IMD Business School

Inspirational Leadership

IMD Business School

Leadership

About Programme

IMD’s Inspirational Leadership program is built around one idea: people follow leaders they trust. Guided by George Kohlrieser, former hostage negotiator and Distinguished Professor of Leadership and Organizational Behavior, you’ll learn how to earn that trust, forge stronger human connections, and inspire people to perform at their best.

Your journey begins with a 360° feedback report, based on input from people you work with. With the executive coach who supports you throughout the program, you’ll turn that clear picture of how you show up as a leader into effective action.

Drawing on the principles of secure base leadership and leader as coach, you’ll strengthen your ability to engage and develop teams and lead conversations that drive results. By combining caring and daring, you’ll motivate teams to achieve more than they thought possible.

Insights from Professor Kohlrieser’s hostage negotiation experience will help you understand why conflict arises and manage it before it escalates by preparing for and leading difficult conversations. You’ll build the resilience to lead under pressure and develop strategies for dealing with your own stress before it affects your team. Discover the program content .

On completion of your learning journey, you’ll be eligible to apply for IMD’s Advanced High Performance Leadership program, designed exclusively for Inspirational Leadership and High Performance Leadership alumni.

Enhance your self-awareness

Understand your leadership style through a 360° feedback report. Build on your strengths and address blind spots and derailers that may be limiting your impact.

Become a secure base

Build trust, strengthen relationships, and create the conditions for the people you lead to perform at their best.

Lead as a coach

Apply coaching tools and techniques to help others grow, unlock their full potential, and take ownership of their development.

Navigate conflict with confidence

Gain the confidence, skill, and practice to handle difficult conversations and conflict through dialogue, active listening, and negotiation.

Build resilience

Gain practical tools and strategies for overcoming setbacks, coping with personal stressors, and leading in high-pressure situations.

Programme Content

Unit 1: Why am I here?
Meet other participants and enhance your understanding of who you are, how you are perceived, and how you operate as a leader.
Review your 360 feedback report and reflect on your successes and challenges as a leader.
Learn the behaviors of high-performing leaders.
Unit 2: Leading myself
Consider how you as a leader and your relationship with team members relate to engagement.
Discuss your 360 feedback with your coach. Explore how leaders manage their internal state and how this impacts leadership and “playing to win”.
Learn about leading from your mind’s eye and training your brain.
Unit 3: Leading others
Discover practical ideas and tools that can help with leadership.
Examine the importance of building bonds to successful leadership and look at how to engage and influence others.
Learn how to have difficult conversations and prepare for a challenging interaction you are facing at work.
Unit 4: Leading teams
Reflect on the way leadership styles affect teams and on the leadership impact you want to have.
Learn about blocks to dialogue that can reduce effective teamwork.
Analyze a team meeting and your own team’s dynamics as they relate to a culture of high performance.
Unit 5: Managing conflicts
Learn to manage conflict and challenge the idea that conflict is fundamentally negative.
Observe and discuss conflict situations and identify constructive strategies for handling them.
Reflect on sources of conflict in your current professional context.
Unit 6: Leader as coach
Consider the idea that leaders must be able to coach others to develop their potential.
Demonstrate coaching techniques, including the GROW model, and get feedback from your buddy.
Demonstrate your understanding of coaching tools and techniques through coaching one member of your team.
Unit 7: Developing resilience
Learn how to build resilience, overcome setbacks, and weather storms.
Think about sources of stress and discover strategies for coping with them.
Identify personal stressors and learn to manage your own stress and work-life integration with your group.
Unit 8: The road ahead
Review lessons from the whole program, decide how to keep learning and build your own action plan for the road ahead.
Check that you have submitted all assignments, including your weekly learning journals, to show how you’ve applied your learning to your professional context.

Programme Benefits

Designed for impact and delivered for you, IMD’s online programs help you achieve your aspirations wherever you are in your career or the world. Here’s what makes the IMD online program experience exceptional.

Access to thought leadership

Tap into the expertise of IMD’s faculty – globally recognized experts in their fields – wherever you are.

Personalized coaching

Benefit from one-on-one support from an experienced executive coach who helps you apply new insights to your own context.

Global peer interaction

Collaborate with participants from around the world through group and pair work that challenges your thinking and broadens your perspective.

Flexible format

Engage in a structured yet flexible learning experience that enables you to progress at your own pace and complete weekly assignments around your busy schedule.

Applied learning for real impact

Apply what you learn right away through practical assignments designed to make a direct impact on your work.

Testimonials

"The program was a truly transformative journey of self-discovery and growth. I was challenged to pause, reflect, and reconnect with what really matters in leadership: presence, authenticity, and emotional intelligence. It was not just about learning new models, it was about learning more about myself. I left this journey more self-aware, inspired, and ready to lead with heart."

Ana Rodrigo Gonçalves

Head of Corporate Relations, NOVA School of Science and Technology, Portugal

"The Inspirational Leadership program challenged me to reflect deeply on my leadership behaviours. Through coaching, peer exchange and practical tools, I gained clarity, confidence and new ways to empower others, foster trust and lead with greater empathy and authenticity."

Mario Correia

Accounting Manager, Super Bock Group, Portugal

Testimonial Source

Program Certificate

certificate

Advance your career with IMD’s Online Executive Certificates^<p>Ready to elevate your career and personal development? IMD’s<a><strong> Online Executive Certificates </strong></a>deliver <strong>immersive, fully online</strong> experiences designed to deepen your expertise and sharpen your skills in key business areas.</p>^<p>Choose between three certificate options – <strong><a>Leadership</a>, <a>Strategy</a>, or <a>Digital Acceleration</a></strong> – to take charge of your growth and propel your executive career to new heights. The Online Executive Certificate is an accredited <strong>Certificate of Advanced Studies </strong>(CAS) and grants you access to <a><strong>IMD’s dynamic global alumni community</strong></a>.</p>^<p><strong>Start your journey today.</strong></p>

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Prashansa Uttam

Programme Advisor

+91 9403890085contact@echomind.oneMon – Fri, 9am – 5pm IST

IMD Business School

Executive Education Office

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https://www.imd.org
Lausanne, Switzerland

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Inspirational Leadership | IMD Business School