Presented by Eleven Canterbury

The Executive Transitions Program Sessions

“Executive Transitions was extremely worthwhile. Most of us spend our adult lives pursuing our careers. We rarely think about what we want to do after our career when we still have much to offer. Through a distinguished panel of subject matter experts, the program provided insights, information, and resources in areas I had not considered, like becoming a board director, a consultant in private equity, and an executive coach. Executive Transitions gave me the information needed to apply a lifetime of knowledge and skills to successfully enter the private sector through concrete examples.”

RICHARD LAMAGNA

President, LaMagna and Associates, Former Director of Global Anti-counterfeiting Investigations, Microsoft

The Sessions (The sessions will vary by series.*)

Making the Transition: An Introduction to Designing Your Next Chapter

Change is in the air: after a successful full-time career, you have the opportunity to do something new in a different environment. It is an exciting next chapter that offers you the ability to pursue a variety of opportunities, including work that allows for greater flexibility, better work-life balance, and personal growth. Along with new opportunities come new challenges.

This two-and-a-half-hour session will help start your journey with a solid understanding of the tools and skills you’ll need to meet the challenges and successfully pursue new opportunities.

The facilitators will help you identify and communicate your passion and personal brand and explain the importance of continuing to expand your personal and professional networks. Along with the other members of your cohort, you will begin to build a network of support with like-minded executive leaders on a similar journey.

Building a Digital Presence

Following a successful corporate career, developing a personal brand is a must. Your previous position securely defined you; shouldn’t it continue to do so? The short answer is no, it shouldn’t, and it won’t! Whether your interests lie in building a board portfolio, taking on interim leadership positions, becoming an expert witness, or pursuing any other type of opportunity, a well-defined and embraced personal brand will have more impact than words on a resume.

An industry expert will guide you through this area of personal development helping you define your personal brand online with a focus on creating and maximizing a successful LinkedIn profile. You will learn how to write a winning profile and best practices for profile headshots. You will also learn the importance of creating and sharing relevant content, and the ins and outs of networking within the platform.

Working with Private Equity

The world of Private Equity (PE) offers numerous positions where executives can use their experience as a foundation to add value. Some opportunities may be directly with the PE firm, such as assisting with acquisition due diligence. Within a PE firm’s portfolio of companies, there are also exciting opportunities to fill full-time and interim C-suite and Board Director positions.

Facilitated by a person who has navigated this journey, this session will cover the Private Equity business model, the roles available within PE firms and their portfolio companies, the compensation scheme, and how to pursue opportunities. You’ll learn essential considerations to keep in mind when pursuing a PE position.

Building a Successful Board Portfolio

While many senior executives are interested in pursuing board positions at public and private companies after leaving their corporate roles, the route to the board room can be an unmapped trail with a plethora of dead-ends. Today, the criteria for board directors is far more nuanced than it was even a few years ago. While networking is still critically important, equally essential is establishing that you have current-day values and skills that will support the growth and sustainability of the company.

Your facilitator will help you navigate both the corporate and board sides of the equation. As well as updating you on key issues like DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) and ESG (Environment, Social, and Governance), there are many other specific areas of expertise you need to know like cybersecurity, employee health and retention, and the post-pandemic world of leading a hybrid workforce. The session is facilitated by someone who has successfully navigated the challenges of pursuing and highlighting the route to securing board positions – from researching and crafting a targeted value proposition to tips on writing a board CV and interviewing for a position.

The Road to Certified Coaching

Executive coaching seems like a natural path for senior executives leaving full-time positions. You’ll discover whether it’s a route for you from an experienced facilitator who shares invaluable lessons learned in the process of becoming certified and building a successful Executive Coaching business and second career. Differences between mentorship and coaching will be explained, along with various types of coaching, core coaching skills required, and the tools and support needed to build a coaching practice.

Expert Witness: The Engagement Process and Delivery

What does it take to become and serve as an expert witness in litigation matters? This session explores the expert witness position from an Economic Consulting Firm’s point of view. You will learn how economic consulting firms work and what they look for in an expert witness. Discussions will cover key issues, including the litigation cycle from the filing of a complaint through to trial and resolution, different types of litigations, and what it means to be an expert witness and the integral role they play. Also discussed are the responsibilities of serving as an expert witness, including preparing expert reports, best practices for depositions, direct questioning and cross-examination, and standards and criteria for expert witnesses.

From Adjunct to Executive in Residence, Opportunities Abound

We often want to share, with the next generation, the knowledge and expertise gained during a successful career. The skills and approach of a good teacher are very different from those that helped us succeed in our professional lives. This session will address the various positions available — including adjunct professor, executive in residence and non-tenure-track professor, and guest lecturer. It will cover the differences between each position, compensation, and the approach needed to pursue, find and land these roles. The facilitator will describe the pros and cons of each position, how to navigate department and campus-wide politics and communicate across generations, and the importance of keeping up with current skills and content in a rapidly changing environment.

Work-Life Harmony

Transitioning from a corporate career can be both an exciting and a challenging time. Executives have deep commitments to, and close associations with their careers and employers. Moving on from their corporate identities so closely tied to their jobs and suddenly facing unstructured time can leave a void and be disorienting. But it is also an exciting time to focus on yourself, your family, and explore the many possibilities that await in this next chapter to add value to the world.

This session will focus on three key areas:

Framing your purpose and strategy: Finding your ‘why’, the ‘how’ and the ‘what” that differentiates your personal brand and your unique values. This requires optimizing your mental edge, and learning to distinguish what’s important from what’s urgent now that your time is your own.
Aligning your time and energy: Clarifying your boundaries and expectations enables delivering your personal brand and your unique values. Understanding what you can control or influence and most importantly shifting your focus from prioritizing what’s on your schedule to scheduling your priorities. Learning to find strength in uncertainty and deal with the many emotions, both good and challenging, that will arise as you transition to a new future.
Staying relevant and resilient: This is a time to deal with transitions and learn to play a new game. Leverage your uncertainty to become stronger, grow, find new challenges and explore new opportunities and thrive. A key element of that is evolving your emotional intelligence and self-care practices.

Crossing the Cultural Divide

Successful people develop a familiarity and understanding of the best way to deliver within their surrounding culture. Their geographic, organizational, and demographic environment shapes and defines how things get done. Moving to a different culture is not easy; it often takes time to internalize and add value differently. Cultural change may be as simple as having the same word mean different things or as complex as replacing military hierarchy with informal consensus. The session will suggest ways to effectively deal with corporate cultures, often dominated by younger generations with different motivations. The session will also cover how cultural issues can trip you up and how to avoid awkward and uncomfortable situations when working internationally. (Hint: Germany is not just like France)

Embracing the Transition: Looking to the Future

This final session is an interactive discussion with facilitators and the cohort to review the sessions, compare notes and answer any questions. You’ll discuss next steps, including the creation of 30/60/90 day plans to set you on your journey to successfully building your next chapter.

*The Introduction, Building a Digital Presence, Work-Life Harmony, and Embracing the Transition: Looking to the Future are included in every Program.