Strategic Communication for Leaders: Protect Your Brand, Lead Your People
We train you to lead when the script disappears. Join the University of Chicago Booth School of Business community and build the skills to speak with authority, protect your organization’s reputation, and lead through disruption.
| Course | Format | Duration | Investment | Next Course |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Strategic Communication for Leaders: Protect Your Brand, Lead Your People |
Hybrid In-person immersion at the University of Chicago, plus an online orientation and a post-course consultation. |
Three days | $9,000 | October 15 – 17, 2025 |
When Others Freeze, You Lead with Purpose
When the pressure is on, your words—and your training—shape what happens next. This intensive course teaches you to communicate decisively, credibly, and confidently in high-stakes situations.
Through our Strategic Communication for Leaders: Protect Your Brand, Lead Your People course, you’ll gain hands-on experience in executive messaging, public speaking and media training, as well as Second City improvisation. This is designed to help you lead, adapt, and communicate with confidence and authority while under pressure.
Early Bird Rate Now Available
Use code strategic-eb at checkout to receive 5% tuition reduction for registrations before September 8.
No Reruns, No Stale Playbooks: A Course Designed for the Now
This isn’t a history lesson. This Chicago Booth Executive Education course is grounded in the realities organizations are navigating right now, so you can lead with certainty and precision when it counts.
The cases, exercises, and conversations are drawn from current headlines and emerging challenges.
In our leadership communication course, you learn to:
- Show up as a credible, commanding presence during uncertainty.
- Craft memorable, values-aligned messages that resonate.
- Think and respond with agility to the unexpected.
- Navigate organizational change, with as little drama as possible.
- Leverage lessons from trusted advisors of senators, CEOs, and major corporations to develop your own crisis communications plan.
The key skills you acquire in this course to protect your company’s reputation, revenue, and people are:
- Crisis communication planning and response
- Change leadership
- Executive presence
- Public speaking
- Interviewing
- Storytelling
- Improvisation
- Agility and adaptability
Who Should Attend?
If your job involves aligning teams, building trust, or standing behind tough decisions, our course is for you. Whether you are working in communications, heading up a department, or sitting in the C-suite and contending with change or disruption, you can gain the skills to communicate clearly, credibly, and quickly, especially when your organization is at stake.
Ready to Boost Your Leadership Communication Skills?
Learn from experts in media, business, and improvisation to communicate effectively and persuasively to shield your organization during periods of disruption. Save your seat today!
GET STARTEDChicago Booth Executive Education
High-Impact Communication Training for Leaders
Good leadership requires agility and improvising. Why not train for it?
From boardroom debates to public media interviews, leadership is full of unscripted moments. This course combines applied improvisation from Chicago’s famed The Second City with strategic communication training to help you speak clearly, lead confidently, and respond purposefully and effectively when the unexpected happens.
We’re teaching you to think and communicate quickly and authoritatively with methods that help you better protect your company when there is no checklist to follow.
You will partake in the intellectual rigor and strategic thinking for which UChicago is famous, and learn to use your newfound skills in the field with speed and agility when the situation demands it. This unique course provides an online orientation that sets the stage for in-person learning while a post-course capstone consultation helps you apply your training directly to your professional context.
Pre-Course Orientation (Online)
Connect with peers and instructors. Prepare for the immersive experience ahead of you.
Three-Day, In-Person Immersion at the University of Chicago
Participate in high-pressure communication exercises. Learn improvisation techniques. Practice managing crises in real time.
1:1 Capstone Consultation with Instructors (Online)
Submit your crisis communication plan in advance and then review the feedback in a one-on-one session with faculty and industry experts.
Course Schedule
| Online Pre-Course Orientation | October 6 |
|---|---|
| In-Person Sessions | October 15, 16, and 17 |
| Online Consultation Session | Scheduled between October 22–October 27 |
Real-time Exercises and Crisis Drills
Role-play in high-stakes leadership exercises, including media interviews and internal confrontations, and learn to lead with composure and clarity.
Applied Improvisation with Chicago's Famed The Second City
Train alongside improv experts to sharpen your reflexes and responses when your heart’s racing to become a faster, more flexible, and fearless thinker.
Timely Case Studies and Current Events
Analyze real-world examples drawn from current industry challenges to develop tools to navigate disruption or uncertainty.
Our Faculty and Instructors Don’t Just Talk About Crises. They’ve Helped Organizations Lead Through Them.
From shaping communication strategies for Michelin-starred restaurants to advising cabinet-level officials, our teaching team has seen it all. Now, they’re bringing their proven strategies and insights directly to you, helping you master leadership communication under pressure.
Meet Your Instructional Team
Melissa Harris
Adjunct Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship
Melissa Harris is a Clio Award–winning strategist, former Chicago Tribune columnist, and powerhouse behind unforgettable campaigns for bold brands. As founder of M. Harris & Co. and a Chicago Booth MBA alumna, she’s who top startups, media execs, and Pulitzer winners call when they need to make an impact. Now she’s teaching you to do the same.
Jane Hirt
Instructor
Jane Hirt ran one of the largest newsrooms in the country as managing editor of the Chicago Tribune and led the award-winning RedEye to profitability. Now, she designs national marketing campaigns for clients like the AMA and the American Academy of Pediatrics. With her mix of newsroom rigor, marketing savvy, and executive leadership, she’s the strategist you want guiding your next big move.
Jim Hock
Instructor
Jim Hock has crafted strategy at the highest levels of government and business, as chief of staff to the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, press secretary to Senator Dianne Feinstein, and founder of a leading communications firm for tech and energy clients. Whether managing White House relationships or advising CEOs, he knows how to navigate power, policy, and public perception.
Kelly Leonard
Instructor
Kelly Leonard, The Second City’s longtime executive vice president, helped shape the careers of comedy greats like Tina Fey and Stephen Colbert and now brings the power of improvisation to the worlds of leadership, innovation, and communication. Bestselling author and Chicago Booth collaborator, he’s your backstage pass to what it really takes to connect, adapt, and lead.
Earn a Credential in Strategic Communication for Leaders
At the successful completion of this course, you will earn a credential from Chicago Booth Executive Education, including a digital badge, and become part of the extensive UChicago network.
Prepare Yourself to Communicate and Lead Effectively When There’s No Script to Follow
This Chicago Booth Executive Education course is designed to help you protect your brand's reputation, while you lead and communicate with confidence and authority in pressure situations.
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