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Why study a Program for Management Development (PMD)? (FAQs)

IESE Standout — Fri, 24 Mar 2023 16:14:35 +0000

If you have more than 5 years of management experience and are interested in continuing to grow or successfully launching your own project, a Program for Management Development (PMD) may be one of the best options available to you. But is it the right training for your goals?

Below is a list of the most frequently asked questions about the Program for Management Development (PMD):

What is a PMD?

What will you learn with a PMD?

How much time commitment does a PMD require?

Who signs up for a PMD?

Where can I study a PMD?

How much does a PMD cost and are there potential scholarships?

What is the difference between a PMD and other similar IESE programs?

What is a PMD?

The Program for Management Development, or PMD, is one of the most comprehensive programs for people with high responsibilities within a company. It is an ideal program if you have 5 years, or more, of management experience and want to improve and hone your objectives, strategies and working methods, learning how to fluidly adapt to the ever-changing present and future global market.

What will you learn with a PMD?

A PMD is a transformative experience in every sense. Below are some of the most important areas of focused training:

You will gain confidence in decision making

You will acquire a comprehensive vision of your company, as well as of the different departments that make it up. You will incorporate vital new skills and discover how to think strategically in order to make quick and effective decisions with greater confidence to achieve the very best results.

You will boost your leadership skills

You will be taught how to build committed and motivated teams and make a positive impact on people and society. You will also discover how to manage people in the most effective way, especially in situations where conflicts need to be resolved.

You will expand your network of contacts

You will share your experiences with other managers and make invaluable strategic contacts with whom you can share problems or solve day-to-day doubts as your career advances over the future years.

You will improve your managerial skills

You will consolidate yourself within your organization, opening up new professional paths, learning directly from some of the most acclaimed and successful entrepreneurs from around the globe.

How much time commitment does a PMD require?

The duration of the PMD usually ranges from 6 to 8 months, depending on the overall size of the classes and the scope of the program. In any case, as they are aimed at professionals with positions of great responsibility, they usually offer the necessary flexibility so that participants can combine their studies with their personal and work obligations.

However, if you are looking for as much time flexibility as possible, you will probably be interested in finding out more about online and, especially, hybrid modalities, since, by combining virtual classes with some face-to-face classes, these options better guarantee continuous contact with both teachers and students.

Who signs up for a PMD?

As these types of programs usually require the accreditation of at least 5 years of experience in management positions, the average profiles of PMD participants are usually comprised of directors, managers or entrepreneurs around 40 years of age. In any case, statistics are there to be broken and if you believe that a PMD is what you need to continue to grow in your career, it doesn’t matter if you are younger or older than the above average.

Where can I study a PMD?

This is one of the most important questions, since choosing a great center can sometimes be more important than the choice of the program itself. We recommend you to choose a prestigious center, endorsed by international rankings, and to ask as many alumni as you can about their experience before making your decision.

How much does a PMD cost and are there potential scholarships?

As in everything else, there are training courses that require a greater or lesser financial expenditure depending on the academic and professional credentials of the teachers, the global acclaim and reputation of the school that offers it, the facilities, the average job position of the standard participants, etc.

Therefore, as a result, the range of program prices is very wide and, when deciding on one center or another, it is important to take into account both the expected return on investment and the possible financial aid offered by the chosen institution, in case you need it.

To calculate a more personalized final price, you should also take into account any possible commuting, accommodation and other costs in the event that the classes are face-to-face and the center where you have chosen to study the PMD is far from your current home. As with the entire range of IESE’s programs, there are available when applying.

What is the difference between a PMD and other similar IESE programs?

A PMD is an intense journey, usually undertaken by managers with very strong profiles who are looking to take a great professional leap forward by developing their management skills.

Find below the summary of other similar programs:

Executive MBA (EMBA). Statistically, Executive MBA students tend to be somewhat younger (32 years old) than PMD students (40 years old) , and therefore they have more time to fully immerse themselves in the 18 months that this educational journey usually lasts. As an extra motivation, Executive MBA students may want or need the official qualification that accompanies this program. Read more about the differences between a PMD and an Executive MBA.

