Early application benefit
€2.450
This is only available to participants who apply by .
Drive strategic initiatives for business growth
Changes to the business landscape have made the strategic planning process more complex and demanding. Organisations are increasingly relying on the role of chief strategist to work with the chief executive officer, other executive officers on the leadership team, and the board of directors to develop and communicate company strategy. The INSEAD Executive Education Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) Programme will prepare you to respond to market disruptions and reshape your organisation's strategic priorities for long-term growth with insights from a global business school.
98%
of companies expect to change their business models in the next three years.
Source: AlixPartners, 2023 Disruption Index.
72%
of CEOs say their executive team lacks the agility to deal with disruption.
Source: AlixPartners, 2023 Disruption Index.
Customised design for your success
The Chief Strategy Officer Programme has been expertly designed with the needs of busy senior executives in mind. It offers the flexibility to customise your learning for maximum impact, including choice of topical electives.
Adaptable
Learn online at your own pace in accordance with your work schedule. Select three five-week elective modules to deepen your knowledge in relevant areas of interest.
Reflective
Benefit from an immersive learning experience that provides a wide variety of opportunities to introspect into your skill set and identify gaps that can be worked on.
Connected
Join a prestigious business management school and a global thought leader in the collective area of strategy. Gain access to a world-class network of accomplished professionals.
Programme co-director
“Operating in an increasingly complex and volatile environment has made an organisation’s strategy more important than ever, requiring skilled senior leaders who are solely focused on strategic direction and can help move the business through disruptive market challenges to gain a competitive advantage. INSEAD Executive Education’s Chief Strategy Officer Programme will prepare you to analyse the current landscape and formulate and communicate a strong strategic road map for the future growth of your organisation”.
— Professor Peter Zemsky, Programme Co-Director for the Chief Strategy Officer Programme; Deputy Dean/Dean of Innovation, Professor of Strategy; The Eli Lily Chaired Professor of Strategy and Innovation
What you will learn in this programme
The Chief Strategy Officer Programme will equip you with the skills to:
- Create and adapt strategic plans in uncertain and changing environments
- Design compelling value propositions while considering stakeholder needs and promoting sustainability
- Plan the integration of performance and progress, ensuring alignment with overall organisational goals
- Identify growth opportunities and develop a comprehensive corporate strategy
- Apply innovative and collaborative approaches for strategic positioning and long-term success in dynamic and evolving markets
- Apply effective collaboration and forge strategic partnerships to drive growth and innovation
- Establish and agree upon strategic priorities with stakeholders, fostering organisational alignment
- Demonstrate mental resilience and mindfulness skills to make effective decisions and execute strategies with greater focus, clarity and adaptability
- Demonstrate effective strategy formulation, analysis and implementation to implement plans effectively.
Key programme features
Experiential sessions
Participate in practical learning experiments, activities and discussions to develop your understanding of key programme concepts.
Expert faculty
Learn from a global team of faculty who are all strategy specialists and published thought leaders in their fields.
Programme facilitator
Craft your learning journey in line with your career goals with a programme facilitator assigned to your cohort.
Acclaimed case studies
Explore award-winning case studies with real-world examples of strategic challenges and opportunities faced by leading companies.
Peer interaction
Engage and network with high-achieving global peers, and exchange diverse perspectives to elevate your learning.
Alumni benefits
Gain INSEAD alumni status upon completion of the programme and receive select alumni benefits.
Curriculum
The comprehensive curriculum provides a holistic learning experience covering strategy, leadership and performance management. It is conveniently delivered through a combination of online and live virtual sessions. The core modules are structured across three critical pillars needed by every CSO to spearhead their organisation’s corporate strategy and succeed in driving results.
