Executive education
Executive education at Harvard, SDA Bocconi and Oxford
Four-day residential programmes, designed for chiefs of staff and taught with three of the world's established business schools and universities. Each one leads to the Certified Chief of Staff® certification.
How the programmes work
A route to certification
Each programme includes a capstone project: a strategic brief for your principal on a real transformation or change initiative in your own organisation. Completing the programme and passing the capstone earns the Certified Chief of Staff® certification.
Four days, four nights
Classroom discussion of case studies with faculty, and time with fellow chiefs of staff from around the world in the sessions and at the dinners between them.
Who can attend
Harvard and Oxford are open to members of the Association. SDA Bocconi is open to members and invited guests. Fellowship includes a guaranteed place on a residential programme, with the fee included.
Members & invited guests · Residential, Rome, Italy
SDA Bocconi, Italy
Dates: 15 to 19 March 2027
Format: classroom discussion of case studies
Duration: four days, four nights
Key themes: geopolitical risk, regulatory complexity, European frameworks for global commerce
Leads to Certified Chief of Staff®
Programme overview
You will work with faculty from one of Europe's leading business schools and engage with leaders who understand the forces reshaping the global environment. Through discussion, debate and shared experience, you will develop the skills to interpret geopolitical complexity and bring sharper strategic thinking to your principal. By the programme's end you will have built a trusted network of chiefs of staff from around the world, one that will continue to support you long after you leave Rome.
Learning objectives
Geopolitical context and global risk
Identify and interpret the geopolitical forces affecting your organisation. You will learn to read global risk, understand how international dynamics shape business strategy, and turn that complexity into intelligence your principal can act on.
Regulatory and institutional complexity
Navigate the regulatory and institutional landscape that leaders operate within. You will learn to anticipate policy shifts, understand how institutions shape the environment for decisions, and position your principal ahead of regulatory change.
Decision-making with uncertainty
Support sound decisions when the environment is volatile and information incomplete. The programme prepares chiefs of staff to hold several scenarios in mind, challenge assumptions, and help leaders move from reactive thinking to considered, long-term strategy.
The chief of staff as strategic interpreter
Act as the bridge between your organisation's internal priorities and the external forces bearing down on them. This module focuses on the chief of staff's part in drawing complexity together, framing the right questions, and preparing a principal to act with clarity and confidence.
The capstone and certification
The programme includes a capstone project in which you prepare a strategic brief for your principal on a real business transformation or change initiative, using the same method as the Oxford and Harvard Business School programmes. Participants who complete the programme are awarded the Certified Chief of Staff® certification by the Association, and an SDA Bocconi certificate of attendance.
The experience
A four-day residential programme in Rome, including a gala dinner. You join a global cohort of senior chiefs of staff and, on completion, the Association's community of certified members alongside the Oxford and Harvard Business School alumni.
"Chiefs of staff are operating in a world defined by geopolitical disruption, regulatory complexity, and institutional change. No executive education programme has ever been designed specifically to prepare them for that reality. This programme does."
Trent Smyth, Chief Executive Officer, The Chief of Staff Association
"Chiefs of staff sit at the intersection of organisational decision-making and the forces reshaping the world. SDA Bocconi has spent decades studying that intersection. This programme puts that research to work."
Gimede Gigante, Director of the Programme, SDA Bocconi School of Management
Take your seat in Rome.
Register interest: education@csa.org
Members only · Residential, Oxford
University of Oxford
Dates: 28 June to 1 July 2027
Format: classroom discussion of case studies
Duration: four days, four nights
Key themes: environment scanning, transformation, stakeholder alignment, influence
Leads to Certified Chief of Staff®
Programme overview
You will work with Oxford academics and come face to face with distinguished political, diplomatic and business leaders, who share firsthand insights on the chief of staff role and its evolving challenges. You will engage in discussion and debate, in the classroom and at informal gatherings, exchanging best practice and real-world experience. By week's end you will have built a trusted network of chiefs of staff who will continue to support you long after the programme ends.
Learning objectives
Beyond the horizon
Read the external environment with discipline and precision: shifts in market conditions, competitor behaviour, regulatory change and technology. You will learn to surface emerging risks and opportunities early, and turn those insights into sharper strategic decisions and better use of resources.
Strategy and execution
Connect strategy, culture and execution into a coherent whole. You will learn to spot the gaps between a stated vision and how people actually behave, design interventions that bring teams back into step, and build feedback loops that keep every function moving in the same direction.
Decision-making with uncertainty
Facilitate sound decisions amid volatility and complexity. The programme shows you how to slow down knee-jerk reactions, hold several scenarios in mind and ask the questions that test assumptions, so you can help leaders move from fight-or-flight to balanced, long-term thinking, even in a crisis.
Creating the conditions for better decisions
Good decisions rarely happen by accident. The programme examines how a chief of staff shapes the setting in which decisions are made: the quality and flow of information reaching senior leaders, and the forums and processes that reduce noise, surface the right questions and make room for genuine deliberation.
"The greatest gathering of the world's chief of staff & they weren't wrong! I'm a little lost for words, but feeling so incredibly humbled, energised and lucky to have been part of the movement and magic this week."
Ellie Bateman, Chief of Staff, Centrica
Take your seat in Oxford.
Register interest: education@csa.org
Members only · Residential, Boston
Harvard Business School
Dates: Next dates to be announced
Format: classroom discussion of case studies
Duration: four days, four nights
Key themes: negotiation, building trust, AI and innovation, leading change
Leads to Certified Chief of Staff®
Programme overview
The programme at Harvard Business School immerses you in real-world case studies that tackle today's toughest organisational challenges. In the classroom you will analyse leadership dilemmas, practise influence and conflict-management techniques, and hone strategies for building trust and alignment across teams. Outside the sessions you will exchange insights and experiences with fellow chiefs of staff, widening your network and sharpening your perspective. By week's end you will have a deeper understanding of your strategic impact as chief of staff, and leave ready to influence at the highest levels.
Learning objectives
Executive presence
Cultivate a presence that is both commanding and approachable, the "bartender" persona, so that others confide in you and follow your lead without formal authority. You will learn how to build trust, keep confidences and use personal influence to secure buy-in for critical initiatives.
Self-reflection and a growth mindset
Learn techniques for continuing self-assessment and professional growth. Drawing on Harvard's practice of pairing strong content with candid peer feedback, you will identify your strengths and development areas, set personal learning objectives, and bring "opportunity gap" thinking into your role.
Ambidextrous leadership
Lead an organisation that must both run its current operations well and pursue new opportunities. Drawing on Professor Michael Tushman's research, you will learn to design processes that support teams focused on efficiency alongside units charged with innovation, and to move between the two styles of leadership they need.
Mastering difficult conversations
Navigate the hardest conversations, from giving feedback to C-suite peers to challenging your principal, in a way that brings clarity and preserves relationships. You will rehearse frameworks for framing problems and role-play high-stakes exchanges that defuse conflict and bring the real issues to the surface.
"It is hard to overstate the significance of the experience ... the sensation that comes from interactions with folks who truly get what you do, how you do it, and what keeps you motivated."
Darren Goodsir, Chief of Staff to the Vice-Chancellor, University of Sydney
Take your seat at Harvard Business School.
Register interest: education@csa.org
Take your seat
Places on each programme are limited. Members can ask about places now; if you are not yet a member, begin with certification and the programmes open to you.