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Certificate Programs

Certificate in Values-Driven Leadership

The Values-Driven Leadership Certificate program offers an integrated curriculum that develops the following five key leadership roles fundamental to building increased leadership capability and capacity in yourself, your team and your organization, while producing significant and sustainable results:

Leader as Authentic Self

Values-Driven Leadership first and foremost recognizes that leadership starts and ends with the individual. The idea of self-reflection is central to the way in which a leader gains new insights and key learning, thus allowing for positive change and growth to take place from within. Values-Driven Leaders have a distinct teachable leadership point-of-view, are models of integrity and hold themselves accountable to extraordinarily high standards.

Leader as Teacher & Learner

Values-Driven Leadership invites individuals to teach others both by informing them and by bringing out the best in what they have to offer. A Values-Driven Leader is both a world-class teacher and a world-class learner that authentically models their personal values as well as those of the organizations in which they lead and serve. VDLs embrace the teaching-learning model as a way-of-life that becomes a life-long journey.

Leader as Builder of Relationships

Relationship building is a foundational component to the Values-Driven Leader at all four levels: (1) self, (2) one-to-one, (3) one-to-team and (4) organizational. VDLs recognize and demonstrate that a significant investment in interaction with others helps to build trust and a sense of “team-as-community” so that creativity and commitment can be maximized. Leaders are empathic listeners that truly value and learn from what others have to say.

Leader as Visionary & Strategist

Values-Driven Leaders have almost an uncanny ability to see a preferred future and enlist others in co-creating that future with a sense of urgency. Two of the key characteristics inherent in the Values-Driven Leader are foresight and conceptualization. Conceptual skills allow them to see the big picture – the “where we want to go” -- while foresight enables them to map out how we are going to get there by anticipating the various consequences of the individual and collective actions of the organization, and then selecting the actions that will best serve all of the stakeholders.

Leader as Driver of Results

Effective Values-Driven Leaders are relentlessly focused on their personal and organizational vision and are consequently high performers and significant drivers of results. They are true stewards of the business they are involved with and are equally as concerned with the process of how the results are achieved as in the results themselves. VDLs recognize and understand that in order for success to be sustainable over time, they need to continually raise the bar while coaching and developing others for personal and professional growth.

Course Requirements

To earn the VDL Certificate, candidates must complete a four-course integrated curriculum:

This rigorous curriculum provides both breadth and depth in the skills and practical tools necessary to lead in today's changing business environment from a values-based perspective.

It is recommended that courses be completed within eighteen months, although candidates may take up to three years.

Coaching, Community and Practice

Beyond the four core courses, coaching and a community of colleagues anchor the certificate curriculum to the candidate's work life. Working collaboratively with the Center for Values-Driven Leadership, candidates customize the program to fit their career aspirations as well as their organization's needs. At each public workshop, certificate candidates participate in special candidate-only sessions designed to build community, as well as to customize, integrate and apply key learning to their own organizational experiences.

VDL Certificate Program Candidates will have special access to the Center’s publications and to faculty members (via phone or e-mail) to share experiences and discuss work-place applications. Opportunities for co-publishing case studies, sharing best practices and co-presenting at conferences may also be explored.

Faculty

Candidates benefit from being taught by founders in the field of values-driven leadership who stimulate participants' thinking with relevant company cases and best practices drawn from extensive work with organizations across all sectors. Participants will be provided with practical tools, frameworks and applications to apply what they have learned to their own work environment.

For More Information

To find out more about the VDL Certificate Program, please contact Jim “Gus” Gustafson, Director of Executive Education at (630) 829-2177 or via email at jgustafson@ben.edu.

About CVDL

The Center for Values-Driven Leadership offers research, education and outreach opportunities to help business leaders forge new paths to profitability. It is a gathering place where top executives, entrepreneurs and thought leaders come together to innovate at the forefront of values-driven business practice.

Upcoming CVDL Events

New Paths to Profitability: Achieving Superior Performance through Values-Driven Leadership
- September 16-16, 2010

Exemplars

A look at green Proctor & Gamble products as described by P&G VP of Sustainability, Len Saurs. This video was broadcast on Discovery Channel and hosted by Tristan Rogers. Watch it here:
Peter Darbee, CEO & Chairman of Pacific Gas & Electric, talks about climate change policy, renewable energy and the company's decision to withdraw from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Watch it here.
Indra Nooyi, PepsiCo Chairman and CEO, speaks at the Economic Club of Washington DC on May 12, 2009 about the five key characteristics required by today’s CEO in order to successfully lead in the future. Choose more speakers and scroll through speakers: Watch it here.