Live instructor-led | Private cohorts available | Group booking options available
Senior responsibility changes the nature of leadership. The challenge is no longer simply doing more; it is exercising judgement, communicating with weight, influencing across boundaries and making decisions that other people can execute.
Course Overview
The Advanced Leadership and Executive Presence program is designed for experienced managers and senior leaders who are ready to operate at the next level of organizational influence. It addresses the competencies that distinguish good managers from leaders others choose to follow and the specific skills that determine credibility, impact, and authority at executive level.
The program covers executive communication and boardroom presence, strategic thinking at organizational level, leading through complexity and ambiguity, building a personal leadership brand that transcends job title, and developing the political intelligence to navigate senior stakeholder environments effectively.
The program is available as an instructor-led classroom course in classroom cohorts when public dates are confirmed, as a fully live online program, and as a customized in-house program delivered exclusively for your organization. Every format is live and interactive. There are no pre-recorded sessions.
Course decision snapshot
Is this the right development fit?
Live, instructor-led and adaptable to context
Best fit
Senior managers, directors and experienced leaders moving into broader strategic influence
Delivery
Live classroom, live online, or private in-house delivery
Built around
Executive communication, presence, decision-making, influence and leadership under pressure
Take back to work
A sharper executive operating style with stronger communication and influence tools
Who Delivers This Program
Programs are delivered by subject-matter practitioners selected for relevance to the topic, audience level, and delivery context. For private and in-house cohorts, facilitator matching considers the organization’s industry and participant profile. A facilitator biography can be provided when a cohort is confirmed.
How We Make This Relevant to You Specifically
Our standard design process uses a short pre-course profile covering each participant’s role, industry, current challenges, and objectives. Facilitators use those profiles to calibrate examples, discussion, and exercises to the people in the room. For in-house programs, organizational priorities are also reviewed with the program sponsor before delivery.
What You Will Learn
By the end of this program, you will be able to:
Command a room with executive presence Project authority, composure, and credibility in any setting from board presentations to high-stakes negotiations.
Think and communicate strategically Frame issues at organizational level, connect decisions to strategy, and influence direction rather than just execute it.
Lead through ambiguity and complexity Make confident decisions with incomplete information and provide direction when the path is unclear.
Build and sustain a powerful leadership brand Develop a reputation and presence that extends beyond your current role and organization.
Navigate senior stakeholder environments Build the political intelligence and influencing skills to operate effectively at board and C-suite level.
Develop and retain high-performing leaders Build leadership bench strength below you by identifying, developing, and retaining the next generation of talent.
Lead organizational transformation Drive significant change initiatives from the senior level, managing resistance and maintaining momentum.
Sustain your effectiveness under sustained pressure Develop the personal resilience and self-awareness to perform consistently at the demands of senior leadership.
Framework at a glance
The executive influence model
01
FrameReduce complexity to the decision, stakes and recommendation.
02
PositionUse credibility, presence and stakeholder context deliberately.
03
InfluenceMove decisions without relying only on formal authority.
Executive Influence ModelMove from information delivery to decision-shaping
FramePositionInfluence
Move from information delivery to decision-shaping
Capability journey
How the learning moves from insight to application
The sequence is adapted to the participant group and delivery context, while keeping the focus on practical application.
01
Clarify executive leadership identity
02
Frame decisions strategically
03
Communicate with greater weight
04
Influence across complex stakeholder systems
Course Outline
The program is structured across the following modules. Depth and sequencing are calibrated to your chosen format and any customization agreed during the pre-course needs assessment.
Module 1: The Identity and Mindset of the Senior Leader
Leadership at senior level requires a fundamental reorientation of identity, from doing and managing to shaping, deciding, and embodying. This module addresses the internal and external shifts that distinguish senior leadership from management.
The transition from managing teams to leading organizations
How senior leaders think differently: systems thinking and long-range perspective
The identity challenges of senior leadership: authority, isolation, and visibility
Self-awareness as a leadership discipline: understanding your patterns under pressure
The internal narratives that limit senior leaders and how to examine them
Defining your senior leadership purpose and what you want to be known for
Workshop: your senior leadership identity audit
Module 2: Executive Presence Authority, Gravitas, and Credibility
Executive presence is not a personality type it is a set of specific, learnable behaviors that signal readiness, authority, and trustworthiness at senior level. This module deconstructs what it is, how it is perceived, and how to develop it deliberately.
