The Executive Leadership Foundation’s (ELF) 2015 Leadership Development Week (LDW) brought nearly 160 mid-career executives to the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Miami, FL to partake in our annual Leadership Development Week hosted by The ELC’s Institute for Leadership Development and Research (The Institute). Attendees participated in a number of leadership training programs that featured four of The Institute’s premier initiatives: Strengthening the Pipeline, Bright Futures, Strategic Pathways, and Navigating the Corporate Landscape. Each program included interactive workshops and keynote addresses on important topics such as mentoring and leadership development.

This year, The Institute added a new program – Navigating the Corporate Landscape – a three day program that ran concurrently throughout the week. The program is designed to help participants learn how to develop their executive brands, build more impactful relationships and grow their networks, communicate persuasively, and leverage their own political and social capital. In its inaugural year, Navigating the Corporate Landscape has become our second highest attended program at LDW after our flagship program, Strengthening the Pipeline. Our programs receiving high attendance signaled that the content The Institute is producing is highly valued and needs to be covered.

This year, The Institute also expanded its women’s program, Strategic Pathways, to three full days of programming. Strategic Pathways was designed to help women gain more clarity about the types of experiences they will need to advance their careers.

The Institute values and fosters networking among black mid-level managers. As such, the Institute created a new mid-level affiliation within The ELC called the ELC Associate. The program was launched earlier this year and has nearly 300 black mid-level managers who have committed to becoming Associates. Professionals who become ELC Associates have the opportunity to extend their learning and development for an additional 12 months through The Institute’s Digital Learning Platform and receive a host of other benefits. For more information, companies can contact ELCAssociate@elcinfo.com.

Steven Williams, Ph.D., SPHR

Director, The ELC’s Institute for Leadership Development and Research

(L to R) The Institute for Leadership Development and Research Director Steven Williams with Caroline Wanga of Target, ELC COO Brickson Diamond, and Cheo Johnson of Lenovo

ELC Council Board Director Phyllis Anderson of Express Scripts speaks with a Leadership Development Week participant

“Navigating the Corporate Landscape” participants at the 2015 Leadership Development Week