- Search
Search
- LoginAccess your ApplicationFor current applicantsOr learn more about our programmes and applyAccess MyINSEADFor current participants and alumni
Online Sessions
October 2023
Begins 30 Oct 2023
Online
5 weeks
Deadline to apply: 16 Oct (11 am CET)
€1,990 (excl. VAT/GST)
May 2024
Begins 06 May 2024
Online
5 weeks
Deadline to apply: 22 April (11 AM CET)
€1,990 (excl. VAT/GST)
Master the Art of Presence and Influence
Leading teams and organisations effectively in today’s climate of endless uncertainty is contingent on your ability to inspire confidence in other people – in those who work for and with you, in your senior leadership, and across your ecosystem of clients and business partners. In our current climate of ambiguity and unpredictability, it is more critical than ever that your team sees you as a leader to follow and to empower them; that your peers and customers have faith in your abilities and dependability; and that your executive leaders and board have confidence in your potential to lead change, unlock innovation and translate vision into reality.
Inspiring this kind of confidence requires you not only articulate and communicate your ideas with clarity and composure; you also have to build trust – trust in your competencies as a leader and decision-maker, in your technical capabilities, and in your absolute commitment to follow through on what you say you will do.
Executive Presence and Influence is an online programme that aims to demystify these qualities – redefining them as skills that can be learned and mastered rather than innate traits or characteristics.
Integrating the latest research and thinking around communication, body language, trust and the science of influence, the programme also offers a highly hands-on approach and constructive exercises that will accelerate your self-awareness and practical understanding.
You will learn how to employ soft-power strategies to draw people in and empower them without relying on formal authority or power structures. You will also look at how body language ties to presence: how stance, gestures, movements communicate ideas consciously and subconsciously; and the relative importance versus what we say across different settings, cultural contexts and groups.
Finally, the programme will explore the critical communication tools that you need to develop to enact both presence and influence. You will understand the importance of assessing the situation, and employing the most culturally appropriate strategies on the right targets in the right context, and at the right time.
How you benefit
- Learn tactics to unlock your own executive presence such that your stakeholders have confidence, respect and trust in your competencies and reliability
- Discover evidence-based strategies that are effective, practical and ethical to influence other people without imposing your power
- Master when and how to employ these influence strategies with different stakeholders and in different contexts in your personal leadership challenges
- Understand the psychology of trust, and how to establish trust to build fruitful long-term business relationships with your teams, managers, and with clients
Participant profile
Executive Presence and Influence is designed for:
- Executives in leadership positions at all levels looking to empower others and drive meaningful change though enhanced presence and influence
- Leaders in client-facing roles and organisations who want to build strong long-term relationships with external stakeholders.
Participants should have an excellent command of the English language to be able to exchange and share ideas with the community of learners and coaches.
This programme qualifies for the INSEAD Online Certificate: Leading in a Transforming World.
Embracing the exciting new possibilities
created by digital
Our online programmes combine our deep expertise in developing high-quality executive programmes that translate into business impact with the convenience of modern online learning. INSEAD is among the top three Executive Education providers globally, with a world-class faculty and an ability to deliver cutting-edge business content to an international business community. True to our pioneering spirit and tradition of innovation, in 2014 we started developing customised online programmes for leading global companies including Microsoft and Accenture. A tremendous success, our customised online programmes have now won numerous learning industry awards based on strong results for completion rates, for relevance, and for business impact across more than 20,000 executives.
Effective online programmes must overcome one key challenge: sustaining the interest and the motivation of participants during the programme. We do this in myriad ways that build on the high-quality delivery and expertise for which INSEAD is renowned. There are multidimensional interactions with peers and world-class faculty, individual learning support from our coaches, certification upon successful completion, and real-time application back to participants’ own context.
Peter Zemsky
Deputy Dean of INSEAD, Dean of Innovation
The Eli Lilly Chaired Professor of Strategy and Innovation
INSEAD's cutting-edge online programmes




Through outstanding design and delivery, INSEAD’s online programmes build upon our world-class faculty’s ability to convey very complex concepts in the simplest yet most comprehensible way.
- Content designed specifically for the online format, including short high-impact videos
- Professional, television-quality filming in INSEAD amphitheatres with actual participants
- Use of relevant and engaging examples and short case studies from a wide range of industries
Through a rich set of interactive elements, we build a community of faculty, learning coaches and diverse, high-quality global executives who learn together as a group - one of INSEAD’s strengths.
- A mobile-friendly learning platform built to maximise interaction and engagement
- Faculty answering questions during the programme
- A learning coach guides participants through the programme providing feedback
- The guided ‘real-world assignments’ feature of the programmes encourages participants to take newly acquired skills and apply them within the context of their actual job and organisation.
- The projects are closely aligned with the learning in the programme and benefit from the learning community, with feedback from the learning coach.
Upon successful completion of all programme activities, combined with satisfactory grades on the final assignment, participants are awarded with an official Certificate of Completion from INSEAD, which they can also showcase on their LinkedIn profile.
Related articles