Global CEO Program (GCP). For people with less than 5 years in management positions.

Advanced Management Program (AMP). You may be eligible if you have more than 10 years of managerial experience.

Global Executive MBA (GEMBA). For people with 15 years of experience or more, who are looking for international experience and who also require an official qualification.

Find out more about all the programs offered by IESE to boost your career at every stage of your professional path.

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Steffen Sauer. Entrepreneurship with purpose in Africa. Success Stories

IESE Standout — Fri, 05 Mar 2021 11:22:20 +0000

Walking with rangers in Kenya inspired Steffen Sauer to set up a business that supports rangers and reforestation to protect African wildlife.

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An eye-opening trip to Kenya in 2018 changed Steffen Sauer’s life. The German executive volunteered to live and work alongside rangers as they patrolled Kenya’s wilderness in search of illegal poaching and logging. Kenya’s elephant population and forests are under threat from black-market trade in bush meat, ivory and timber.

“Witnessing the beauty of wildlife and the rangers fighting for it every day while being exposed to so many threats and challenges really made me think,” he recalls.

Getting his hands dirty

“Leave your comfort zone”. That’s one of Sauer’s mottos. And it’s something he has done throughout his career. Working for the German automotive supplier ZF Group, when a role came up as Head of Production for the Asia-Pacific region, he jumped at the chance and moved to China. “If you get a chance to work abroad, do it,” he says. “It will totally change you. You’ll develop a completely new skillset, collect lots of new impressions, and meet people along the way who will leave a mark on you or become your friends”.

After three years in Asia, he returned to Germany and got in touch with Raabia Hawa, a Kenyan conservationist who runs the Ulinzi Africa Foundation, a nonprofit focused on ranger welfare and wildlife protection. Sauer explains, “At that point, I wanted to get more involved than just sitting on my couch watching nature documentaries and donating to organizations at Christmastime”.

Little could he have imagined, as he watched the sunrise over his camp, that in a year’s time he would launch a social enterprise, and the hot drink in his hand would be a Kenyan coffee whose purchase would go toward wildlife conservation in the country he had grown to love.

He signed up for one of her initiatives, Walk With Rangers, which involved two weeks of doing exactly what the name suggests. “It was a mind-blowing experience,” he says. He would help the rangers find and dismantle animal snares and destroy kilns used to burn trees for charcoal. “We even caught an illegal logger”.

The hot, sweaty, dangerous business of being a ranger impacted him, as the rangers showed him their scars from being attacked by a wild animal or by a local with a machete. And those were the lucky ones who had lived to tell the tale. “It took me some time to digest all of that.” Even more disturbing for him to learn was that few of these rangers had any health, life or disability insurance or received any PTSD counselling triggered by a colleague’s death in the line of duty. They lacked basic supplies like boots, tents and GPS devices, and needed more training.

Brewing up a new business

This started Sauer thinking: “How could I generate a sustainable source of funding for the foundation? What product could I sell that’s linked to Kenya and/or the purpose of wildlife conservation? What’s something that people need, want or do on a daily base that I could link to Kenya and/or the purpose?” His answer: coffee.

Sauer, who had just completed a Program for Management Development (PMD) at IESE, decided to follow two of his other mottos: “Be the change you want to see in the world” and “Follow the gold and money will follow.” Regarding the first point, he took a sabbatical from his job to set up Ulinzi Conservation Coffee.

And with regard to the second, he says: “What do you want to do in life? I believe it’s important to work for a purpose, to contribute to something bigger, to chase a dream (the gold). If you start with that, money will follow”.

The idea is to sell fair-trade coffee products — enabling a larger share of the sales price to reach the coffee farmer, contributing to the development and living conditions of the producers’ business, while supporting wildlife and reforestation activities in Kenya through local partners, the Ulinzi Africa Foundation and Seedballs Kenya. “Everyone involved gets a fair share — I believe that’s the only way to do it,” he says.