What executive presence actually consists of: gravitas, communication, and appearance
How executive presence is assessed consciously and unconsciously in senior environments
Voice, pace, stillness, and physicality as tools of authority
Composure under pressure: staying credible when stakes are high and information is limited
Executive presence across cultures: adapting without losing authenticity in Gulf and international contexts
The behaviors that undermine executive presence that most senior leaders are unaware of
Workshop: peer feedback on executive presence in live presentation and discussion scenarios
Module 3: Strategic Communication for Senior Leaders
How senior leaders communicate shapes organizational culture, decision quality, and their own credibility. This module moves well beyond presentation skills into the deeper craft of strategic communication at executive level.
The difference between reporting and communicating: moving from data to narrative
Framing complex issues for boards, executive committees, and senior external stakeholders
The executive briefing: structure, language, and delivery for high-stakes audiences
Communicating organizational direction with clarity and conviction
How to disagree constructively at senior level without losing credibility or relationships
Silence, listening, and the strategic use of questions as leadership tools
Crisis communication: speaking with authority when the facts are still emerging
Workshop: live executive briefing with structured critique from peers and facilitator
Module 4: Strategic Thinking and Decision-Making at Senior Level
Senior leaders are paid to make good decisions, not just to gather information. This module develops the analytical and intuitive capabilities that distinguish sound strategic judgment from short-term thinking.
Strategic thinking vs operational thinking: the different cognitive modes and when to use each
Environmental scanning: reading markets, geopolitical signals, and organizational dynamics
Decision-making under uncertainty: frameworks for making confident calls with incomplete information
Cognitive biases that affect senior leaders’ decisions and how to identify and offset them
Building the decision-making culture of your organization through your own behavior
When to decide, when to delegate, and when to wait: judgment about the decision process itself
Post-decision review: learning from outcomes without letting hindsight bias distort the lesson
Workshop: strategic decision case studies drawn from participants’ actual organizational contexts
Module 5: Political Intelligence and Senior Stakeholder Navigation
Every senior leader operates in a political environment. The leaders who succeed understand organizational dynamics, know how to build and deploy influence, and navigate competing agendas without compromising their integrity.
Understanding organizational power: formal authority, informal influence, and network capital
Mapping the stakeholder landscape at board and C-suite level
Building coalitions: how to align diverse senior stakeholders behind a direction
Managing upward: the board, the CEO, and investors what they need and how to give it to them
Handling senior opposition constructively and without escalation
Cross-cultural political intelligence: navigating hierarchies and consensus norms in Gulf and international environments
Ethical lines in organizational politics: where influence ends and manipulation begins
Workshop: stakeholder mapping and influence strategy for a real current senior challenge
Module 6: Leading Organizational Transformation
Transformation is now a permanent state for most organizations, not a periodic event. Senior leaders who can design, initiate, and sustain large-scale change are among the most valuable in any industry.
The difference between change management and transformation leadership
Creating the strategic case for transformation: urgency, vision, and the cost of inaction
Architecture of large-scale change: sequencing, governance, and pace
Building organizational readiness before transformation begins
Managing resistance at senior level: understanding the motivations behind opposition
Sustaining momentum when transformation fatigue sets in
The leader as symbol: how personal behavior either accelerates or undermines transformation
Workshop: transformation leadership assessment using a participant’s real organizational change
Module 7: Building Leadership Bench Strength and Succession
Senior leaders who only focus on their own performance are managing, not leading. Building the leaders below you is one of the highest-leverage activities available to any executive.
Why developing others is a strategic priority, not a developmental nicety
Identifying high-potential leaders in your organization: what to look for beyond performance
Designing development experiences that build leadership capability, not just technical skill
Succession planning: building depth without creating dependency
Coaching as a senior leadership tool: moving from directive management to developmental leadership
Retaining high performers in environments where talent is mobile
Building a leadership culture that outlasts your own tenure
Workshop: succession plan review and leadership pipeline assessment
Module 8: Personal Resilience and Sustained Senior Performance
The demands placed on senior leaders are qualitatively different from those at any other level. The visibility, the decisions, the ambiguity, and the expectation of consistent strength create pressures that are rarely acknowledged openly. This module addresses them directly.
The specific psychological demands of senior leadership and why they are rarely talked about
Understanding your own stress responses and recovery patterns
Building personal practices that sustain performance over the long term
Managing the loneliness of senior leadership: building trusted support networks
Feedback deprivation at senior level: how to stay calibrated when honest feedback is rare
The intersection of personal values and organizational pressure: staying anchored under strain
Workshop: personal resilience audit and sustainability plan
Module 9: Your Senior Leadership Development Plan
The final module is devoted to translating every insight from this program into a concrete, individually tailored development plan that participants implement on return to their organizations.
