Program | ABA-Wharton Leadership Lab

7:30 AM – 8:30 AM

Breakfast

8:30 AM – 9:00 AM

Review & Integration

• Peter Cappelli, Academic Director, ABA-Wharton Leadership Lab; George W. Taylor Professor of Management, The Wharton School

9:00 AM –  10:30 AM

Identifying Value Drivers

Too often, organizations equate growth to value. However, top-line growth can be deceiving. What really matters is whether the company’s growth is profitable, whether it is sustainable and how much investment is required to achieve it. In this session, we derive a valuation tool that allows management to assess projects, products and even customers, to determine where and how to prioritize resources.

• David Wessels, Ph.D., Adjunct Full Professor of Finance, The Wharton School; Director, Wharton Executive Education

10:30 AM – 10:45 AM

Break

10:45 AM – 12:15 PM

Setting the Right Goals

Managers often receive redundant, poorly structured metrics―making it hard to evaluate success. In this session, learn to develop a set of robust operating benchmarks that explicitly tie to a key financial driver. Focus on the principles of “mutually exclusive, collectively exhaustive” to prevent double counting and omissions. Examine the operating metrics which best correlate to long-term health of the organization, and which metrics have the largest impact.

• David Wessels, Ph.D., Adjunct Full Professor of Finance, The Wharton School; Director, Wharton Executive Education

12:15 PM – 1:00 PM

Lunch

1:00 PM – 2:30 PM

Strategic Agility

The increased speed of change in today’s business environment has caused a movement from discrete-event strategic planning to more dynamic planning―the quarterly strategy “refresh,” for example. However, many organizations struggle with the ability to stay nimble. This session explores the common barriers to agility, provides tools to overcome these barriers and describes three concrete actions in achieving strategic agility.

• Kathy Pearson, Ph.D., Adjunct Senior Fellow – Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, University of Pennsylvania; President, Enterprise Learning Solutions

2:30 PM – 2:45 PM

Break

2:45 PM – 4:15 PM

Strategic Agility Cont'd

• Kathy Pearson, Ph.D., Adjunct Senior Fellow – Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, University of Pennsylvania; President, Enterprise Learning Solutions

4:15 PM - 4:30 PM

Break

4:30 PM – 6:15 PM

Creating and Sustaining Meaningful Relationships

Fewer than half of people’s conversations are substantive and meaningful. In this session – field tested by Wharton Neuroscience and used throughout Wharton executive education initiatives – we will engage in an exercise that creates deeper conversations and stronger social ties, even between strangers. This session will allow you to engage meaningfully with your peers, whilst adding to your own leadership skills.

• Elizabeth Johnson, Ph.D., Executive Director & Senior Fellow, Wharton Neuroscience Initiative, The Wharton School 

6:15 PM - 6:30 PM

Break

6:30 PM - 8:00 PM

Dinner

7:30 AM – 8:30 AM

Breakfast

8:30 AM – 9:00 AM

Review & Integration

• Peter Cappelli, Academic Director, ABA-Wharton Leadership Lab; George W. Taylor Professor of Management, The Wharton School

9:00 AM –  10:30 AM

Executive Reflection

• Peter Cappelli, Academic Director, ABA-Wharton Leadership Lab; George W. Taylor Professor of Management, The Wharton School

10:30 AM – 10:45 AM

Break

10:45 AM – 12:15 PM

Program Wrap Up & Commencement

• Peter Cappelli, Academic Director, ABA-Wharton Leadership Lab; George W. Taylor Professor of Management, The Wharton School

12:15 PM 

Optional Lunch