This seminar will take place online via MS Teams.

You may have heard it before… our success depends on the decisions we make. This may be true for most of your personal life, but does it hold true in business? What most people are not aware of is that even top managers are not free to decide whatever they want. Many times, they need the support of others, e.g. their board. For the SVP it’s not much different. He needs the support of the CxO. And it doesn’t change if you move further down the corporate ladder. Thus, the success of employees depends not so much on what they to or which decisions they make. It depends on whether they get the decisions they need… be it from superiors, steering committees or top managers.

In this skill seminar an overview will be given, strategies and tools will be presented, discussed and tried out that lead to the management decisions you want and need for your project, your team or your career.

Participants know and understand

· … why “getting decions” is a blind spot and still (or therefore) highly valuable.

· … why changing perspectives is necessary and how to do it.

· … what corporate decision makers expect.

· … why you should understand the decision maker’s personality and how to use that information to address individual emotions that drive decisions.

· … how to reliably fathom what really matters to the decision maker.

· … how to structure your options in order to get the decision you need.

Participants can apply the accompanying strategies and tools.

Full attendance of both sessions of this seminar is mandatory. Students who miss a seminar without explanation in advance will get "no-show" in CEMS database.

It's a very dynamic, practical, and hands-on type of course where you are given the opportunity to practice what you've learned throughout the lecture. We’ll be doing a combination of interactive lectures, in-class discussions as well as case studies.

Be ready to really participate in order to get the most out of it.

- 30% active participation during the workshop

- 30% input and contribution

- 40% collaboration in group works

There are no prerequisite requirements for this lecture. You can go through some optional readings before class if interested.

READINGS (optional):

· Jocham, Georg: Schneller Entscheidungen bekommen – die besten Strategien und effektivsten Methoden, Redline, 2019 (so far only in German, sorry!)

· Minto, Barbara: The Pyramid Principle: Logic in Writing and Thinking, Financial Times Prent., 2008

· Cialdini, Robert B.: influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, Harper Business, 2006

· Pantalon, Michael: Instant Influence: How to Get Anyone to Do Anything-Fast, Little, Brown Spark, 2011

· Ariely, Dan: Predictably Irrational, Revised: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions, Harper, 2010

There are no prerequisite requirements for this lecture. However, the lecture is of substantially more use for participants who already have some experience in getting or being denied management decisions.

Georg Jocham is a a former strategy consultant and corporate manager. Today he is working as an author, management trainer and speaker focusing on how to get fast and reliable decisions from (top) management.

You can directly reach out to him via e-mail: info@georgjocham.com. In addition, if requested, he will be available immediately before or after regular class. The CEMS Office (Building D1, Room 3.010, Welthandelsplatz 1,1020 Wien) provides administrative support for this lecture.

Jana Salot (WU CEMS Program Manager),  cems@wu.ac.at

Only CEMS MIM students are eligible to enroll to this seminar. Minimum 10, maximum 20 students. First come, first serve. There will be also a wait list (if needed). Full participation required for course creditation.

All relevant course material will be distributed in class.