PILLAR 1: ARCHITECTING STRATEGY (6 weeks)
Strategy for turbulent times
- Strategy in turbulent times
- Forging compelling value propositions
- Stakeholders and sustainability
- Principles of agile strategy execution
Integrating performance and progress
- Progress and economic actors
- Integrating performance and progress
PILLAR 2: DRIVING GROWTH AND INNOVATION (6 weeks)
Corporate strategy
- Scope of the firm: Why and where to grow
- Scope of the firm: How to grow
- Scope of the firm: Why and how to retrench and divest
Blue ocean and ecosystem strategy
- Blue ocean strategy
- Ecosystem strategy
- Partnering strategy
PILLAR 3: ALIGNING PRIORITIES AND PUTTING STRATEGY TO ACTION(6 weeks)
Negotiating strategic priorities
- Agreeing strategic priorities
- The mental challenge
- Building mindful practice
Strategy in action
- Strategy process and analysis: asking the right questions
- Affecting decision-making: crafting and evaluating strategic options
- Achieving alignment: the key to successful strategy execution
Rethinking Global Strategy – Online: Learn to analyse forces of globalisation and identify winning strategies to lead a global business and build a competitive advantage through international expansion and by applying proven open innovation and knowledge-sharing methods.
M&A Success Strategies – Online: This elective equips with the essential tools and frameworks necessary to make better M&A decisions from start to finish.
Supply Chain Strategies for Business – Online: Gain the strategic capabilities required to navigate the complexities of today's supply chain landscape and deliver transformative change within your organisation.
Agile Strategy Execution: This elective provides the insights and tools to bridge the gap between the rational development of strategy and real-life execution. It helps identify hidden traps, balance the rational with the emotional and build the internal capability to continue successful strategy implementation.
Note: Electives are subject to change.
Meet your cohort peers and faculty in person at the INSEAD campus immersion and networking event. This event provides a valuable opportunity to form a lifelong global community.
Project work
A critical element of this programme is the Learning Experiments, which is a series of six open-minded application-based exercises. During these you will analyse and list challenges within your organisation and seek to apply the tools/frameworks learnt from learning modules. You will refine your road map through regular check-in sessions and feedback from the programme facilitator and peers.
Meet the faculty
The INSEAD Chief Strategy Officer Programme is developed and taught by an accomplished faculty who are experts in broad areas of strategy, including the economics of strategy, strategy development and execution, strategic innovation, and global strategy and management.
Peter Zemsky
Programme Co-Director; Deputy Dean/Dean of Innovation; Professor of Strategy; The Eli Lily Chaired Professor of Strategy and Innovation.
Daniel Simonovich
Programme Co-Director; Affiliate Professor of Strategy
Laurence Capron
Professor of Strategy; The Paul Desmarais Chaired Professor of Partnership and Active Ownership.
Narayan Pant
Professor of Management Practice: The Raoul de Vitry d'Avaucourt Chaired Professor of Leadership Development.
Subramanian Rangan
Professor of Strategy and Management; The Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Court Endowed Chair in Societal Progress.
Andrew Shipilov
Professor of Strategy; The John H. Loudon Chaired Professor of International Management.
Peter Zemsky
Programme Co-Director; Deputy Dean/Dean of Innovation; Professor of Strategy; The Eli Lily Chaired Professor of Strategy and Innovation.
Daniel Simonovich
Programme Co-Director; Affiliate Professor of Strategy
Laurence Capron
Professor of Strategy; The Paul Desmarais Chaired Professor of Partnership and Active Ownership.
Narayan Pant
Professor of Management Practice: The Raoul de Vitry d'Avaucourt Chaired Professor of Leadership Development.
Subramanian Rangan
Professor of Strategy and Management; The Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Court Endowed Chair in Societal Progress.
Andrew Shipilov
Professor of Strategy; The John H. Loudon Chaired Professor of International Management.
Programme facilitator
Rudolf Falat
Executive Education Coach
Rudolf Falat is a senior corporate finance and strategy professional with a strong international profile and extensive experience in financial services and consumer goods.
He holds an INSEAD MBA degree and has worked in HSBC's consumer and leisure investment banking team and later led strategic M&A transactions for Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank in the financial services sector worldwide for more than ten years.
Falat has also worked in various finance roles at Kraft and Philip Morris in the U.S., Austria and Switzerland.
Certificate
Certificate
Upon completion of the programme, participants will be awarded a verified digital certificate by INSEAD Executive Education.
The certificate image shown is for illustrative purpose only and may be subject to change at the discretion of INSEAD Executive Education.
Who is it for?