“I wanted to get more involved than just sitting on my couch and donating at Christmastime”.

Steffen Sauer.

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Besides Raabia Hawa, Sauer’s own brother, who did an MBA at IESE, also became a partner: “Tobias was already curious about my trips. He liked the idea so much he joined the team.” And he convinced an IESE PMD classmate, Kai Gradert, to join him on a return trip to Kenya this past summer to experience Walk With Rangers for himself.

Though it’s still early days, he’s optimistic about the future: “Things may not work out how we want them to be, but it’s all about how we react, adapt, learn, stand up and do it again, but next time better”.

His final advice for those contemplating their New Year’s resolutions: “It’s so easy to stick with what you know, but if you stay too long where you feel comfortable, you won’t achieve any further development. As soon as you feel too comfortable, you need to change something. Keep moving forward. I learned the biggest lessons when I left my comfort zone. Always go for the choice that scares you most”.

Once again, he’s heeding his own advice: after eight years with ZF Group, and amidst the launch of his new coffee venture, he recently joined Lilium, the German startup building a flying electric taxi. For Sauer, things are literally starting to take off.

Resolutions to change your life

These mottos from Steffen Sauer (PMD ’19) changed his life. Might they change yours, too?

Be consistent: Stand up for what you believe in, but make sure you practice what you preach: this builds trust.
Be yourself: Be the kind of person you would want to meet in life.
Be inconvenient: Don’t hold back from stating inconvenient truths – but also propose solutions.
Challenge the status quo: Just because you’ve always done things a certain way doesn’t mean it’s the best way. Make little improvements every day.
Be the change you want to see in the world: To change others, start by changing yourself. If others see you willing to make the changes that you’re asking them to make, it’s easier for them to follow suit.
Leave your comfort zone: Go for the choice that scares you most, rather than the easy option. That will help spur you forward and develop further. If it doesn’t challenge you, it won’t change you.
Accept failure: We all make mistakes; what matters is how we react. Do you complain and give up? Or do you learn from your mistakes and resolve to do better next time?
Follow the gold and money will follow: Work for a purpose, to contribute to something bigger: that’s the real gold; money comes after.
Do it with passion or not at all: You only live once, so do it now or never.
Work abroad: If you get the chance, do it. You’ll develop a completely new skillset, collect lots of new impressions, and meet people along the way who will leave a mark on you or become lifelong friends.

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Main differences between EMBA and PMD programs

IESE Standout — Mon, 21 Dec 2020 15:34:54 +0000

When you’ve gained a certain degree of experience in the world of business management, there comes a time when you have to decide if you want to go even further. If you find yourself at this point in your career, congratulations! Because you’re one step away from embarking on a process that has the potential to change your life. However, that first step may be the hardest of all.

Even if you’ve already decided to take your career to the next level and to aspire to positions of greater responsibility through executive training (https://executiveeducation.iese.edu/es/), choosing the right program at this point in your career is no simple task.

Becoming the leader you want to be is going to require resources and a lot of effort, two ingredients that may be in short supply right now in your day-to-day life, and at a time when you’re likely also dealing with important personal and professional commitments.

Correctly choosing the right executive training program which best fits your reality is essential to achieving your objectives and developing yourself as a leader capable of positive and tangible impact. To make this selection process a little easier, in this article we want to help you better differentiate the two most in-demand programs by executives like you: the Executive MBA (EMBA) and the Program for Management Development (PMD).

An Executive MBA or PMD: Learn to differentiate the two most in-demand programs by executives like yourself

Age and professional experience

Although age and professional experience are not determining factors when choosing between the two programs, they can be useful as starting points.

The most frequent EMBA profile is a 32-year-old professional with a minimum of five years of experience in positions of responsibility, an optimal level of English and a high analytical capacity demonstrable through their GMAT test score. On the other hand, the typical PMD participant is usually 39-years-old and also has five years of experience, but in team management.

