California College of the Arts announced the May 2010 launch of the Leading by Design Fellows Program, the first executive program of its kind in the United States. It will blend the traditionally separate domains of business, design, and sustainability into a single, integrated approach, by which professionals can proactively shape the future of their companies, even in a world of limited resources.
CCA has a 100-year tradition of pioneering programs that bridge the arts and society, and the Leading by Design Fellows Program builds on that legacy. "Unprecedented changes in the world demand a critical shift in business thinking," says CCA Provost Mark Breitenberg. "A dramatically different paradigm is emerging. Success and growth are now measured by increases in values, meaning, and sustainability, not simply profitability. Our goal is to create a dynamic center of ideas and senior leadership by synthesizing design-led innovation, business strategy, and sustainable practices. In the 21st century, institutions must help people and societies reimagine, reinvent, and redesign the way we live to create a more sustainable world."
Nathan Shedroff, noted experience strategist and chair of CCA's groundbreaking MBA in Design Strategy, says, "This program will provide an immersive, inspiring, and challenging experience. Our Fellows will be able to think further and faster, with more meaningful and powerful results."
To offer maximum flexibility to working professionals, the program is structured as a series of six on-campus "residency" weekends, once per month, of instruction and interaction. Between these weekends, participants will stay engaged via online study, discussions, and webinars. This schedule allows professionals from all over the United States to maintain their careers while keeping in close contact with each other, faculty, and program staff. Upon completion, participants receive a certificate designating them Leading by Design Fellows.
The faculty instructors are business and design experts, forward-thinking academics from major universities, and leaders in the field of sustainable management. Confirmed guest faculty include Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO; Sara Beckman, PhD, Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley; Kaaren Hansen, director of experience design at Intuit; Sam Lucente, VP of design at Hewlett Packard; Dan Pink, author of A Whole New Mind; and Adam Werbach, CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi S and author of Strategy for Sustainability.
The curriculum integrates lectures, presentations, readings, and provocative dialogues with hands-on studio work. Participants explore customer and market needs, challenge assumptions, devise effective solutions, and communicate opportunities across a wide range of stakeholders. Program goals include: reframing definitions of competition and growth for shifting global realities; anticipating internal and external needs; deeply understanding customers at the level of values and meaning; devising strategies, products, services, processes, and structures that operate with, and within the limits of, nature; fostering greater integration, cooperation, and collaboration across organizational functions; and sifting through competing priorities to define core goals.
Applications will be accepted starting November 1. Applicants are expected to come from a range of fields in business, design, nonprofits, and government. They must be senior leaders or managers with at least 10 years of professional experience in positions of increasing responsibility.
The program has dedicated studio space on CCA's San Francisco campus, and it has close ties to companies, consultancies, and organizations throughout the region. The Bay Area is a world center of innovation, entrepreneurship, sustainability, and nonprofit organizations.