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Stanford LEAD Certificate:

Corporate Innovation
Learn. Engage. Accelerate. Disrupt.
You pioneer new ways of thinking. You challenge the status quo. You seek out knowledge
beyond traditional methods. At Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB), we do the same.
We have redefined the boundaries of learning to create an online experience with the academic
rigor, world-class faculty, and innovative frameworks for which Stanford GSB is renowned.

Dates: Program Starts

September 30, 2015
Application Deadline: August 17, 2015
Tuition: $16,000 USD
Program Format: Online
Price subject to change, limited enrollment.

Our approach gives you the freedom to master new skills in an interactive and flexible online
format. It lets you engage with a highly-selective peer group to inspire innovation and explore
fresh ideas. And it allows you to experiment with new learnings to address your specific
business challenges.
The result: deeper learning and a longer-lasting impact on you and your organization. And, a
prestigious Stanford GSB Certificate to demonstrate your leadership in driving positive change.

CORPORATE INNOVATION OVERVIEW

Which innovative ideas will deliver the greatest impact? How do you overcome organizational barriers to change? What will it take to move
from idea to implementation? The Stanford LEAD Certificate: Corporate Innovation gives you the strategic business tools and techniques
to accelerate change and transformation in your organization.
The Stanford LEAD Certificate is an 8-course commitment: a comprehensive, in-depth experience combining 3 foundation courses and 5
individually-selected electives, designed to be completed over the course of a year. Youll start with the key business fundamentals: finance,
strategy, and critical thinking. Then, youll deepen your knowledge with the electives you find most relevant, selecting from options such
as design thinking and the innovation process, building business models, and overcoming resistance to change.
Through a combination of self-paced video lectures, individual assessments, team-based projects, class-wide discussions, and ongoing
peer and faculty feedback, youll learn how to drive innovation from within. Exchange ideas and collaborate on projects with small teams of
like-minded, like-motivated peers. And engage with world-renowned Stanford GSB faculty, Silicon Valley leaders, coaches, thought leaders,
and luminaries through regular live events, discussions, and facilitated feedback.

KEY BENEFITS
Gain skills and strategies to accelerate and drive change in your organization
Learn at your own pace, on your own turf with self-paced video lectures
Collaborate and innovate with peers through team projects, class
discussions, and ongoing feedback
Iterate and innovate on the job, applying new learnings to real-world
business challenges
Showcase your success and demonstrate your skills and leadership with a
prestigious Stanford GSB certificate
Build a strong network of highly-qualified peers from around the globe
Be part of a select, pioneering group of change agents

EXECUTIVE EDUCATION / ONLINE

gsb.stanford.edu/exed/lead

Stanford LEAD Certificate: Corporate Innovation

UNIQUE APPROACH
We know that a great business educationwhether on campus or
onlineis more than just a series of courses. At Stanford GSB,
students engage with peers, collaborate on team projects, interact
with faculty and coaches, and learn from the experiences of highly
successful global business leaders.
The Stanford LEAD Certificate uniquely brings these same benefits
to the world of online learning. Were combining our top tenure-line
faculty with a small and highly selective cohort. Were employing a
suite of cutting-edge technologies that provide self-paced learning,
peer group collaboration, and a cloud-based immersive space for
interactive group experiences. Our ultimate goal: to create an
intimate, demanding, and impactful educational journey, one that
gives learners the freedom to chart their own course.

FOUNDATION COURSES

STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP

Courses may be subject to change.

Why are some firms more competitive than others? To be

successful, a manager must be able to diagnose the reasons
behind success and failure, and to be able to effectively improve
performance in the future. This course helps managers learn to
think strategically: how to identify opportunities and challenges,
how to develop a viable course of action, how to formulate a
strategy, and how to execute strategy so that their employees are
guided and motivated to achieve success. Our goal in this course is
to hone your strategic thinking skills so that this thought process
becomes second nature.

