Executive education programs are booming as CEOs and other leaders head back to the classroom to learn how to address challenges like today’s AI landscape, The Wall Street Journal reported Oct. 22.
The global executive education program market is estimated to be worth $55.1 billion in 2026, according to Persistence Market Research. It is projected to reach $115.7 billion by 2033.
The rise of AI is also prompting leaders to weigh questions about ethical, human-centered leadership, the Journal reported. Programs tend to be held over weekends or packed into a few days, and participants do not earn a degree. Some programs ask participants to sign nondisclosure agreements so leaders can speak openly with peers.
Only 1 in 4 business leaders invited to Harvard Business School’s New CEO Workshop accept, according to the school’s former dean Nitin Nohria, PhD, who helps lead the program. Those who do attend often feel overwhelmed by their new positions.
“They say, ‘Oh, my God, I thought I was master of the universe, but I’m not feeling like a master of the universe,’” Dr. Nohria told the Journal.
An early assignment in the workshop asks new CEOs to draft the speech they would give at retirement a decade or more from now. The exercise is meant to help them sort out what matters most.
At the Laramie-based University of Wyoming’s Cowboy Leadership Experience, participants consider hypotheticals, such as whether they would leave a note after denting a parked car. Program leaders then show data suggesting most people would not. That leads into discussion of why ethical decisions are harder in business, where admitting a mistake could cost a client and, in turn, jobs, the Journal reported.
The programs also give executives a place to confide in peers. Many leaders describe feeling more exposed than their predecessors did, citing employees who criticize them online and leaked recordings of CEOs’ internal remarks, the Journal reported. For some participants, the takeaway is learning which topics fall outside their expertise and should be delegated.
CEOs who continue learning also shape their organizations, said Stephen Courtright, PhD, who leads Texas A&M’s Flippen Leadership Institute in College Station.
“When CEOs are deep into learning, they set up cultures of learning,” he told the Journal. “CEOs are the ultimate culture creators.”
Some health system CEOs have returned to school earlier in their careers in pursuit of additional degrees. Marlon Levy, MD, CEO of Richmond, Va.-based VCU Health, pursued an MBA while serving as chief of the system’s transplant surgery division, he told Becker’s in July. He said the degree helped him build the business fluency to advocate for resources and investment in his transplant program. Dr. Levy was named CEO in 2024.
Mandy Eaton, PhD, president and CEO of Springfield, Ill.-based Memorial Health, holds a doctorate in leadership, which she previously told Becker’s informs her approach to strategy and culture.
“The real work of a CEO is about staying brave enough to keep learning and growing,” Dr. Eaton said. “You have to keep stretching yourself into the version of the leader that your organization needs.”
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