The Ascent
Strengthen your ability to lead in complexity and volatility
The Ascent is a year-long cohort program composed of senior leaders from different companies, designed to ACCELERATE the leader’s readiness for their next role in their company.
The purpose of the Ascent program is to optimize the executive’s ability to lead in complexity and disruption.
Expand
Thinking about leading in complexity and volatility
Deepen
Learning through peer consulting & coaching
Master
Contemporary leadership practices
Optimize
Leader’s own team’s performance and resilience
Drive
Achievement of critical business objectives
The Ascent Program Framework
Leadership Assessments
Each participant undergoes a best-in-class leadership assessment and creates a personalized Leadership Development Plan
Immersive Base Camp
Participants attend 2-day immersive Base Camp in NYC to meet 10-person cohort. Monthly virtual meetings follow.
Peer Learning Circles
Participants apply learnings to their work context supported by monthly micro-trainings, Peer Learning Circles and impactful peer coaching
Measure Outcomes
Leaders impact on their own team is assessed every six months to measure leader’s effectiveness and the efficacy of the program
The Ascent Program By The Numbers
01
Two-day NYC base camp experience
03
Team assessments
10
Peer learning circles
01
Graduation offsite
10
Cohort members
12
Months of experiential development
09
Micro training sessions
10
Peer coaching sessions
12
Months of experiential development
09
Micro training sessions
10
Peer coaching sessions
Development Assessments
- Leaders each complete a 360-Feedback Assessment, Hogan Assessment Battery, and DiSC Workstyle Indicator
- Provides increased awareness of their strengths and development opportunities
- Improves insight into their preferred work style and how they can best engage and influence others
Debrief and Action Planning
- Participants debrief their assessments one-on-one with a certified development coach
- Coach and participant co-design development goals for the program
Team Assessment
- Each participant's own team completes the Resilient Team Survey at start, middle, and end of program to measure their team's engagement and impact and to track progress
The Ascent Program Roadmap
- Month 01
Start your journey with empirically validated team and individual assessment and a consultation session where you’ll create your personalized development plan
- Month 03
Learn the foundations of coaching during Leader as Coach. Practice and apply skills with Peer Coaching and Peer Consultation sessions.
- Month 05
Master your use of self with Mindful Leadership. Explore your learnings with support and feedback from your cohort with Peer Coaching and Peer Consultation sessions.
- Month 07
Learn what it takes to foster belonging during Inclusive Leadership. Practice and apply skills with Peer Coaching and Peer Consultation sessions.
- Month 09
Experience the power and generativity of Embracing Conflict. Practice and apply skills with Peer Coaching and Peer Consultation Sessions.
- Month 11
Appreciate how far you’ve come with your third and final team assessment, then prepare for what comes next with Seeing Around Corners. Practice and apply skills with Peer Coaching and Peer Consultation sessions.
- Month 02
Meet your fellow travelers in an immersive two-day experience in New York City, and learn the foundations of leading organizations in the 21st century in the Contemporary Leadership Practices micro-learning.
- Month 04
Identify the factors that create the conditions for greatness with High Performing Teams. Practice and apply skills with Peer Coaching and Peer Consultation sessions.
- Month 06
Gauge your impact with your second team assessment, then identify strategies and tactics for Creating Connection in a Hybrid World. Practice and apply skills with Peer Coaching and Peer Consultation sessions.
- Month 08
Learn to manage churn and leverage data to power better Decision-Making. Practice and apply skills with Peer Coaching and Peer Consultation sessions.
- Month 10
Reach hearts and minds with Executive Storytelling. Practice and apply skills with Peer Coaching and Peer Consultation Sessions
- Month 12
Finish the journey strong and close out with our graduation gathering. Congratulations!
Base Camp
2-Day immersive experience in New York City designed to disrupt executive’s thinking about how to lead. Leaders working together in person builds a supportive and cohesive cohort.
The Ascent Program Reading List
Cohort members will read selected portions of cutting edge books on leadership and related fields
Meet Your Facilitators
Cohorts are facilitated by expert executive coaches
Dan Fisher, PhD
Dan is a consulting psychologist and Managing Partner at CLA, where he serves as trusted advisor to C-Suite executives,
Dan Fisher, PhD
Dan is a consulting psychologist and Managing Partner at CLA, where he serves as trusted advisor to C-Suite executives, boards, and investors. Dan has extensive experience assessing executives for both selection and development. In addition, he works with senior leadership teams to optimize team performance and align companies around vision, mission, and strategy. Prior to co-founding CLA, Dan was a founding member of AlixPartners’ Leadership and Organizational Effectiveness practice, where he served on the Senior Leadership Team and led the team development practice.
Dan completed postdoctoral studies and was a faculty member at Weill Medical College of Cornell University. He has a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of California, Santa Barbara. An active contributor to industry conferences, he previously served as board president of the Metropolitan New York Association for Applied Psychology,
Jennifer Paylor
Jennifer is the Head of Learning and Development, Talent, and Culture for Capgemini in North Americans.
Jennifer Paylor
Jennifer is the Head of Learning & Development, Talent, and Culture for Capgemini in North America. She is a highly accomplished member of Marshall Goldsmith’s exclusive group of MG100 coaches, scholar, and patented inventor of a coaching system for guiding interactions.
She uses art and science to help leaders – from aspiring leaders to senior executives – create the best work environments for their teams, create an innovative culture, and achieve exponential growth for their companies. Jennifer left a coaching legacy at IBM after her 20-year tenure with the firm where she is known worldwide for creating and operationalizing the largest internal coaching practice. Under her leadership of the IBM Coaching Community of Practice, she designed the famous IBM Blue Core Coaching (BCC) skills training program.
