International Directors Programme

The programme opens our eyes, shakes our way of thinking and pushes our instincts, transforming us into far more structured and effective board members.

It starts with having a purpose and knowing your values.

I’m able to more effectively bring across my views… Understanding the difference between the board and management role has helped me ask the right questions at the strategic level, and not go into execution. I know when to stop and not to meddle with management. I believe all of this has given me a lot more competency in the boardroom.

Ivan Kurtovic is something of an INSEAD veteran. CEO and Chairman of Croatia’s largest asset management firm, InterCapital Asset Management, Ivan holds no fewer than 18 INSEAD certifications; a function, he says, of his need to continuously navigate change. 

I was amazed at the pace and the breadth of learning from the get-go. We covered so much content in a really comprehensive way. I’d expected INSEAD to deliver quality, but it was actually quite surprising how much learning the programme delivered – the calibre of my peers, and the exceptional expertise of the faculty was impressive. Learning from this collective experience was just wonderful.

First, there’s the learning. The programme gave me access to some core tools and frameworks to sharpen my critical thinking on corporate governance issues and hone my judgement skills. Second, I gained a lot from the sheer diversity of the group. My cohort of 30 participants came from more than 20 countries. We were a very broad mix, which led to a lot of sharing of knowledge and invaluable country-specific insights.

I like INSEAD. I’ve done Executive Education programmes there before and every time I return it’s like being given oxygen. Thanks to the programme, I changed my behaviour. Now I spend two-thirds of my time at board meetings listening and only one-third talking – asking the right questions.

It gave me access to some valuable frameworks to round out my professional development as a director. But the learnings were not just theoretical – rather, they were about taking real-life examples and working out how I’d apply them once back on the job. As a result, I gained some very beneficial insights and tools to aid my decision making processes.

Common to both programmes is the fact that they provide you with insights into best practice. They help you see what you are doing right but also what you need to do better. You get to see this surrounded by an international group of peers. You realise that ultimately we are all confronted with similar issues, and you learn to tackle them effectively.

“If you want to stay at the cutting edge of global governance, elevate yourself above the pack and give yourself that next big lift, then I think the INSEAD International Directors’ Programme is absolutely the way to go.”