However, bear in mind that these data are only statistics and that each classroom is made up of very different profiles and realities that enrich the quality of both types of programs. This in mind, your specific age and years of experience should serve as orientative factors rather than impediments. It is important to note that the EMBA – being an accredited MBA program – has a more exhaustive admission process. In the PMD, on the other hand, the personal interview is the most determining factor when it comes to being admitted to the program.

The EMBA offers an intense journey of personal and professional transformation that trains you to take on any challenge that arises in the corporate realm.

Program content and structure

In the words of a recent participant who is very familiar with both programs, a quite graphic way to understand what you’ll learn and, above all, the implications of these learnings are that “the PMD is like facing a half marathon and the EMBA, a full marathon.”

As such, both prepare you to make decisions from a general management standpoint, both offer you new skills to master decision-making, and both programs boost the development of your leadership. Both will cause you to grow through the challenges posed and the dedication required. And, in addition, with both programs, you’re free to balance your courses with your current job and apply what you’re learning in the classroom immediately, since classes are concentrated on the weekends and during intensive weeks. But it’s not the same to commit to managerial training for six months as it is for 18.

In this sense, in a relatively short period of time, the PMD covers eight key leadership competencies to accelerate your trajectory towards top management through interaction, discussion of real cases and simulations. Considering that the participants usually arrive with significant experience leading teams, such a compressed format is made the most of, bringing out the best of every participant from day one.

Meanwhile, the EMBA is an intense and long journey of personal and professional transformation that prepares you to take on any corporate challenge. Over the course of nearly two years, with 300 cases, three international weeks, exams, simulations and 1,500 hours of individual and team work, you will deeply refine your knowledge of the main areas of business management, decision-making, your global vision of business and the skills of well-rounded and efficient leaders.

As we said at the beginning, both programs will get you into shape, the only difference is that the PMD will leave you as sweaty as a short but very intense race, and the EMBA with leave you with a muscular soreness that will last you a few more weeks.

The PMD covers eight key leadership competencies in a relatively short period of time to accelerate your track to top management.

Your personal situation

Undoubtedly, where you are in life and your aspirations should be the definitive parameters for making the final decision to pursue a Program for Management Development or an Executive MBA. Once you’ve looked over the figures and details of each program, it’s worth asking yourself with all honesty which of the two better fits your unique situation right now, which one will you be able to enjoy more, and which one will you get more out of. In short, which program can you afford in terms of time and resources, and which one will help you reach your professional goals and expectations.

Although each candidate is different, those who opt for the Executive MBA usually have it very clear that they want to live the full experience of an MBA program or they want to add an MBA degree to their CVs. Either because it’s something they’ve always wanted to do, because they aspire to positions that require the qualification, because they dream of creating their own company or because they’re looking for new opportunities at an international level.

In the case of the PMD, on the other hand, we’re talking (in general) about participants who are looking to take a professional leap, who already have strong professional profiles but who want to go one step further, who are aware of their own limitations when it comes to better managing their own company or to aspiring to positions of greater responsibility and who are excited about the idea of receiving formation in a business school like IESE, but who don’t necessarily need an official degree. These people see a program such as the PMD as a more affordable option that also guarantees them a very rigorous learning experience in all business-related aspects and the impetus they’re lacking to continue progressing in their career and to get out of an area they’re too familiar with.

Don’t doubt it, executive training is worth it

During these uncertain times we’re living, nobody can guarantee you anything. So it’s normal that you continue to have doubts, even after you’ve enrolled in the program you’ve chosen. Will it be as good as I have been told? Will I get that position that I keep thinking about? Will I get the investment back? Will I be able to keep my business alive and strong?

We can’t answer all these unknowns. But we can say that executive training is worth it, and that the economic cost is almost the last factor that you should be thinking about right now. First off, because of the multiple financing options that exist and, secondly, because of the enormous chances you have of increasing your income after the program. But above all, because it’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience that can take you much further than you imagine, and because it constitutes the most solid foundation for you to be able to improve the world we live in as a leader.

