Leading Growth through Innovation and Technology

The programme is organised around a set of interrelated strategic themes that leaders revisit throughout the course, as different cases and situations bring each into focus.

Where do meaningful innovation opportunities come from?
How innovation directions emerge from strategic insight rather than unconstrained creativity, with an emphasis on ideas that are timely, relevant, and feasible given market dynamics and organisational realities.

What moment are we in—and how close is the future?
How broader technological, social, and competitive contexts shape innovation outcomes, why promising futures often stall, and how to distinguish lasting transformation from hype, including in AI-driven markets.

Why do some opportunities endure while others fade?
How opportunities evolve over time, why business models reach expiry, and how to recognise which bets are supported by durable tailwinds rather than temporary momentum.

When should leaders commit, adapt, or stop?
How strategic insight is translated into action through small, resilient bets, including the design of survivable first moves, decision gates, and the challenges of scaling as value migrates across industries.

When do organisations become the constraint—and how can leaders respond?
Why organisations absorb some changes while resisting others, how explore–exploit tensions intensify over time, and how leaders can realign structures, incentives, and decision rules without undermining existing operations. 

How you will learn
The programme is built around original, short cases developed specifically for the course, placing participants in real decision situations faced by leaders at the time rather than retrospective success stories. Alongside cases involving emerging and AI-intensive technologies, the programme draws extensively on historical examples to isolate timeless dynamics of innovation such as adoption, resistance, legitimacy, and timing.

Most sessions include direct interaction with case protagonists, who typically join live to discuss the decisions they faced and the trade-offs involved. Selected sessions also incorporate role-play exercises, such as a simulation of the early spread of coffee in Cairo, to immerse participants in these dynamics and sharpen strategic judgment through debate and decision-making under uncertainty.