ACADEMY FOR LEADERSHIP

Avicenna, the Academy for Leadership, focuses on leadership development for managers, senior managers and executives in both public and private sector organisations. Well-known experts from various European and American universities contribute to Avicenna’s executive programmes, sharing their power of thought and insights with the participants in the executive programmes.

“Management and leadership courses a-plenty but Avicenna’s executive programmes are unique. Participants invest in their personal leadership skills. So no rabbits out of management hats, but depth and authenticity in combination with resolve.”
Avicenna teacher Professor Johan Verstraeten of Katholieke Universiteit Leuven

Leadership development
Developing leadership skills in businesses and in public organisations is the core theme of the Avicenna Academy for Leadership. Two starting points are important here:

The Academy’s focus is explicitly not on training ‘leaders’, in the sense of unique individuals in search of a following. Rather, the fundamental question which Avicenna seeks to address is How can I appeal to my colleagues’ own leadership qualities in my sphere of activity;
In all its programmes Avicenna combines the American leadership model with the European one. The strength of the analytical, traditional, trust-based European body of thought is combined with the American focus on future, drive, spirit and resolve.

Courses
Avicenna offers a range of leadership programmes for managers, directors and executives.

American-European Leadership Course
A ten-day top programme held at Yale (USA) and in Bruges (Belgium) or Rome (Italy). The course offers a profound orientation on leadership from an Anglo-Saxon/American and from a Rhineland/European perspective. Participants are invited to develop their own unique and personal style of leadership which combines the “best of both worlds”. Prominent teachers from the universities of Harvard and Yale take part in the American part of the programme. The theme here is results-driven leadership. In Europe, the Rhineland approach links leadership with meaningful principles, inspiration and tradition. Prominent teachers from the Sorbonne, University of Oxford and La Sapienza (Rome) take part in this programme.

International Avicenna Course
A nine-day international executive programme, held in Oxford, Bruges and Paris. Participants will become aware of fundamental, social and economic undercurrents and of the three dominant management concepts in contemporary Europe: the Rhineland, the Anglo-Saxon and the Mediterranean models. The programme will also acquaint our students with the roots of Islam, Hinduism and Christianity. In particular, there will be an extensive examination of the diverse visions of leadership in these religions.
The design of Avicenna’s International Course is based on a unique concept. In addition to interactive tutorials with internationally acclaimed lecturers, participants also take part in some of the religious feast days of the three different religions/cultures: the Islamic New Year, the Hindu Holi Festival and the Catholic Procession of the Holy Blood, as well as meeting prominent leaders from these communities.

Avicenna Course
A nine-day leadership programme held in the University of Leuven, the Benedictine abbey in Doetinchem and the castle of Huis ‘t Velde. The programme offers inter-disciplinary and fundamental leadership insights from acclaimed lecturers (module 1: Leuven), reflections on one’s own drive and spirit (module 2: Benedictine abbey) and orientation on one’s own leadership behaviour (module 3: Huis ‘t Velde castle).

Civic Entrepreneurship
A fourteen-day executive programme on the link between inter-disciplinary management of organisations and one’s own authentic leadership. The insights into fundamental operational management presented by our renowned trainers will help participants to improve the quality of their leadership.

Avicenna WorldClass
An executive course on leadership styles consisting of a 4-day module program in JOHANNESBURG, the heart of the South African administration, in MADRAS, the Indian ‘booming ICT-city’, in ROME, the imperial capital of the ancient world and in YALE, the powerhouse of the American elite.

This course addresses today’s most fundamental leadership issues. World leaders and top entrepreneurs share their doubts, fascination and quest for a wise leadership style. The Avicenna WorldClass leadership course enables executives to reflect upon their style of leadership, in particular its vitality and effectiveness.

Civic Leadership Course
Leadership is always important, but during a crisis, leadership is critical.This nine-day leadership course enables executives to reflect and act in response to the current economic crisis. What are the most fundamental underlying issues that caused it? Are leaders just troubleshooters or should they reinforce society and continue to articulate the long-term strengths of their societies – not just the short-term problems?

Effectivity
Avicenna’s programmes are not only inspiring but, more importantly, they are effective. Avicenna cannot be compared with most other management institutes and business schools which often focus on presenting management instruments. A participant in one of our courses has put it this way:
“The International Avicenna Course is an exceptionally effective leadership programme. It does not focus on the ‘must’ as you learn in management programmes, but on the ‘will’. This course shows that ‘will’, in the meaningful sense, is the real driving force. A particularly effective compass for leadership.”
Kick Visser, Chairman of the programme committee of Sneller Beter and chairman of the Revalidatie Nederland branch organisation.

Lecturers
Avicenna’s body of teachers is made up of prominent practitioners and academics. Our lecturers come from the following international universities: Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, University of Paris-Sorbonne, University of Oxford, University of Warwick, RWTH Aachen, University of Swarthmore, Harvard University, Yale University, Radboud University Nijmegen, Universiteit van Amsterdam, Leiden University, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Tilburg University, Nyenrode Business Universiteit, University of Groningen, Maastricht University. Lecturers from the business schools at Marseille (Euromed) and Barcelona (ESADE) are also involved in Avicenna’s programmes.

Locations
Avicenna has its address for visitors in Utrecht (Holland). Courses are held in Leuven (Irish College), Paris, Oxford, Leicester, Bruges (Begijnhof), the Abbey of St. Willibrord (Doetinchem), the Abbey of Maria Laach (Koblenz), Aachen and New Haven/Yale (USA).

Advisory board
Executives from businesses as well as top managers from public organisations participate in the Advisory board; its members include the following people:

Marja Spaans-den Heijer, partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers
Professor Geert Sanders, Faculty of Business Management, University of Groningen
Professor Arjo Klamer, Erasmus University Rotterdam
Kees Rutten, member of the Executive Board of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Nico Oudendijk, director of innovation at the Dutch Ministry of Health Welfare and Sport
Theo Kimmel, member of the Corporate Board of Management of Getronics
Dirk Hilarides, Executive Board of the Politieacademie

Find out more about our programmes from:
Avicenna, Chris Giebels, or Frank Seine tel. 0031 570 - 76 00 00