FINANCING INNOVATION: THE CREATION OF VALUE

Even the best and most innovative ideas will go nowhere unless we
can convince others to commit the necessary resources. Doing so
almost always requires that we make a compelling case that the
value of the opportunity far outweighs the upfront costs.
This course will cover the key techniques of financial valuation and
capital budgeting used by major corporations. Understanding
these techniques is critical for project sponsors to make sure their
ideas get the attentionand fundingthey deserve.
You will gain experience building an actual financial model to
assess a proposed new product launch. We will consider key financial
metrics that are often applied, and learn which ones are reliable
(and which are not). We will also look at how we can use the
financial model to guide our attention as project managers in order to
maximize the impact of our efforts. Along the way we will gain insight
into how financial markets work and how investors evaluate stocks.
Finally, we will learn how to use these skills to understand the drivers
of a companys stock price, or its value in an acquisition.
Key topics include:
Interpreting balance sheets and income statements
The difference between earnings and cash flows
Measuring value using NPV
ROI & IRR: Uses and abuses
Interest rates, risk, and the cost of capital
DCF/WACC valuation models
Building a financial model
We will use a combination of lectures, quizzes, and individual and
group exercises, together with a final team project, to prepare you
to build a valuation model for a hypothetical business venture. At
the conclusion of the course you will have built your own financial
model for a project or investment, as well as for evaluating a
company.

EXECUTIVE EDUCATION / ONLINE

Key topics include:

Improving your strategic thinking skills: your ability to diagnose
and evaluate a firms strategy
Enriching your ability to shape the context for strategic execution
through the levers of organizational design and leadership
Strengthening your ability to lead through strategic change

WHO WILL BENEFIT

The Stanford LEAD Certificate: Corporate Innovation is for
highly motivated professionals who are committed to creating
and sustaining change in their organizations. Its specifically
designed for:
Change agents from large and small companies who are
developing new products, services, and markets or embarking on
strategic pivots or cultural changes
Leaders of innovation teams in any field or organizationpublic
or private, profit or nonprofit
Busy professionals who have extensive organizational time
commitments making it impossible to be away from the office for
executive education

gsb.stanford.edu/exed/lead

CRITICAL ANALYTICAL THINKING

HOW IT WORKS

Critical Analytical Thinking is essentially the language of strategy.

It adds structure and transparency to the analysis and formulation
of strategy, and helps executives make decisions in a collaborative,
logical, and fact-driven fashion.

Courses will be comprised of self-paced video lectures and

assignments, individual assessments, team-based projects,
class-wide discussions, and ongoing peer and faculty
feedback. Learning methods for each course will be different,
and optimized for the individual course and its content.

This course will help you develop and hone skills necessary to
analyze complex problems, formulate well-reasoned arguments,
and consider alternative points of view. It will help you assess
innovative business models, identify critical issues, develop and
present well-reasoned positions, and evaluate evidence. You will
apply those skills to address a variety of management problems in
both this and subsequent courses in the Stanford LEAD
Certificate program.
Key topics include:
Foundations of logical reasoning
Using and interpreting evidence
Designing experiments
Using analogies
We will use a combination of lectures and case studies to prepare
you to present written and video arguments for your positions, and
to critique and debate those of your peers.

Courses will begin and end on a quarter-year schedule. Expect

to spend an average of three hours per week per course
consuming the material and completing the assignments. As
with the learning methods, the nature of the time commitment
will vary based on the specific content of each course.
The program is designed to be completed in one year with a
load of 2 courses per quarter. You can adjust the number of
courses you take each quarter if you would like more flexibility.
All students will take 3 foundation courses. Electives are
individually selected to address your interests and unique
business challenges.
To receive the Stanford LEAD Certificate you must have
successfully demonstrated mastery of 3 foundation courses
and 5 electives.

ELECTIVE COURSES

BUSINESS MODEL DESIGN

Courses may be subject to change. Please check website for complete

listing of electives.

Just as you wouldnt build a house without first creating a

blueprint, effective commercial innovation requires a blueprint of
the business that will be supported or generated by your
innovation. That blueprint is the business model, which comprises
three elements: the value creation model, which specifies how the
innovation will create and deliver differentiated value to its
customers, and who these customers will be; the profit model,
which specifies the sources of revenue, the cost structure, and the
drivers of profitability; and the logic of the business, which ties
together the value creation and profit models and explains how the
business will meet its growth and profitability objectives.

MOBILIZING FOR SUCCESSFUL CHANGE: A TOOLKIT

Many new initiatives fail and lead to a downward spiral of disinterest
and distrust. Yet, by employing a thoughtful methodology to
mobilize for change, you can avoid common pitfalls and navigate the
challenges that often accompany change initiatives.
This course provides an array of simple but powerful tools for
managers to lead and implement change. It employs a framework
developed from four decades of social science research identifying
five sub-processes for change: Persuading, Recruiting Support,
Energizing New Behavior, Staffing a Change Team, and Sequencing
Change (PRESS). At the end, you will understand each of these
processes and apply them to your own change initiative via a 100day plan.
Key topics include:

Iterating on business model development helps innovators follow a

structured process for planning and building new ventures on a
standalone basis or within established enterprises. In this course
well use case studies to discuss the process of structuring
business models, address the core elements of a business model,
and practice the design of innovative business models of new and
established companies from multiple industries.

