Empowering Executives for Organisational Growth

CFOs are playing an increasingly important role in the business world. They are no longer just responsible for the financial health of their companies but are also expected to be strategic partners to the CEO and other senior executives. CFOs are now involved in a wide range of decisions, from setting corporate strategy to managing risk.Curated with a strong emphasis on financial leadership, how to leverage technologies and how to utilise CFO as a growth lever, the Chief Financial Officer programme offered by Singapore Management University will develop you as a financial leader with vision, purpose, and passion.You will be endowed with four key pillars of being a memorable and effective CFO and a strategic partner to your CEO and organisation as you steer towards the world of digital transformation, high paced growth and global pressures.

The role of a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is evolving. CEOs have traditionally been expected to be beacons of hope through turbulent times and have known for a long time that navigating change and uncertainty are part of the role they take on.Curated with a strong emphasis on real-world relevance to meet the challenging times and rapidly evolving business needs and trends, the Chief Executive Officer programme offered by Singapore Management University will develop you as a leader with vision, purpose, and passion. You will be endowed with the competencies and skills required to build and lead your organisation with agility, for transformation and change.

The Steward Leadership Advantage — Driving Profitable Growth with Sustainable LeadershipThe Steward Leadership Advantage — A Senior Leadership Development Programme based on the Steward Leadership Compass©. Hear from business leaders who “do well by doing good” as they share their transformational stories of transitioning into Steward Leaders.Universal connectivity coupled with powerful AI is making everything transparent and everyone naked. Geoeconomics is once again fragmenting our world into rival power blocks. We’re at the mercy of extreme weather events. Social inequality is worse than ever. Against this backdrop, three urgent questions emerge: How can companies still ensure profitable growth and business longevity?How can we save planet Earth and humanity without sacrificing profit or material self-interest?How can individuals maximise financial success and find deep happiness?Status Quo is Not Working Let’s face it, the world order as we know it is ending. Until now, we have deployed either Milton Friedman’s doctrine of maximising profits at any cost, or the ESG philosophy of addressing environmental and social sustainability mostly through regulatory compliance. Both approaches have failed. The Friedman doctrine has led to uneven economic growth and unchecked exploitation of the environment. In today’s naked era, where every action is visible, traceable, and digitally recorded, maximising profits at the expense of people or planet is untenable. Many companies are learning this the hard way. On the other hand, ESG as practised currently has increased costs, created a heavy regulatory compliance burden, but has failed to make meaningful progress on environmental or social challenges.THE SOLUTION: "DOING WELL BY DOING GOOD"Sustainable Profitability ⇌ Profitable Sustainability Whether the goal is to simply maximise profitable growth (sustainable profitability) or to viably address environmental and social challenges (profitable sustainability), we need bold new ways of thinking and acting. The winning strategy for both objectives is Steward Leadership, which is doing well by doing good. Sustainable Profitability: In the 21st century, only those businesses that can earn and retain customer trust will generate sustainable profitability. But who will earn and retain trust? Research at Stewardship Asia Centre shows customers will trust only those businesses that make their returns by genuinely solving pressing human problems, i.e. doing well by doing good. Profitable Sustainability: To make meaningful progress against environmental and social challenges, sustainability itself must be profitable. Here again, the answer is to do well by doing good—creating innovative, profitable solutions for today’s challenges. The Steward Leadership Advantage Programme shows how "doing well by doing good" is not only possible but the only way to succeed in an environment where everything can be fact-checked and nothing is hidden. The Steward Leadership Advantage Programme is jointly developed by the Singapore Management University and the Stewardship Asia Centre. 

In partnership with the Singapore Institute of Directors (SID), this unique module is part of the SMU-SID Directorship programme, which provides a 360-degree board-level view of key strategic areas and issues faced by company directors.The Board has ultimate responsibility for managing risks. The Board should determine the company’s levels of risk tolerance and risk policies, and advise management in the design, implementation and monitoring of the risk management and internal control systems intended to avert crises. Consequently, the Board must work with management in dealing with unpredictable events which may lead to crisis. Of particular importance in our digital world, cybersecurity is now a core component of risk management.What you can expect to learnDevelop strategies to anticipate and prevent crises from occurring.Deal effectively with crises as and when they do occur.Implement contingency plans to cope.Institute recovery measures to re-build image, reputation and regain the confidence of key stakeholders.Delivery MethodologyInteractive classroom lecturesTaught by leading faculty and senior industry practitionersRegional and global case studiesDiscussions and exchangesIncorporating guest speakers into the classroom experience