Course Highlights

• This course runs over thirteen weeks with an estimated 6–8 hours per week of learning and activities to apply course concepts to existing work priorities
• This course is delivered in a hybrid model with two in-person sessions on the MIT Sloan campus in Cambridge, MA; the remaining sessions will be online
• Participants will define and advance a performance goal that is aligned with their existing priorities and represents a challenge for their organization and for themselves personally 
• Participants will have access to an MIT faculty member and coach to support them in accomplishing their course objectives, plus support from MIT Sloan Executive Education to answer administrative or technical queries
• Participants will earn a certificate of course completion from MIT Sloan Executive Education

Meet the founders

 Kate Isaacs
MIT Sloan Senior Lecturer
BILT-Lab Co-founder
Kate Isaacs advises senior leaders and teams on organizational strategy and innovation-focused stakeholder partnerships that generate economic and social value. She draws on design thinking, system dynamics, and developmental psychology to help leaders create conditions for collective intelligence, agile performance, and transformative change. She is a Shadow Work coach who focuses on the positive potential in people and organizations—transforming obstacles and habits that block people’s natural orientation towards creativity, growth, and health.

Tom Giordano
Executive Director, Partnership for Rhode Island
BILT-Lab Co-founder
Tom Giordano is an experienced advisor to CEOs and Governors and a nationally recognized fundraising and social impact executive focused on creating spaces for collaboration around infrastructure, sustainability, education and the workforce. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Providence College and an MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business. Tom is a resident of Rhode Island and serves as a local volunteer and public school parent.

Why attend Businesses for Inclusive Local Thriving (BILT) Lab

The BILT-Lab is a research, education, and action learning opportunity for business leaders who want to tackle their company’s talent needs and accelerate regional innovation and resilience. The course will bring together both private and public sector leaders to share and learn how to design and accelerate inclusive local talent development programs, reduce barriers to workforce participation, improve the local quality of life, and boost energy security and ecosystem health.

Ideal participants are invested in building the prosperity of their local communities and are ready, willing, and able to analyze existing initiatives and identify programs that are ready to scale. Participants should be willing to approach problems with curiosity, and to share experiences openly with peers to support shared learning.

Led by renowned researchers and industry-tested professionals, the BILT-Lab will identify and highlight impactful, place-based investments that produce measurable economic, social, and environmental outcomes. Particpants will learn about and implement solutions for inclusive talent development and community health that companies can deploy inside their walls as well as outside in the communities where they operate.

By bringing business leaders and their academic, non-profit, or government partners together participants will help regions and cities find new and innovative solutions to local problems, and generate a clearinghouse of best practice case examples. 

Completing this course will allow participants to build trusted, working relationships across sectors with the goal of helping their communities thrive. 

Course Experience

This course is delivered in a hybrid model with two in-person sessions on the MIT Sloan campus in Cambridge, MA; the remaining sessions will be online. Participants will define and advance a performance goal that is aligned with their existing priorities and represents a challenge for their organization and for themselves personally.

The course faculty, coaches, and peers will support them in making measurable progress on their goal and preparing a plan for continuation after the conclusion of the course. Participants will learn through a variety of formats including content delivered by guest speakers and academic experts, executive and peer coaching, between-session assignments, dialogue and learning forums, and presentations they will prepare and deliver during sessions.

Participants will also have access to an MIT faculty member and coach to support them in accomplishing their course objectives, plus support from MIT Sloan Executive Education to answer administrative or technical queries.

Learn more about the in-person course experience.

Applying to the course

To attend the program, applications must demonstrate commitment in three domains:

• Commitment to Opportunity: Dedication to diverse talent pipelines, closing the opportunity gap, and driving inclusive economic growth
• Commitment to Region: Lifting up not only your internal needs, but local and regional needs as well
• Commitment to Share: Come curious, able to listen and learn, and willing to support shared learning

Qualified candidates are admitted on a rolling, space-available basis, and space is limited. Early application is encouraged and will increase your chances of being accepted. 

You can begin the application process by using the red Enroll Now bar at the bottom of the screen.

Guest speakers*

• Jennifer Benson Principal at TSK Associates
• Dick Gochnauer Co-Founder, CLAOC Managing Partner, SoCal Master Fund
• Brad Hewitt Retired CEO, Thrivent Financial
• Francesca Ioffreda Founder, Breakthrough Strategy Partners; Nonresident Senior Fellow, Brookings Metro
• Bruce Katz Co-Founder of New Localism Advisors
• Fred Keller Founder of Cascade Engineering
• Christine Ortiz Former Dean of Graduate Education at MIT
• John Rice First Nations Elder Knowledge Keeper, Orillia, Canada

*Invited guest speakers may be subject to change

Have questions?

Contact Us if you would like to speak with a program director or visit our Frequently Asked Questions page for answers to common questions about our courses.

Health and Safety

See our on campus healthy and safety policies.