Preparing to Be a Corporate Director
Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School, the graduate business school of Harvard University, was founded in 1908 as the first business school in the world to offer the Master of Business Administration degree. Located in Allston, Massachusetts, directly across the Charles River from Harvard's main Cambridge campus, it operates as a professional school within a private Ivy League research university. HBS was founded on the conviction that management is a profession — one that could and should be taught rigorously, the way law or medicine is taught. That founding philosophy still drives the school today: every program, at every level, is designed around the development of leaders who shape practice, not just understand it.Accreditations and RankingsAccreditationsAACSB accreditedEQUIS accreditedAMBA accredited(Triple Crown accredited)Rankings#1 MBA Program — U.S. News & World Report, 2024#1 Executive MBA — Financial Times, 2023#4 Global MBA — Financial Times, 2024#1 Business School in the United States — QS Global MBA Rankings, 2024HBS Executive Education programs consistently ranked among the top globally by Financial Times Executive Education rankings, 2023Executive Education at a GlanceHarvard Business School Executive Education is one of the largest and most recognised providers of senior leadership development in the world, with more than 10,000 participants completing open-enrollment and custom programs each year. The portfolio spans over 50 open programs alongside a substantial custom programs practice serving corporations, governments, and nonprofits — organisations including Goldman Sachs, McKinsey, and numerous sovereign wealth funds have built long-term custom relationships with HBS. Core topic areas include leadership and organisational change, strategy and innovation, finance and private equity, negotiation, family enterprise, and board governance.Programs range from two days to nearly three weeks in length. Flagship offerings include the Advanced Management Program (AMP) — the school's most intensive and longest-running senior leadership program, typically spanning eight weeks for C-suite executives — as well as the General Management Program (GMP), Leadership for Senior Executives, and Driving Digital Strategy. Almost all open programs are delivered in-person on the Allston campus, a deliberate choice given the case-method's dependence on live debate and peer interaction, though selected programs have hybrid or online components. Open program fees typically range from approximately $5,000 for shorter seminars to over $75,000 for the AMP; need-based and merit scholarships are not generally available for executive programs, though some employers sponsor participants through negotiated corporate relationships.Campus and FacilitiesThe HBS campus in Allston covers 40 acres and was purpose-built for professional education — it is a self-contained residential environment with executive housing, dining, case-writing facilities, and dedicated classroom buildings designed around the horseshoe-shaped tiered seating that the case method demands. Aldrich Hall, one of the school's signature classroom buildings, has been replicated in architectural spirit at business schools worldwide precisely because it enforces the dynamic that HBS pioneered: every participant can see every other participant. Boston adds a layer of context that few cities can offer — it is simultaneously a global hub for financial services, life sciences, and technology, and a city dense with research institutions, meaning that speakers, site visits, and evening programming routinely draw on a living business ecosystem just minutes from campus.Faculty and ResearchHBS has a faculty of approximately 200 full-time professors, drawn from disciplines including economics, sociology, organisational behaviour, finance, and political science — a deliberately interdisciplinary composition that reflects the school's view that business problems rarely respect academic boundaries. The school's research output is substantial and practice-facing: HBS faculty produce roughly 350 new cases per year through the HBS Case Collection, the largest repository of business cases in the world with over 50,000 cases in print. Research centres relevant to executive participants include the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness (home to Michael Porter's work on competitive advantage and shared value), the Rock Center for Entrepreneurship, and the Arthur Rock Center for Entrepreneurship. Faculty who teach in executive programs — including professors such as Linda Hill, Amy Edmondson, and Mihir Desai — are typically the same scholars whose research appears in Harvard Business Review and top academic journals, making the gap between published idea and classroom application unusually short.Student Body, Alumni, and Career OutcomesExecutive Education cohorts at HBS are deliberately international, with participants typically drawn from more than 40 countries in any given program cycle, and industries ranging from financial services and private equity to healthcare, government, and the military. The broader HBS alumni network exceeds 85,000 living graduates across more than 175 countries — a density that means almost any city in which a participant does business will contain a fellow alumnus within one or two degrees of separation. Alumni hold an outsized share of senior leadership positions globally: HBS graduates lead or have led organisations including JPMorgan Chase, Bloomberg LP, Sheryl Sandberg's tenure at Meta, and a significant proportion of Fortune 500 boards. For executive participants who are not degree candidates, the school extends alumni-adjacent network access during and immediately after their program, and many participants cite peer relationships formed in residence as the most durable professional outcome of their time at HBS.
Available Cohorts
Choose your preferred start date
All-inclusive program fee
Duration
3 days
Format
in-person
Topic
Governance & Boards
Language
English
About This Program
What does it take to succeed as a corporate director? For senior executives interested in joining a corporate board, preparation is key.
Multi-faceted learning and the case method - We approach learning from every angle—a robust blend of faculty presentations, case studies, individual and group exercises, small group discussions, and large classroom debates. Among these formats is our renowned case method, where you'll learn to think on your feet, sharpen your analytical skills, and make critical decisions in real time. The case method puts you in the role of chief decision-maker, navigating challenges facing leading companies around the world. Arrive with an open mind—leave with a global perspective, unparalleled leadership skills, and a network of dedicated peers around the world.
Learning groups - Immerse yourself in an environment that creates space for deep, constructive engagement with a diverse set of peers from leading organizations. You'll forge powerful connections and gain valuable perspectives in our intimate learning groups. These smaller groups within your program cohort will transform into a personal board of advisors during the program and beyond.
Why Harvard Business School?
Harvard Business School doesn't trade on prestige alone — it has spent over a century building a pedagogy that is genuinely different. The case method, developed and refined at HBS, means that even a three-day open program puts you in the seat of a CEO facing a real decision, not a consultant presenting a framework. If you want to be taught at, there are cheaper options. If you want to be challenged to think differently, HBS is hard to match.
Your Profile
- Senior executives interested in serving on a corporate board
- Retired executives or executives preparing for retirement and considering board opportunities
- C-level executives who are board-facing
- Partners from audit or consulting firms
- Partners and executives of private equity and venture capital firms
- Nonprofit board directors who aspire to serve on corporate boards
- New board members who are in small and medium-sized firms
Benefits
- Multi-faceted learning and the case method - We approach learning from every angle—a robust blend of faculty presentations, case studies, individual and group exercises, small group discussions, and large classroom debates. Among these formats is our renowned case method, where you'll learn to think on your feet, sharpen your analytical skills, and make critical decisions in real time. The case method puts you in the role of chief decision-maker, navigating challenges facing leading companies around the world. Arrive with an open mind—leave with a global perspective, unparalleled leadership skills, and a network of dedicated peers around the world.
- Learning groups - Immerse yourself in an environment that creates space for deep, constructive engagement with a diverse set of peers from leading organizations. You'll forge powerful connections and gain valuable perspectives in our intimate learning groups. These smaller groups within your program cohort will transform into a personal board of advisors during the program and beyond.
What You'll Learn
- Examine the fundamentals of corporate governance and prepare to confidently assume the role of a board director
- Understand key responsibilities, including legal and fiduciary duties
- Add value to an organization by overseeing its leadership and strategic direction
- Balance the demands of shareholders with those of other stakeholders
- Evaluate opportunities for board service and perform due diligence before joining
- Develop a personal strategy for integrating board service into your career or retirement