Looking to lead: a case in designing executive education from the inside

The need to give force to change efforts is a problem of importance to all organizations. This paper addresses change efforts that are reinforced by in‐house executive education programs, in particular those that occur in educational institutions. Tracing the development of an in‐house executive education effort in a state university, this case study begins with the President’s cabinet meeting that endorsed the training that was to take place. It takes us through the process of how that training was designed, implemented, evaluated, and subsequently modified and then compares the results of the program to findings in the executive education literature. The study concludes that the program as conducted reinforces three critical aspects of effective executive education: that it be intimately tied to anticipating and causing industry change, that it focus on the centrality of active distributive leadership, and that it engage participants in activities that translate into action plans linked to actual organizational outcomes desired by the institution.