Jennifer holds a B.S. in electrical engineering from North Carolina State University.
Mazher Ahmad
Mazher Ahmad is Senior Advisor at CLA and has over twenty-five years experience as a seasoned business executive
Mazher Ahmad
Mazher Ahmad is Senior Advisor at CLA and has over twenty-five years experience as a seasoned business executive and management consultant. Mazher has served in several leadership roles, most recently as the Chief Talent Officer for Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, where he led the company’s global talent acquisition, talent management, leadership and organizational development, learning, culture, workforce planning and DE&I functions. In addition, Mazher has extensive management consulting experience, as he was a Principal at Philosophy IB. Mazher is also a seasoned team & executive coach to senior leaders across a variety of functions, industries, and regions including North America, Europe, Latin America, and Asia Pacific, and has spoken at conferences around the world.
Mazher holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and Bachelor of Arts degrees from the University of Pennsylvania.
Dan Flowers
Dan Flowers is an Engagement Manager at CLA, where he brings his expertise in organizational effectiveness and talent
Dan Flowers
Dan Flowers is an Engagement Manager at CLA, where he brings his expertise in organizational effectiveness and talent development to bear to help leaders, teams, and organizations maximize their people power. Dan applies a consultative approach and systems thinking to help design large-scale interventions focusing on leadership development, talent management, and culture and engagement. Prior to joining CLA, Dan wore a number of different hats at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc, with a majority of his time embedded in the Organizational Effectiveness team.
Dan holds a Masters of Science in Social Work from Columbia University.
Selected Workshop Offerings for The Ascent
EdgePoint Cohort programs follow a curriculum designed to help participants build the most critical capabilities for leading their teams and organizations, and participants have access to additional elective workshops to support their unique development needs.
Our VUCA and BANI World
The advent of the 21st century proved our world to be Volatile, Complex, Uncertain, and Ambiguous, and the Covid-19 pandemic revealed it to be Brittle, Anxious, Nonlinear, and Incomprehensible—understand what this means for your organization.
Systems Thinking: Complex, Adaptive Systems
Today’s organizations are best thought of not as static but as complex and adaptive systems; learning think in terms of systems and harness the full potential of your organization.
Strategic Decision-making
Strategy is too often confused with a long-term plan. Learn the difference, and align your thinking to outperform your competitors.
Practicing Mindful Leadership
Mindful leadership is an approach in which you consciously cultivate your ability to be present, open-minded, and compassionate when interacting with team members – and you show the same consideration to yourself.
Understanding Self and Others
Emotional Intelligence is a key differentiator of successful leaders. Learn to manage your own tendencies and appreciate your team’s unique styles.
Leader as Coach
Coaching enables today’s leaders to reveal their people‘s untapped potential. Learning to ask the right question at the right moment.
Leading High-performing and Resilient Teams
Providing teams with the right structure and purpose not only drives performance, but helps teams remain resilient and adaptive through churn. Learn what you can do to cultivate an environment of innovation and growth.
Owning Your Authenticity: Finding your Voice as a Leader
Leadership principles are universal, but leadership style is personal. Learn to identify and embody what you, in particular, have to offer as a leader.
Exploration of Contemporary Leadership Practices
While the foundations of organizational behavior haven’t changed in the last two decades, the context in which organizations operate is radically different. Learn the implications, and how to manage them.
Leading Under Pressure
Resilience comes from within. Be prepared to show up as your best self when things get heated.
Leading with AI and Analytics
Utilize a decision-making process based on data, facts and/or assumptions rather than on opinions and intuitions, and leveragen/- the latest AI tools like ChaptGp4 to aid in your analysis.
Media 101
Learn the tips and techniques that will help you to develop clear and memorable messages, as well as convey them effectively to the audiences that matter most.
Assessing Executive Talent
The decision to hire an executive is one of the most important—and potentially costly—business decision facing leaders today. Learn how to collect the data that matters most.
Executive Storytelling
Data and statistics may inform decisions, but stories have the power to reach hearts and minds. Learn how to use narrative structure to change minds and ignite action.
Building a Network of your (Executive) Peers
Leaders with more developed professional networks are vastly more successful, but it can be lonely at the top. Connect with a network of executive peers to propel your organization forward.
Managing Boards and other Executive Stakeholders
Senior executives are often called upon to manage a very particular type of stakeholder most leaders rarely have to: boards. Learn how to effectively work with Boards of Directors, Boards of Governance, and other critical stakeholders.
Adaptive Habit Stacking
Our habits are the building blocks of our actions. Make your habits work for you.
Courageous Conversations
Every leader will face conflict, but disagreements have the potential to be constructive or destructive. Learn to use conflict to bring new information into the discussion.
Leading Change
The pace of change has increased rapidly, but the percentage of organizational changes that succeed remains low. Learn what you can do to drive sustainable change.
Making DE&I a Strategic Advantage
With employee engagement at a record low, organizations need to reach their workforce in a different way. Learn how to make Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging your organization’s strategic advantages.
Preparing Your Successor
When the time comes for a leader to step down, few things matter more than succession and sustainability. Ensure your legacy is in good hands.
Seeing Around Corners
Today’s rapid pace of change makes it impossible to predict the future, but fortune favors the prepared. Learn to forecast the range of possibilities to position your organization to capitalize on them.
Click here to download the Ascent Brochure
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