Where you are in life and your aspirations should be the definitive factors to finally decide to pursue a PMD or an EMBA.

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How to convince your boss to do an executive education program

IESE Standout — Mon, 30 Nov 2020 13:01:22 +0000

You know that learning is crucial to continued career progress. You realize that you could use some upskilling in certain areas. You’ve found a course that you’re confident will help you do your job better, as well as make you feel positive about your personal and professional growth.

Now, how to convince your boss to support you, in terms of financing the program or giving you the time you need to do it?

8 tips for how to persuade your boss that you need to do a professional development course

These are the eight steps you need to follow in order to succeed. In addition, we’ve created this personalizable letter template with which you can craft your email or letter to send your message to your manager or HR representative. Download it for free and take the first step toward obtaining the career training you need.

1. Find out exactly what your company’s policy on professional development is.

Every company’s is different. In order to begin the process with reasonable expectations, find out how much time you’re allotted, whether your company funds it and what steps you have to take to request it. Very early on, you might want to mention to your boss what you’re thinking, which gives them a heads-up and also creates the space for them to make suggestions if they want.

2. Think about how the executive education program or course benefits you.

It’s not enough to say that you’re interested in a topic. Instead, you need to have clear exactly what the benefits will be for you personally and professionally. A focused executive education course can give you the specific skills or knowledge you need to perform better. Longer-format programs can be transformational experiences that give you a new perspective on your company and industry.

3. Now think about benefits for your boss and your company.

At the end of the day, an employer will be most eager to support you if there’s a decisive case for benefits to the company. Think about how your learning fits into the larger goals and needs of your company, and prepare an argument around the return on investment. You might also want to have thought about three benefits for your boss.

An employer will be most eager to support you if there’s a decisive case for benefits to the company.

4. Do your homework on what you’re asking for.

Find a specific course, understand what time and money commitment it entails, and learn about the institution offering it. Also, find out about possible grants or scholarships available – many universities have extensive financial aid programs, and government agencies can also be a source for funding.

Once you have narrowed your choice, try to draw on an internal network of alumni. If there are other people who have done programs at the same institution, reach out to them and bring them onto your side.

5. Prepare for the conversation.

Now spend a few minutes thinking about the convincing arguments you’ll make to your boss and how you’ll articulate them. It’s unlikely to go exactly as planned, but it’s worth rehearsing. Approach it like you would any business negotiation, which involves preparation, considering the other side, putting forth proposals, etc. Prof. Kandarp Mehta always recommends seeking advice rather than claiming in negotiations. That could mean instead of saying, “I want to do this program,” asking first, “What kind of program do you think would benefit me?”.

6. Be prepared to compromise.

Maybe your boss won’t be on board to fund 100% of your course and give you 100% of the days off. But it may well still be worth it if they are willing to pay a portion of it, or grant you some time. Establish what your priorities are – time off? economic support? — and what you’re willing to give up.

In addition, everything doesn’t have to be closed before the start of the program. Particularly if you’re doing a longer-term program, you can continue to negotiate even after the program has started.

7. Spread your new knowledge around.

Think about the ways you can share what you’ve learned with your colleagues. You’ll be in a much better position to negotiate if by paying for one program, many people benefit.

8. Now request a meeting with your boss.

Since professional development goes hand in hand with broader career goals, it’s probably best to discuss your request in person or in a video call. That will also give you the opportunity to respond to any doubts or questions your boss may have. Take into account when your boss is most receptive to this kind of conversation – don’t ask for it at a time when you know they’re facing deadlines or are otherwise stressed

Think about how your learning fits into the larger goals and needs of your company.

At IESE we have programs and courses for every level of commitment and in a wide variety of formats. Our focused programs hone in on a specific skill or topic, from artificial intelligence to communications. Our longer-format programs such as the Advanced Management Program and Program for Management Development offer you a holistic approach.

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