The Chief Strategy Officer Programme is ideal for:
- Senior strategy executives looking to hone their skills to advance to a C-level position and have greater input into the strategy development of the organisation.
- Leaders of mid-sized companies aiming to further their career in a larger conglomerate or wanting to develop a more holistic view of strategy beyond their domain expertise.
Participants should have:
- A minimum of ten years of work experience
- Fluency in written and spoken English
- International exposure (preferred)
Select alumni benefits
Join INSEAD’s powerful global network of more than 66,000 alumni in over 180 countries and receive select benefits, including:
- Access to more than 1,000 events and programmes annually organised by INSEAD and the INSEAD Alumni Association
- Access to the INSEAD Alumni Lifelong Learning programme
- Career development for alumni, including career coaching, peer-to-peer advising and mentoring programmes
- Benefit from preferential rates on in-person INSEAD Open Enrolment Programmes and Open Online Programmes
- Networking tools and a lifelong INSEAD email.
*Upon completion of the programme, graduates of the Chief Strategy Officer Programme will gain complimentary alumni status for a period of three years. A minimal annual membership fee will be required to maintain the status thereafter.
Application details
programme fee
€24.950€22.500
The fee amount is available till,, and does not include the application fee of €200
Download Brochure
FAQs
The INSEAD Chief Strategy Officer Programme follows an immersive learning process. Participants are expected to fulfil a certain minimum criteria to earn the Certificate of Completion. This includes successful completion of core and elective activities and the project work.
As participants progress through each core module and elective, reviewing the weekly content, they earn points for each activity. Participants need to have earned a certain minimum number of points at the end of each core module and elective. In addition, participants are also required to submit the six practical learning experiments at the end of set phases of the programme.
To successfully complete the core curriculum of the Chief Strategy Officer programme, you need to complete and submit at least 80 per cent of all the required activities, including Learning Experiments.
On-campus attendance is optional for this programme. You will have the opportunity to participate in an on-campus immersion and networking event at the end of the programme. However, the curriculum is fully online and consists of a mix of recorded video and live virtual sessions with fellow participants, learning coach and faculty.
Yes, of course! The learning experience is especially designed to encourage interaction and simulate as close an experience to face-to-face interaction as possible. Participants can interact with each other through discussion forums, live forums, webinars and virtual networking interspersed throughout the learning journey.
In addition, the programme concludes with an optional in-person immersion and networking event.
Yes, we purposefully manage class sizes to ensure ample faculty-to-participant time. INSEAD faculty will also regularly read and respond to your comments in the discussion forums. The faculty is assisted in these interactions by the learning coach, acting as a bridge between the participants and the faculty.
The Chief Strategy Officer Programme has been designed with your busy schedule in mind. You will be required to commit not more than three to five hours per week, enabling you to benefit from this impactful programme while balancing your work responsibilities. The programme offers a blend of self-paced modules and live interaction.
The learning journey includes live and asynchronous online sessions with renowned faculty, industry experts and global peers. You can take advantage of live sessions and the Slack channel to ask questions and discuss ideas with your programme facilitator and cohort participants. Real-world examples and a debrief of the programme learnings are delivered through a combination of recorded video and live online lectures.
Unfortunately, it is not possible to take any more electives than the specified number. The electives are designed to help you gain specialised skills in areas that are aligned with your career, so that you can dedicate focused time for learning and honing those skills.
Yes, we provide closed-captioning and transcripts for all pre-recorded videos as well as closed-captioning for recordings of live sessions.
Eruditus collects all programme payments, provides learner enrolment and programme support, and manages learning platform services. INSEAD is collaborating with Emeritus (part of the Eruditus Group) to offer a portfolio of high-impact programs.
For the programme refund and deferral policy, please click the link here.
Programme fees for Emeritus programmes with INSEAD may not be paid for with (a) funds from the GI Bill, the Post-9/11 Educational Assistance Act of 2008 or similar types of military education funding benefits or (b) Title IV financial aid funds.
Connect with a programme advisor for a 1:1 session
Email:INSEAD_CSO@emeritus.org
Phone: +44 1416 732351 (UK) / +1 234 516 2703 (US) / +971 80 00321209 (UAE) / +52 55930 20507 (LATAM)