Overcoming change blindness

Key topics include:

Tools to undertake change readiness of different internal

constituencies

Purpose of a business model

Persuading your organizational superiors, peers, and

subordinates

Adoption and business model development

Recruiting support and overcoming resistance

Energizing new behavior through information, incentives, and
empowerment
Staffing a change team

Elements of business model design

Business model archetypes and the associated logic
Profit models and unit economics
Network effect businesses
Business model examples

Sequencing change
Developing your 100-day change plan
We will use a combination of lectures and case studies to develop
your toolkit for change, and then provide a collaborative space for
you to share and receive feedback on your work.

EXECUTIVE EDUCATION / ONLINE

gsb.stanford.edu/exed/lead

With new technologies we have the opportunity to rethink learning as a journey rather
than an event. The LEAD certificate journey will provide interactive, social, academic
experiences in a flexible format, fostering deeper and more integrated learning, and
empowering leaders to drive impactful organizational change.
Peter DeMarzo | Faculty Director

Stanford LEAD Certificate: Corporate Innovation

FACULTY DIRECTOR
Peter DeMarzo, the Mizuho Financial Group Professor of Finance at
Stanford Graduate School of Business and Faculty Director for
Educational Technology, focuses his research in the areas of corporate
finance, asset securitization, and contracting, as well as market
structure and regulation. His recent work has examined issues of the
optimal design of securities, the regulation of insider trading and
broker-dealers, and the influence of information asymmetries on
corporate investment.

OTHER STANFORD GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS FACULTY

Jennifer L. Aaker
General Atlantic Professor of Marketing
William P. Barnett
Thomas M. Siebel Professor of Business
Leadership, Strategy, and Organizations;
Affiliated Faculty, Woods Institute for the
Environment at Stanford
Daniel M. Klein
Lecturer in Management
Haim Mendelson
Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Professor
of Electronic Business and Commerce, and
Management; Codirector of the Value Chain
Innovation Initiative
Margaret A. Neale
Adams Distinguished Professor of Management
Jeffrey Pfeffer
Thomas D. Dee II Professor of
Organizational Behavior
Hayagreeva Rao
Atholl McBean Professor of Organizational
Behavior and Human Resources; Professor of
Sociology (by courtesy), School of Humanities
and Sciences; Academic Director, Stanford
Innovation and Entrepreneurship Certificate

J.D. Schramm
MBA Class of 1978 Lecturer in
Organizational Behavior
Baba Shiv
Sanwa Bank, Limited, Professor of Marketing
Jesper Srensen
Robert A. and Elizabeth R. Jeffe Professor of
Organizational Behavior; Professor of Sociology
(by courtesy), School of Humanities and
Sciences; Faculty Director, Stanford Institute for
Innovation in Developing Economies
Sarah A. Soule
Morgridge Professor of Organizational Behavior;
Professor of Sociology (by courtesy), School of
Humanities and Sciences
Larissa Tiedens
Jonathan B. Lovelace Professor of
Organizational Behavior; Senior Associate Dean
for Academic Affairs
Stefanos Zenios
Charles A. Holloway Professor of Operations,
Information and Technology; Director, Center for
Entrepreneurial Studies

THE STANFORD DIFFERENCE

At Stanford were pioneers. Its part of our heritage, our present and our future. Stanford
helped put Silicon Valley on the map, and Silicon Valley launched the industries that have
shaped our modern world. At Stanford we teach leaders to be pioneers of the modern
frontier. Think critically. Challenge assumptions. Change the rules of competition. Now, were
changing the rules of business education.

STANFORD LEAD CERTIFICATE

This is more than a piece of paper to
frame, a virtual badge to post on
LinkedIn, or a line item on your resume.
Its recognition that youre one of a
select few who have demonstrated the
skills, leadership, and motivation to
drive positive changeat workand in
the world.

TAKE THE NEXT STEP

For more information, or to apply for
the Stanford LEAD Certificate:
Corporate Innovation, please contact
Fernando Contreras, Associate Director,
Extended Learning.
Phone: +1.650.736.7901
Email: gsb_stanfordleadcertificate@
stanford.edu

EXECUTIVE EDUCATION / ONLINE

gsb.stanford.edu/exed/lead