Consolidating the key insights and commitments from each module
Identifying your highest-priority development areas based on your real current leadership context
Building a 90-day senior leadership development plan with specific actions and accountability
Identifying the conversations, experiences, and support you need to make progress
Peer coaching triads: presenting your plan and receiving structured input from fellow participants
Certificate of completion presentation
Why Advanced Leadership Capability Matters
As responsibility grows, leadership depends less on personal output and more on judgement, influence, communication, decision quality and the ability to align others around difficult priorities. This program develops those higher-leverage capabilities.
Who Should Attend
01
Senior managers, directors, and department heads moving toward executive level
02
Leaders managing managers who want to operate with greater strategic influence
03
High-potential professionals identified for senior leadership roles in the next twelve to twenty-four months
04
C-suite executives refreshing their senior leadership toolkit
05
Organizations investing in structured senior leadership pipeline development
Recommended minimum: five or more years of management experience. Participants from all industries and regions welcome. Delivered in English. Arabic delivery available for in-house programs on request.
How We Customize This Program for Your Organization
When delivered in-house, this program begins with a structured assessment of your organization’s senior leadership requirements, current capability gaps, and the strategic challenges your leaders are navigating. The program content is then calibrated accordingly.
Sector-specific case studiesAll strategic scenarios and examples are drawn from your industry and the specific challenges your senior leaders are navigating.
360-degree feedback integrationWhere desired, we incorporate a pre-program 360-degree leadership assessment to anchor individual development planning in real data.
Flexible formatDelivered as an intensive residential program, a standard format, or a modular series spread across several months depending on your organization’s preferences and schedules.
Cross-cultural leadership depthFor regionally or internationally diverse leadership teams, we incorporate substantive content on cross-cultural leadership including Gulf-specific leadership norms and expectations.
Program depth, schedule and examples are calibrated to the cohort and delivery environment rather than forced into one universal duration.
🏫
Live ClassroomFacilitated face to face with discussion, practice, peer exchange and applied workshop time.
💻
Live OnlineFully live and instructor-led, with interaction and practice rather than pre-recorded self-study.
🏢
Private / In-HouseAdapted to your organization, participant profile, scenarios, priorities and operational constraints.
Delivery Format
In-Person Classroom
Daily timetable confirmed for each scheduled session
Cohort size confirmed for each scheduled session
Public classroom cohorts when dates are confirmed
Materials and workbook included
Peer network of senior professionals
Live Online
Live instructor-led never pre-recorded
Flexible time-zone scheduling
Fully interactive with breakout groups
Digital workbook and resource pack
Same outcomes and same certificate as classroom
In-House / Corporate: Delivered exclusively for your organization’s senior leadership group, anywhere in the world. Fully customized to your industry, strategic context, and leadership framework. Request a proposal.
Pricing
The public-course fees shown below apply to the currently configured offering in Saudi Arabia and the GCC. Program length and structure may vary by cohort and delivery context; confirmed session details are shown when dates are scheduled.
Public fees exclude VAT or other applicable taxes.
$4,500
Per delegate Individual booking
$3,825
Per delegate 3 delegates (15% off)
$3,750
Per delegate 6 delegates (pay for 5)
Fees include all course materials, workbook, and certificate of completion. For courses delivered outside the GCC, fees vary by venue and are listed for each scheduled session on the Training Calendar. For in-house delivery anywhere in the world, contact us for a tailored proposal.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is this program different from LDR-01?
LDR-01 is designed for people in their first management role, transitioning from individual contributor to team leader. LDR-02 is designed for experienced leaders who already manage people or teams and want to develop the strategic influence, executive presence, and senior leadership capabilities required to operate at director and C-suite level.
What level of experience is expected?
We recommend a minimum of five years of management experience, with participants currently leading teams, departments, or functions. The program is designed to be peer-level discussions are most valuable when participants are at comparable stages of their leadership journey.
Can this be delivered for a leadership team within one organization?
Yes, and this is often the most powerful format. When senior leadership teams go through this program together, it creates shared language, aligned expectations, and a collective commitment to operating differently. Contact us to discuss a customized in-house proposal.
Is a 360-degree assessment included in the public program?
The standard public program includes the pre-course profiling process described on this page. Full 360-degree feedback assessments are available as an add-on or are incorporated into the in-house version of the program by default.
What certificate do participants receive?
Every participant who completes the program receives a TheSkillGrid Certificate of Completion in Advanced Leadership and Executive Presence. This can be added to LinkedIn profiles.
No sessions currently scheduled. Request course availability with your preferred date, location and group size. We will confirm available public-session and private-team options before any booking or payment.
We use optional Google Analytics cookies to understand visits and improve our training website. You can decline without affecting course enquiries. Read our Privacy Policy.