In This Section
Immerse yourself in Ivy League education curated for aspiring and current high-achieving bank leaders. During Leadership Lab, you will learn from Wharton faculty with direct industry experience, providing innovative ways to think about business.
Small cohorts create an intimate and attentive learning environment, maximizing your time and investment. Leadership Lab allows you to engage in networking and peer-to-peer discussions that will help you build an enterprise-wide view of your bank.
As a Leadership Lab attendee, you will leave with the confidence to:
Upon completion of Leadership Lab, you’ll earn the ABA Wharton Executive Leadership Certificate. Set your credentials apart from the rest, and join a powerful network of Leadership Lab alumni.
From start to finish, the lectures, the discussions, the participants (students & teachers), the topics and the insights all made an incredible impact on my leadership philosophy and ability. I would gladly recommend and discuss the benefits with anyone considering the program."
—Joshua Dortenzo, Vice President & Culture Manager, Community State Bank
Leadership Lab is for rising leaders, namely those tapped to move into a C-suite role, and newly-minted C-suite professionals who are looking to develop their executive skillset. Leadership Lab’s cohort includes leaders from banks of all sizes, and leaders in a wide range of specialties, from all over the country. Previous participants have come from banks such as TD Bank, Apple Bank, Arvest Bank Group, Yakima Federal Savings and Loan Association, and ConnectOne.
Check out 2023's Cohort ProfileWe’re working on his event’s program. To see the types of sessions you can expect, check out the 2024 program. To receive updates when registration opens for 2025, please fill out our KMI form.
All times are in ET.
Wed, Aug 7
7:00 AM – 9:00 AM |
Breakfast |
8:30 AM – 9:00 AM |
Registration |
9:00 AM – 9:15 AM |
Program Introduction
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9:15 AM – 10:30 AM |
Strategic Agility The increased speed of change in today’s business environment has caused a movement from discrete-event strategic planning to more dynamic planning―the quarterly strategy “refresh,” for example. However, many organizations struggle with the ability to stay nimble. This session explores the common barriers to agility, provides tools to overcome these barriers and describes three concrete actions in achieving strategic agility.
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10:30 AM – 10:45 AM |
Break |
10:45 AM – 12:15 PM |
Strategic Agility Cont’d
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12:15 PM – 1:30 PM |
Group Photo and Lunch |
1:30 PM – 3:00 PM |
Community Banking: Challenges and Strategies for the 2020s This session offers an in-depth exploration of the current landscape and future strategies for regional and community banks. Discuss the regulatory and antitrust environment, and how merger policies weigh in. Explore opportunities in specializing banking services, expanding through deposits and branching, and engaging with younger generations.
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3:00 PM – 3:15 PM |
Break |
3:15 PM – 4:45 PM |
Community Banking: Challenges and Strategies for the 2020s Cont’d
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4:45 PM – 5:00 PM |
Break |
5:00 PM – 6:30 PM |
Creating and Sustaining Meaningful Relationships Deeper conversations lead to enhanced psychological safety and trust – which can lead to more effective teamwork and stronger organizations. Engage in an exercise called Fast Friends, designed by psychologist Arthur Aron as a way of creating stronger social ties, even between strangers. Learn the neural and behavioral science behind why it so effectively changes interpersonal dynamics, and add this exercise to your own coaching toolkit.
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6:30 PM – 7:30 PM |
Dinner Reception at Steinberg Conference Center |
Thu, Aug 8
7:00 AM – 8:45 AM |
Breakfast |
8:45 AM – 9:00 AM |
Review & Integration
|
9:00 AM – 10:30 AM |
Talent Leadership: Building, Buying, and Borrowing Talent Based on his research, Professor Cappelli will explain the shift in the employment relationship from a lifelong commitment to open-market affiliation. This session will focus on understanding the current situation in the “War for Talent,” and honing your skills in managing the “flow” of employees through your organization. Learn various methods of recruiting talent, best practices for retaining key employees, working with the next generation of employees, as well as labor force trends.
|
10:30 AM – 10:45 AM |
Break |
10:45 AM – 12:15 PM |
Succession Planning With declining employee-employer loyalty and an aging workforce, many companies are facing high turnover rates. This session explains how to plan a talent pipeline, ensuring that current performers are rewarded and retained, and a new generation of employees is recruited and developed.
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12:15 PM – 1:00 PM |
Lunch |
1:00 PM – 3:00 PM |
AI and New Technologies for Business From predictive technologies to Large Language Models like ChatGPT, AI will continue to affect workforce needs. In this session, review the capabilities of these technologies, with an emphasis on understanding how they affect the demand for skills in jobs. Discuss the frameworks being used by policymakers, academics, businesses and NGOs to assess the types of jobs that will be in demand in a tech-driven future.
|
3:00 PM – 3:15 PM |
Break |
3:15 PM – 4:45 PM |
Unleashing Collective Intelligence This session will focus on how to create a culture and mechanisms inside organizations to maximize intelligence and resilience of the company. Engage in a discussion forum about how to get better at collecting and responding to important internal and external signals, and how to make decisions based on collective intelligence.
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4:45 PM – 5:00 PM |
Break |
5:00 PM – 6:30 PM |
Unleashing Collective Intelligence Cont’d
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Fri, Aug 9
7:00 AM – 8:30 AM |
Breakfast |
8:30 AM – 10:00 AM |
Identifying Value Drivers Too often, organizations equate growth to value. However, top-line growth can be deceiving. What really matters is whether the company’s growth is profitable, whether it is sustainable and how much investment is required to achieve it. In this session, we derive a valuation tool that allows management to assess projects, products and even customers, to determine where and how to prioritize resources.
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10:00 AM – 10:15 AM |
Break |
10:15 AM – 11:45 AM |
Identifying Value Drivers Cont’d
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11:45 AM – 12:00 PM |
Break |
12:00 PM – 1:00 PM |
Program Wrap Up & Commencement |
Get updates on the next sessions of the ABA-Wharton Leadership Lab. Contact Perette Bonner if you have any questions.