Design Thinking for Leaders

Indian Institute Of Management Bangalore

Bangalore, India

The Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) was established in 1973 by the Government of India, in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta and with academic support from MIT Sloan School of Management. Located in Bengaluru — India's technology and innovation capital — it is a public autonomous institution governed under the IIM Act of 2017, which granted all IIMs the status of Institutes of National Importance. IIMB was founded with an explicit mission to develop professionally competent, socially conscious managers for a rapidly industrialising economy, and that dual emphasis on rigour and responsibility continues to shape how its faculty teach and how its programs are designed. The school operates a full academic portfolio spanning postgraduate management, doctoral research, and executive education, anchored by a commitment to evidence-based management thinking.Accreditations and RankingsAccreditations:AACSB accreditedEQUIS accredited (European Quality Improvement System — awarded by EFMD)AMBA accreditedTriple Crown accredited — placing IIMB among fewer than 1% of business schools globally to hold all threeRankings:Financial Times Executive Education Open Programmes ranking: ranked among top global schools (2023)Financial Times Executive Education Custom Programmes ranking: listed (2023)QS World University Rankings – Business & Management Studies: Top 51–100 globally (2023)National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), Management category: Rank 2 in India (2023)Outlook-ICARE MBA Rankings: Rank 2 in India (2023)Executive Education at a GlanceIIMB's executive education arm, operated through the Executive Education & Continuing Education Programme (EEP) office, is one of the largest and most structured in South Asia, running well over 100 programs annually and engaging thousands of mid-to-senior professionals each year. The portfolio is split between open enrolment programs — accessible to individual participants from any organisation — and customised programs designed for specific corporate clients, with custom work accounting for a significant share of revenue and client relationships that include major public sector undertakings, technology multinationals, and financial institutions.Key topic areas include leadership and organisational behaviour, strategy, finance and accounting, digital transformation, entrepreneurship, supply chain management, analytics, and public policy — a breadth that reflects the school's close proximity to Bengaluru's technology ecosystem and its historical ties to government institutions. Flagship open programs include the General Management Programme for Executives (GMPE), the Business Leadership Programme, and a growing suite of certificate programs in areas like business analytics and digital business strategy. Program durations range from two-day workshops to twelve-month blended certificate programs, with many offerings structured in modular formats that allow working professionals to attend without extended absence from their roles. Open program fees typically range from INR 80,000 to INR 8,00,000 depending on duration and format, with select programs offering early-bird or organisational nomination concessions.Campus and FacilitiesThe IIMB campus spans approximately 100 acres in the Bannerghatta Road area of south Bengaluru, and its architecture is widely recognised as one of the finest examples of institutional design in India — the work of celebrated architect B.V. Doshi, who won the Pritzker Prize in 2018. Doshi's design layers modernist structural thinking with traditional Indian spatial sensibility, creating an environment of shaded walkways, open courtyards, and pavilion-like academic buildings that manage to feel both contemplative and collegiate. For executive participants, the campus offers dedicated residential facilities, a separate executive education centre, seminar and case-method classrooms, and the IIMB library — one of the best-stocked management research libraries in South Asia. Bengaluru itself adds a dimension few campuses can match: the city is home to the Indian operations of hundreds of global technology and consulting firms, which means the case studies discussed in classrooms often involve companies whose offices are visible from the campus boundary.Faculty and ResearchIIMB has a full-time faculty body of approximately 120 professors across disciplines including strategy, economics, finance, organisational behaviour, operations, marketing, public policy, and information systems, with a significant proportion holding doctoral degrees from institutions in North America and Europe. The school hosts several research centres that are directly relevant to executive education content, including the N.S. Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning (NSRCEL) — one of India's most active business incubators — the Centre for Public Policy, and the Centre for Financial Markets and Risk Management. Faculty regularly publish in journals such as the Journal of Finance, Management Science, and Strategic Management Journal, and a number of them serve on SEBI committees, RBI advisory panels, and corporate boards, ensuring that their classroom contributions are grounded in current institutional reality rather than abstraction. This bridge between academic rigour and policy-level practice is arguably what most distinguishes an IIMB faculty experience from peer institutions in India.Student Body, Alumni, and Career OutcomesExecutive education cohorts at IIMB typically reflect the industrial geography of India — strong representation from technology, banking and financial services, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, and the public sector, with participants drawn from companies including Infosys, Wipro, HDFC Bank, Tata Group companies, ISRO, and central government ministries. The broader IIMB alumni network encompasses over 40,000 graduates spread across more than 90 countries, with notable concentrations in senior roles at McKinsey, Goldman Sachs, Amazon, and across India's startup ecosystem. Alumni include figures such as Nandan Nilekani, co-founder of Infosys and architect of India's Aadhaar digital identity system, which speaks to the school's track record of producing leaders who operate at the intersection of business and public consequence. For executive participants, the alumni connection is particularly valuable in India's relationship-driven business culture, where an IIMB network credential carries institutional weight well beyond the classroom.