Next Level Leadership Certificate
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Maximize Your Leadership Potential
Do you want to reach the next level of your career and strengthen your leadership profile? Get ready to take the next step with this three-module, on-site certificate program. We support you in sharpening your skills, defining your leadership goals and becoming the leader you strive to be. Grow your career with access to expert insights, a powerful network, and practical tools. Connect with driven professionals in a flexible, modular program designed to fit your busy schedule.
Key Facts
Program Structure
Online kick-off, three on-campus modules
Program Duration
Online Kick-off: September 10, 3-4 PM CEST, Modules: September 17-18, October 16-17, and November 12-13, 2025
Location
Mannheim, Germany
Language
English
Course Fee
€7,500, Early-bird price €6,500
Prerequisites
At least 3 years of leadership or significant project lead experience, good English language skills
Credits
Certificate awarded by Mannheim Business School
Reputation
Germany's best business school, #1 in the German-speaking region in the Financial Times Executive MBA ranking
Leadership at Mannheim Business School
Learn what leadership expert Prof. Dr. Eric Kearney, MBS Adjunct Faculty, has to say about leadership, why you should consider leadership training regardless of your current position, the benefits of taking a leadership course at a business school, why a leadership course should include both a research and a practical perspective, and why you should hone your leadership skills in a face-to-face program.
Discover more about Prof. Eric Kearney below and learn directly from him how to master effective leadership in our Next Level Leadership Certificate.
Upcoming Information Events
Impact
Effective leadership skills: Navigate the “sandwich model” of organizational life
Strategic negotiation skills: Deal successfully with clients, team members and superiors
Leading change: Identify opportunities and barriers for organizational change and learning
AI leadership skills to navigate the opportunities, challenges, and ethical implications of AI in today’s evolving business landscape
MBA level teaching at Germany's #1 Business School
Transformative in-person learning experience with a strong group of peers
The opportunity to network with MBS alumni, program participants and corporate contacts
Program Description
This is the program for you if you want to further enhance your leadership skills, develop your personal growth, and make a bigger impact at your company. The Next Level Leadership Certificate is tailored for young to mid-level managers with at least three years of leadership or project lead experience, either with or without an academic degree. You should have taken up your first leadership role and have good English language skills.
Learn from leadership best practices and work on your personal action plan to unlock your full potential as a leader, master the challenges of leading from a "sandwich" position, and sharpen your negotiation skills to achieve better outcomes and build trustful relationships with clients, stakeholders and team members. Finally, you will explore the ways in which AI will change leadership and what positive and negative effects a growing role of AI in leadership might engender.
Designed for real-world impact, this program features a mix of expert-led lectures, case studies, practical exercises, and dynamic discussions to deepen your understanding and sharpen your skills.
Courses and Course Content
Best Practices in Influencing Followers
- What works best in fostering engagement, performance, and satisfaction of followers?
- How you can benefit from this knowledge
Best Practices in Leadership Career Advancement
- How to build both personal and position power
- What traits, habits, and actions foster leadership career success?
Self-Reflection and Your Personal Vision
- My current self as a leader: Where do I currently stand and what results have I gotten so far?
- My ideal self as a leader: The leader I strive to become in the future
Taking Your Leadership Skills to the Next Level
- How to bridge the gap from the leader you are today (current self) to the leader you strive to become (ideal self)
- Your individualized action plan for unlocking your full potential as a leader – both in terms of positively influencing others and advancing your own career
Leading in a Sandwich Position
- Juggling priorities and expectations in the multiverse of Planets I – We – and It
- Using the Ofman Core Quadrant model to discover hidden competences and pitfalls
Change Leadership
- Identify opportunities and barriers to create organizational change and learning
- “The Iron Law” of change leadership
- Behavioural design and leadership experiments to create concrete and specific changes
- The Pre Mortem framework as a method of prediction and mitigation of change failure or success
Negotiation for Leaders
- How to deal successfully with difficult clients, team members and bosses?
- Our skills to negotiate in challenging situations are amongst the most important success factors for our careers
- Develop more trusted relationships with key stakeholders and team members
AI & The Future of Leadership
- How AI will change the nature of leadership
- How you as a leader can benefit from AI
- What will change and what will remain the same – and what to focus on going forward
Lecturers
Prof. Dr. Eric Kearney
Eric Kearney has been Professor of Leadership, Organizational Behavior, and Human Resource Management at the University of Potsdam since 2014. He has taught at numerous German and international universities and business schools and regularly teaches leadership courses at Mannheim Business School. His research on leadership and teamwork has been published in leading scientific journals (e.g., Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Organizational Research Methods, Organization Science, Leadership Quarterly, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes). In his talks, keynotes, and workshops, he shows how scientific findings can be highly useful for organizations in their efforts to promote performance and satisfaction. Eric Kearney's research focuses on the leadership of individuals and teams. He is particularly interested in visionary and empowering leadership, as well as how we can leverage the potential of team diversity.
Mette Nørr Gantzhorn
Mette Nørr Gantzhorn is an experienced corporate leader in topics related to leadership development, inclusion, psychological safety, and change management leadership. She holds a master’s degree in psychology from Aarhus University and has previously held several senior leadership positions within People & Organization, garnering extensive experience in consultancy. Before establishing her own business, she was Head of Global Inclusion, Diversity & Well-Being at Ørsted following more than 11 years at Novo Nordisk, where she held roles such as Global Head of Diversity & Inclusion and Global Head of R&D Talent and Leadership Development.
Bernhard Böttinger
Bernhard Böttinger’s passion is to support leaders, teams and organizations in continuously improving their performance – and in achieving significantly better results in their professional roles and in their private lives. As a former Big-4-Consulting-Partner, he contributed to the success of his clients by drawing from his over 25 years of working experience in Consulting: deep understanding of business and leadership challenges, building and strengthening trust-based client relationships, leading in an agile world, developing and growing team members, dealing with challenging conversations, engaging senior stakeholders in order to drive and embed significant changes in organizations.
Registration and Course Fee
- The course fee is €7,500 and includes three two-day modules, an online kick-off, online coachings, and networking events.
- Register by July 20, 2025, to save €1,000 with our early-bird offer! The final registration deadline will be September 2, 2025.
- Alumni and participants at Mannheim Business School, their spouses and co-habiting partners, and alumni, staff and participants of the University of Mannheim are eligible for a 20% discount.
- Discount of €1,900 on the degree program if you decide to study one of our Executive MBA programs after doing the Next Level Leadership Certificate.
- Good to know: Tax offices usually recognize costs for your further education if they are job-related. Depending on your tax status in Germany, you may claim up to 50% of the tuition fee and related travel expenses on your annual tax return. Outside of Germany, please check details with a tax advisor in your country of residence. Please note: Each federal state in Germany has regulations on educational leave. Check here to see which regulations apply in your federal state and get in touch with us to discuss your individual situation.
If you have any questions about the Next Level Leadership Certificate, our MBS Open Courses & Certificates team will be happy to answer them.
Contact Person
MBS Open Courses & Certificates Team
MANNHEIM BUSINESS SCHOOL (MBS)
Located in the heart of the German and European economy, Mannheim Business School (MBS), the umbrella organization for management education at the University of Mannheim, is considered to be one of the leading institutions of its kind in Germany and is continuously ranked as Germany’s #1.
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