Certified Executive MBA - Upgrade

From Strategic Leadership to Enterprise Transformation

The Executive MBA Programme equips visionary leaders with the competence required to analyse, architect, orchestrate, and realise systemic organisational evolution across the enterprise

Participants

For those engaged in or responsible for strategy

Level

EQF Level 7 equivalent

Prerequisites

Open Strategising Certified Master Strategy & Change

Certificate

Open Strategising Certified Executive Master Business Administration

Course information

Length7 months

Occasions4 x 2 days

Format: In person

Language: Swedish

Orchestrating Strategy Effectively

While strategy development sets the direction, true impact is achieved only through disciplined execution. The Executive MBA Programme transforms participants into strategic leaders capable of orchestrating complex, organisation-wide change and translating strategy into tangible outcomes. The programme is designed to develop participants through four advanced but complementary modules, each addressing a critical pillar of strategy: Layouts, Leverage, Learning, and Lives. Together, they combine the structural and analytical dimensions of business - such as organisation design, governance, and performance management - with the critical human and behavioural elements required to navigate change, build resilience, and lead complex transformations effectively.

Orchestrate Strategy Effectively

Gain the expertise to translate strategy into tangible outcomes by effectively structuring the organisation's governance and optimising enterprise-wide performance and value

Lead Complex Transformations

Develop the critical capabilities to navigate change and build organisational resilience, mastering the human and group dynamics required to successfully lead yourself and your teams through adaptation.

Grow Your Professional Network

Connect with peers and strategy leaders committed to driving tangible impact, sharing real-world execution challenges, and expanding your network across organisations and industries

Certification and recognition

Earn your Open Strategising Certified Executive Master Business Administration credential. After completing all four modules (Layouts, Leverage, Learning, and Lives), you will receive an official certification from the Open Strategising Academy as an Open Strategising Certified Executive Master Business Administration, at a professional level corresponding to EQF Level 7. This capstone credential demonstrates your competence in orchestrating strategy, navigating complex organisational change, and driving tangible, sustainable performance.

The Executive MBA credential qualifies you to participate in the annual OS Advancement Clinic, where elite practitioners and academics collectively push the boundaries of strategy and change work.

Diagram of the three certification levels as stacked layers, with the Executive MBA level highlighted

Participant Profiles

This programme is designed for managers, directors, and strategy leaders who hold ultimate accountability for translating aims into operational reality. It is intended for those who already master strategy development and now need to orchestrate complex realisation across organisations.

What you will learn

The Executive MBA Programme in Open Strategising equips participants with the advanced frameworks and behavioural insights needed to navigate the complexities of enterprise-wide execution. By integrating the structural elements of business with the human dynamics of change, the programme builds the elite competence required to turn strategic ambitions into operational reality.

Upon completion of the course, participants will be equipped to:

Critically design and assess organisational structures, span of control, and formal versus informal networks.
Evaluate financial accountability through the Income Statement (PnL) and Balance Sheets, understanding the implications of agency theory in corporate governance.
Drive performance through effective goal-setting, delegation, and financial accountability.
Lead complex transformations using systems thinking, transformation logic, and structured experimentation.
Navigate human and group dynamics by mitigating cognitive biases in decision-making and leveraging diversity and emotional intelligence.
Design, test and evaluate a change within at least one topic that leads to better strategy work in their own organisation.

Programme content

The programme is structured around four modules.

Layouts: Structuring Organisations and Governance. How do we organise to get the job done? Topics: Organisational Configuration, Structural Mechanics, Financial Performance Backbone, Governance and Decision Systems, and Agency and Incentive Alignment. Executive asset: The Operational Blueprint, an analysis of organisation design, the income statement (PnL) and the balance sheet.
Leverage: Improving Performance. How do we evaluate and drive results and performance? Topics: Performance Management Design, Performance Improvement, Activities Generation and Selection, and Performance Measures Adjustments. Executive asset: The Performance Protocol, a draft of performance principles and management, including goal-setting, delegation and accountability.
Learning: Navigating Change and Resilience. How do we ensure adaptation and change? Topics: Change Approaches, Change Tempo and Organisation, Change Prerequisites, and Strategy Resilience. Executive asset: The Resilience Framework, a draft of how the organisation chooses, paces and organises change, and what must be in place to sustain it.
Lives: Mastering Self and Others. How do we lead ourselves and teams effectively? Topics: Decision-Making Architecture, Behavioural Strategy and Bias, High-Performance Team Dynamics, and Adaptive Leadership. Executive asset: The Team Operating Manifesto, a draft of how to work with teams in the organisation.

Examination

The certificate requires:

Active participation and 100% attendance. A missed day can be made up at a later course date.
A knowledge test: at least 75% correct answers, with unlimited retakes.
An individual change project: you change something within at least one topic in Layouts, Leverage, Learning or Lives that leads to better strategy work in your organisation. It is developed in prototype seminars along the way and documented in a 15 to 20 page report, graded pass or fail.

Meet your instructors

To ensure a high academic standard, programmes and courses are led by experienced instructors with PhDs, combining extensive academic expertise from leading universities with substantial practical experience. This practical experience spans C-level roles, consulting, and the management of strategy and business development across a wide range of organisations, from multinational corporations to start-ups, ensuring that insights are grounded in diverse, real-world contexts.