Executive Leadership Development Experience

Advancing Black Leadership in Northeast Ohio

A Pathway to Senior Leadership

The Executive Leadership Development Experience (ELDE) is a flagship offering of Weatherhead Executive Education, designed to prepare high-potential leaders for senior enterprise responsibility.

Rooted in our 50+ year legacy of innovation in executive learning and leadership development, ELDE is intentionally designed to develop high-potential leaders with a focused commitment to elevating Black professionals into senior leadership roles. While the program welcomes all participants, its design continues to center the lived experiences, aspirations, and leadership advancement of Black professionals.

What Makes ELDE Different

This is not simply a lecture series. This is a guided leadership transformation—powered by deep introspection, peer learning, and a coaching relationship that accelerates lasting change.

The Five Levels of Leadership: Your Transformational Framework

The ELDE program is anchored in a developmental model that supports leadership growth across five interrelated domains. Each level is brought to life by expert faculty and reinforced through coaching, application, and peer reflection.

Leading Self — Strong leadership starts with self-awareness. This level helps you understand the internal drivers that shape your behavior, equipping you to lead with greater authenticity, emotional intelligence, and personal clarity.

Leading Others — Great leaders bring out the best in others through connection, empathy, and trust. This level focuses on how to build meaningful relationships and motivate individuals by understanding what drives human behavior and sustained change.

Leading Teams — Effective teams don't happen by accident—they're intentionally built and led. This level helps you master the dynamics of team motivation, shared purpose, and collaboration to create environments where people thrive together.

Leading Organizations — As your leadership scope expands, so must your thinking. This level builds your ability to lead across functions, shape organizational culture, and translate strategic vision into real, lasting impact.

Leading Within the Community — Leadership extends beyond your organization and into the broader world. This level challenges you to consider your civic and social influence —and how to use your leadership to expand opportunity and create change for others.

Expert Instruction Backed by Experience

Courses are taught by seasoned Weatherhead Executive Education faculty with deep expertise in leadership development, organizational behavior, and coaching. These instructors bring a mix of academic rigor and real—world executive insight, creating a learning environment that is both reflective and immediately actionable.

They are:

• Skilled facilitators of transformative adult learning
• Experts in executive coaching, leadership strategy, and change
• Committed to inclusive excellence

Highlights

Executive Coaching: Accelerating Your Growth

A cornerstone of ELDE is your relationship with a dedicated executive coach. You will be matched with a Weatherhead Coach, trained in emotional intelligence, behavioral change, and organizational leadership who guides your growth journey from start to finish.

You will:

• Uncover blind spots and challenge limiting mindsets
• Design a personalized path to senior leadership
• Use real-time work challenges as fuel for growth
• Identify the internal shifts needed to lead with authenticity and vision

You'll also receive a 360° Emotional and Social Competency Inventory (ESCI) assessment, providing evidence-based insight into how you show up as a leader—and how to evolve.

Cohort Experience: Grow Together, Lead Together

Leadership doesn't grow in isolation. ELDE immerses you in a selective, intimate cohort of professionals who reflect the complexity and diversity of today's workforce—each one committed to growth, accountability, and impact.

Your cohort becomes:

• A source of real—time feedback
• A safe space for courageous conversations
• A community of practice that challenges and supports your leadership evolution

Over the course of the program, you'll form deep bonds with peers who are walking a similar path—people who will push you, support you, and expand your perspective.

Who Should Attend

ELDE is designed for mid—to—senior professionals who:

• Have 10+ years of work experience, including 5+ years in leadership
• Are ready to take on more senior or enterprise—level responsibility
• Are committed to inclusive excellence and to elevating Black leadership in their organizations
• Are open to deep reflection, coaching, and community learning

* Weatherhead Executive Education programs are open to all community members without regard to race, national origin, or gender. *

Program Investment

• Early Bird Rate — Until Oct 31, 2025: $11,000
• Standard Rate: $12,500
• Discounted Rate: $12,000
  • Available to CWRU alumni, nonprofit leaders, and Weatherhead Corporate Subscribers
• Group Rate: $10,500/person
  • Organizations sending 3 or more employees benefit from stronger leadership pipelines, improved retention of talent, and employees who return with new strategies, increased engagement, and a broader organizational mindset.

Scholarships available through the generous support of The Gund Foundation

Investment Includes:

• 11 days of in—person program sessions
• Five 1:1 coaching sessions with a Weatherhead Coach
• ESCI 360° assessment
• All learning materials, meals, and parking
• Digital badge upon completion
• Registration tuition rate can be deducted from any Weatherhead degree program upon completion

Apply Today

This is more than a program. It's a leadership inflection point—for you, and for those you lift as you rise.