C-Suite Ready: The Star Executive Accelerator

Getting promoted to the C-suite is unlike any other leadership move. It demands more than strong performance in your current role. It requires enterprise thinking, political judgment, stakeholder credibility, boardroom-level clarity and the ability to lead amid greater ambiguity, scrutiny, and complexity.

C-Suite Ready is an intensive 1.5-day executive education experience for high-potential leaders preparing to take that higher-stakes leap. Grounded in how C-suite decisions are actually made, the program helps participants understand how organizations identify “ready-now” leaders — often well before a formal search begins. Executives gain insight into the Seven Judges who shape promotion outcomes and learn to align their leadership narrative with the expectations of boards, CEOs, CHROs, and other senior decision-makers.

A defining feature of the experience is the Leadership Plan Review, where you will refine and pressure-test a call to action for organizational impact. During the program, you will build a focused 90-day STAR Strategic Transition and Readiness plan, earn CEU credits and a C-Suite STAR Leadership Certificate, along with the option to participate in a community of executives supporting each other with ongoing Leadership Plan Reviews.

The program is led by two seasoned corporate executives from Silicon Valley who are New York Times, Businessweek and Wall Street Journal bestselling authors of Admired: 21 Ways to Double Your Value and Success Built to Last: Creating a Life That Matters (Wharton Business Press) and CEO Ready: How to Earn & Keep the Job (Harvard Business Review Press).

What You Will Learn

You will gain the skills to earn readiness for the C-suite — first by getting qualified, then by getting selected by the board — including how to:

Build a career readiness plan that gets traction for your next promotion in the C-suite.

Learn from corporate executives who climbed to the biggest roles of their careers — and create a practical roadmap that strengthens capability and makes you more “obvious” to the stakeholders who decide outcomes.

Map and win the seven judges who select you.

Identify who accelerates — or derails — your candidacy and design “trust moments” with each.

Pass the board’s “obvious choice” test.

Elevate your boardroom audition skills while avoiding interview traps by demonstrating executive judgment, alignment, and followership-building capability.

Master the Five Hard Questions that make a great executive CEO ready.

Turn your answers into concise proof of enterprise scope, trustworthiness, coachability, and succession-builder leadership.

Stop losing executive attention and start earning boardroom airtime.

Learn what causes CEOs to tune out, and how to deliver crisp, outcome-driven messages that earn trust, shape decisions, and move the room.

Build a Most Admired Team. 
Learn why most teams fail at collaboration — and how to win against long odds from the world’s top collaboration scientist.

Show up ready for executive assessments and intensified scrutiny.
Prepare for evaluation methods and expectations that become more rigorous at the CEO/candidate level — and convert feedback into a stronger candidacy narrative.

Deliver your first 90-Day Credibility Sprint. 
Produce and rehearse a board-facing plan that signals strategic clarity, composure, and decisive leadership from day one.

Who Should Attend

This program is designed for senior leaders who are serious about creating a plan to move into a CEO or C-suite role — and want a candid, high-practicality accelerator focused on selection realities and early-tenure performance. Participant profiles may include:

• Executives at any level who aspire to command senior-leader attention. Leaders who want their messages to land with CEOs and boards — to build a rationale to promote you.
• EVP/SVP/GM/BU leaders preparing for CEO or C-suite candidacy within 6–24 months. 
• Internal successors who need to become the “obvious choice” to boards.
• High-performing leaders who want to present the CEO and board the strongest version of what they can bring to the next role — avoid getting passed over — and get a clear diagnosis of what may be missing in trust, scope, or stakeholder alignment. 
• Newly appointed C-suite leaders who want a sharper 90-day plan and board-ready narrative. 
• Leaders entering high-scrutiny environments (activists, media pressure, major transformation) who need steadiness, clarity, and a pressure-tested message. 

Continuing Education Credits

1.4 CEUs

Learning Hours

14 hours