Harvard Business School (America) Executive Education Study Abroad Report 2023 -Tomonari Sako

We are pleased to introduce a study abroad report from Tomonari Sako, who participated in the "Authentic Leader Development Program" executive  education program at Harvard Business School, America in May 2023.

HBS Authentic Leader Development Program (ALD)

I joined the Harvard Business School's Authentic Leader Development Program (ALD) for six days between May 14-19. There were 140 participants from 40 different countries joining the program. My goal was to understand my leadership style including my strengths, weaknesses and to gain key insights to develop my career goals.

LDG (Leader Development Group)

Every participant joined a Leader Development Group (LDG), which was a small group of 7-8 people. We had very intense and sometimes very personal conversations to enhance our leadership skills over the six days. My LDS consisted of an amazingly diverse team, including people from United States, Japan, Australia, Peru, Ethiopia, and Saudi Arabia. Everyone shared his or her own life story and key leadership challenges they faced. We had very open conversations and provided very candid feedback to each other. I was so excited to hear the views of people who I normally couldn’t reach out to. We had been working very hard to help our LDG colleagues solve their leadership challenges and at the end of the program we had developed very strong bonds. I felt like that we became one big family which I have never experienced before.

Class Discussion

Unlike other programs at HBS, this program didn’t use case studies. Based on the framework at the “Discover Your True North Field” book, we proceeded to discuss how to become an authentic leader. Prior to the class we were advised to complete exercises on the 1st chapter of the “Discover Your True North Field” book and interview 5 people who had played the significant role in our lives. We reviewed our own life story and leadership style was also essential preparation for the class discussion. In the class, we watched a lot of short videos, and had small group and whole class discussion. Professor Scott ’s facilitation was excellent and we were fully engaged. I was very inspired. My major take-away was that having good empathy for team members and being vulnerable are essential skills. In the end, we had to shape our own leadership purpose statement. This was not just a statement about our career aspirations but also about truly being ourselves and exploring our life story. In the LDG discussion we streamlined our statement. I was extremely grateful to all my LDG members who helped me complete my leadership statement and made me reflect upon my own my nature.

Finally, the program was finished with us watching a performance of a beautiful song by Keala Settlle and the Greatest Showmen Ensemble.

Reflection

The program was extremely inspiring and eye opening. I believe this is one of the best training programs I’ve ever taken in terms of the depth of the learning and deep engagement.  It brought together leaders around the world and was led by professor’s with very high facilitation skill. I highly recommend NUCB MBA students to take advantage of this excellent learning opportunity where you can find the value in being yourself and transform your leadership style which I believe will have a huge high impact on your future.