E.M.B.A from CWRU

For decades, Weatherhead’s organizational behavior faculty have built a best-in-class reputation for teaching the art of leadership. We have watched hundreds of executives access new reserves of energy and potential through our programs. We help them examine their leadership strengths and gaps and develop a personalized learning plan to become the best leaders they can be.

Is This Program Right for Me?

• Developing leadership skills at the levels of self, team, organization and society

• The sociopolitical structures in which leadership is most needed—including government, the world economy and the rapidly changing realm of technology

• The language of business, with a special focus on how it is spoken in the boardroom

• Achieving change in organizations by leading design-oriented teams

Time CommitmentReturn on InvestmentSponsoring Organizations

Our EMBA is focused on the things that matter to those ascending to senior leadership roles. Students learn from an enterprise-wide perspective, approaching critical disciplines—like strategy, finance, marketing, and accounting—from a leadership vantage point as tools for driving success. Faculty present these functional areas as supporting leadership activities. And students examine how the assets created in—and the products and services designed by—these fields enable leadership teams throughout an organization to function most effectively.

The EMBA classroom experience is a challenging and energizing one. Participants arrive with an average of 15 years’ professional experience, and the Weatherhead model of classroom interaction allows faculty and students to share their knowledge and expertise. Furthermore, projects assigned across courses and disciplines enable students to apply what they have learned in their work environment to their scholastic undertakings.

The Weatherhead EMBA is organized around four elements:

These four pieces fit together to create a leadership package that the student executive cultivates to assume a more responsible and influential position in an existing organization, or to build a dynamic new organization. Together, these skills help leaders act with confidence and decisiveness in the face of uncertainty.

Requiring only 16 total visits to campus, the Weatherhead EMBA is designed to be manageable for busy executives, allowing students from around the world to participate in a one-of-a-kind leadership program.

The curriculum is delivered over five semesters, or 21 months. Both fall and spring semesters are comprised of four 3-day visits. The summer semester is delivered abroad through the 10-day International Study Experience. But make no mistake: The EMBA program requires a serious time commitment from each participant. Although individual study habits vary, students should anticipate devoting a minimum of 20 hours per week to study outside of classes.

The Weatherhead EMBA is a lock-step cohort program. Participants self-select learning teams, which represent essential study partnerships over the course of the program as well as invaluable resources for networking and organizational support. Learning teams often grow as close as a second family, with members establishing impactful, life-long relationships. Learning teams meet weekly outside of the classroom, either face-to-face or remotely, to achieve course objectives and enhance the learning experience. In addition, faculty often host optional study and review sessions, which are also recorded for virtual access.

We recognize that the Weatherhead EMBA requires a significant investment of time and money. So we take very seriously our responsibility to ensure that the return on that investment is immediate, substantial and lasting, both for the student and for his or her sponsoring organization.

For the student, ROI comes in the form of learning that can be immediately applied at the workplace. At Weatherhead, we rarely teach theory without establishing a pragmatic link to an on-the-job application. This approach guarantees that what students learn in the classroom today can have a positive impact on their work performance tomorrow.

Additionally, the Weatherhead approach to team creation and team management dramatically improves each student’s ability to maximize the effectiveness of team membership and leadership. And over the long term, our students form bonds with their EMBA teammates that last a lifetime. Team members go on to be each other's mentors, advisers and even employers.

For the sponsoring organization, the return on investment is equally prompt and impactful. Organizations report a rapid increase in Weatherhead EMBA students’ leadership effectiveness, problem-solving skills and strategic thinking ability. These assets are most immediately evident in the Application Project; indeed, 85% of past students have reported that the resulting revenue enhancement or cost containment of the project exceeded the cost of their EMBA tuition. What’s more, 35% of the students reported that they delivered a return to their organization that was three times the cost of tuition.

Since 1979, more than 500 organizations have sponsored EMBA participants. These organizations range from Fortune 500 corporations to small entrepreneurial firms, from major not-for-profit institutions to one-person professional service companies. Regardless of size, scope or area of business, sponsoring organizations realize an immediate and substantial return on their investment through the knowledge and skills their participants bring back to work. They continue to enjoy the impact of a Weatherhead EMBA graduate on their team for years after their employee’s graduation.