Experience a leadership program rooted in the Japanese concept of kokorozashi and offered exclusively from Japan’s largest business school. This five-day executive program tackles leadership challenges that don’t have conventional answers.
Today’s leaders are expected to deliver results while navigating competing demands. Organizations want fast performance and long-term value. Individual priorities must fit within the corporate mission, while the interests of employees, customers, shareholders, and society do not always point in the same direction. Optimizing for one single outcome is no longer enough.
This pioneering executive program introduces a Japanese philosophical perspective for navigating these tensions. Designed for senior leaders facing complex, multi-level challenges, it offers a way to think about purpose, leadership and the organizations we build.
At the heart of the program is kokorozashi: a personal mission that unifies your passions and skills as a professional to create positive change. In this course, you will not only consider your unique kokorozashi but also learn how purpose, compassion, interdependence, and long-term thinking can reshape the way you lead people, make decisions, and create a resilient organization with a meaningful future.
GLOBIS is Japan’s largest business school and a leadership development partner to 89% of the Nikkei 225. Drawing on decades of management education and leadership development, the program combines Japanese management philosophy with practical frameworks that leaders can apply across cultures, industries, and organizations.
Across five intensive live sessions with an international cohort of leaders in their fields, you’ll develop a new leadership perspective, practical management frameworks, and a deeper understanding of how Japanese management principles can be applied in any organization, anywhere in the world.
You are facing leadership challenges that don’t have simple answers:
Welcome and Introduction
April 14, 2027
In this special introductory session, meet the faculty and your fellow participants. Get an overview of the learning journey ahead, and start building connections with your cohort.
Session 1: Compassionate Leadership
April 28, 2027
Great leadership begins with a shift in mindset, so that’s where you will begin. What are the conventional assumptions about leadership? Are they valid? Discover how compassion can become a practical leadership capability, enabling you to build trust, strengthen collaboration, and lead with greater purpose.
Key takeaways:
Session 2: Creating Shared Value
May 12, 2027
The best leaders don't just solve problems–they understand the systems behind them. Learn to see the bigger picture behind everyday decisions, navigate the tension between individual and collective interests, and discover how long-term success comes from creating value for society.
Key takeaways:
Session 3: Designing Enduring Organizations
May 26, 2027
The strongest organizations are built to last beyond the next quarter. Enduring organizations balance performance with humanity. What does “efficiency” really mean, and where is its place in the modern business landscape? How much does it matter for tomorrow?
Key takeaways
Session 4: Leading with Kokorozashi
June 9, 2027
In this final session, you will bring together all of your cohort’s perspectives and experiences from the programme to refine your kokorozashi. You will also apply one more Japanese concept that will help you remain committed beyond small victories.
Key takeaways
Dr. Tadahiro Wakasugi
Professor & Director, GLOBIS University
Compassionate Leadership A former Booz Allen Hamilton management consultant, Dr. Tadahiro Wakasugi specializes in leadership, organizational behavior, and management philosophy. His research into compassion and mindfulness provides the foundation for exploring how compassion can become a practical leadership capability that builds trust, collaboration, and stronger relationships.
Suzuka Kobayakawa
Faculty & Content Leader, GLOBIS University
Leadership & Social Innovation Ms. Suzuka Kobayakawa's career spans peace-building in Nepal, the United Nations Development Programme, financial inclusion in Nigeria, and impact investing through the KIBOW Foundation. These experiences lend her a powerful, real-world perspective on interconnected systems and creating shared value. She is committed to addressing the people and needs that conventional business can overlook.
Dr. Toru Takahashi
Global Chief Strategy Officer, GLOBIS Corporation
Global Strategy Dr. Toru Takahashi has built businesses across China, Southeast Asia, and Europe following an international career at Marubeni. He served as the founding president and CEO of GLOBIS Europe. His experience building businesses across markets brings a practitioner’s perspective to how values, strategy, and long-term thinking can create organizations designed to endure.
Aiste Dewulf
President & CEO, GLOBIS Europe
Organizational Transformation In addition to having spent 15 years in Japan, Ms. Aiste Dewulf has worked across Europe and the Middle East. This enables her to bring a cross-cultural perspective to leadership and organizational change. She combines her executive role with extensive work in leadership development, helping translate purpose into meaningful, sustainable change.
Tomohiko Taya
President, Takashimaya France
I decided to begin my journey with GLOBIS to develop my business skills, particularly those related to human resources, accounting, and financing which I consider as applications. However, while it is always worth installing the newest apps likely to smart phones, one of the most valuable discoveries I made during my studies was that I needed the OS, the Kokorozashi, much more to improve my business skills.
Marco Spola
General Manager, Gruppo Reggiani
For me, Kokorozashi became a compass. Moving between cultures and companies, it kept me anchored to a purpose larger than my own ambition, contributing to others, to my teams, and to the craft I care about. That clarity is the most lasting thing GLOBIS gave me.
With over 30 years of business education expertise, GLOBIS empowers organizations to develop leadership driven by company philosophy and personal missions.
Japan No’1 MBA School
Innovation for a New Era
Practical Training Solutions'
Purpose-Driven Mindset
Borderless Global Learning
*Required
Every organization's needs are different. With our global learning options, we're ready to help you find the right program to achieve your talent development goals.
