Transition to General Management

Comprehensive Leadership Development in a Disruptive Age

Although you will already have achieved success as a functional expert, stepping up to general management can be a difficult and potentially risky transition. General managers need a comprehensive toolkit in order to make this transition from specialist to generalist a successful one.

The Transition to General Management programme is our four-week, flagship general-management-level programme – exclusively designed to equip you with all the skills and knowledge needed for your transition to general management.

The programme will give you the confidence to manage the complexity you will be facing as you develop from a specialist into a generalist. In short, INSEAD’s unique tools and insights will prepare you to succeed in this most difficult of transitions, the point in a manager’s career when they need to quickly expand their knowledge of business.

How you benefit

• Grounding in the key business disciplines. Leave with an integrated view of business by discovering key linkages across disciplines, thus helping you deliver effective general management decision-making
• Managing disruption. Gain insights into key issues facing general managers in today’s business environment, such as the challenges of digital disruption
• Enhanced leadership skills. Achieve increased confidence and managerial impact through our integrated Leadership Development Process
• Managing for value. Develop a keen understanding of how to “manage for value,” not managing the “metrics”​

• An international learning experience. Benefit from diversity in the classroom and, if you choose, more than one location of study

Participant profile

Breadth and depth are what characterise Transition to General Management participants. As the name implies, they are so diverse in terms of nationality, international experience, culture and background that it is hard to generalise about them. But one thing is sure: they are all proven senior managers in their own area of business. And now they are on the threshold of the next step up: a highly successful general management career. In short, Transition to General Management is designed for senior functional or technical managers about to make the transition to general management and for recently appointed general managers.

Alumni status

On leaving the Transition to General Management programme, you become a full member of the INSEAD alumni community, open only to graduates of our world-famous MBA and other degree programmes, as well as selected former Executive Education participants.

This elite worldwide network consists of over 56,000 alumni in around 172 countries, many with very active National Alumni Associations. As part of the alumni community, you benefit from lifelong networking and professional development opportunities, including regional events, refresher programmes and reduced rates for all Executive Education.

This programme qualifies for the INSEAD Certificate in Global Management.