Lecturer, Strategic Management and Entrepreneurship
Senior Lecturer, Finance
Lecturer, Marketing
Senior Lecturer, Strategic Management and Entrepreneurship
Professor, The Toro Company-David M. Lilly Chair in Organizational Behavior
Carlson Executive Educators Network
Marvin D. Dunnette Distinguished Professor of Industrial-Organizational Psychology
Professor, Dean Emerita, Elmer L. Andersen Chair in Global Corporate Social Responsibility
Curtis L. Carlson Chair Professor in Business Analytics and Information Systems
Professor, Elmer L. Andersen Chair in Sustainable Supply Chain
Professor, Associate Dean of MBA and MS Programs
Carlson Executive Educators Network