Certificate in Sustainable Leadership

A Leadership program for C-Level Executives  

Participant Profile: C-level executives (10 participants) representing one or several firms. The participating organizations may be in partnership, parent and subsidiary firms, organizations of recent mergers, or acquisitions.

Language: English

Duration: 2 days in-class session, 1 day sustainable leadership motivational talk presentation, + online individual coaching

Dates: October 25, 26, and November 1, 2025, 10.00-16.00, including coffee breaks and lunch.

Today's leadership challenge is not just about profit, but also purpose as stakeholders demand sustainability. But how do you transfer ESG values into leadership practice that motivates your team and aligns your partners? This certificate program helps you start tackling this challenge. Over three days, you will join executive peers to raise sustainability awareness, build a cross-organizational network, and develop your own sustainable leadership manifesto besides enhancing communication skills to inspire employees. Participants will be awarded the Istanbul Bilgi University Certificate in Sustainable Leadership upon completion of the program. To earn the certificate, each leader will present a motivational talk that incorporates the program's core value of sustainability.

Program Goals

• Align leadership practices with sustainability and ESG values of executives within and across organizations.
• Assist executives to raise their awareness of their core values concerning sustainability and to develop their authentic sustainability manifesto.
• Provide leaders with a communication skills set to deliver a motivational talk with an impact.
• Encourage leaders to create a culture and climate that values growth, collaboration, and innovation.
• Encourage leaders to build sustainable employee relations and foster engagement and well-being.

  Instructor team

• Dr. Gergely Czukor – Head of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Istanbul Bilgi University
• Dr. Ahmet Aydemir – Director, Center for Environment, Energy & Sustainability, Istanbul Bilgi University.
• Kerim Balcı – Clinical and Organizational Psychologist, Department of Psychology, Istanbul Bilgi University
•  

Program Overview This leadership education program helps organizations and their partner organizations to embrace sustainability as a driving force of their leadership practice, partnership, operations, and employee relations. Their C-level executives will attend a two-day program of lectures and workshops. On the third day, they will present their leadership motivational talk, a sustainability manifesto, driven by sustainability values, vision, and goals. The executives will receive 45 minutes individual coaching to help them prepare their motivation talk. The program content relies on dominant approaches to leadership, such as transformational, charismatic, and authentic leadership, a positive psychology approach focusing on self-awareness and flow experience, and business and management approaches emphasizing sustainability. The program serves as a forum to align executives with sustainability values and create common grounds for leadership practice within and across organizations.      

The Executive Sustainability Leadership Forum: Integrating Purpose, People, and Planet

Day 1: 25th of October, Saturday - The Foundation: Leading with Purpose

10.00-10.20. Introduction to program, instructors, and expectations

10.30-12.00. Session 1: The ESG-forward leader: From strategy to execution

Instructor: Dr. Ahmet Aydemir 

Focus:

• Understanding the impact of sustainability and ESG values on leadership
• Integrating sustainability practices into leadership strategies
• Promoting workplace sustainable decency and well-being.

12.45-14.15. Session 2: The mindful leader: Developing resilience & focus in the AI era

Instructor: Kerim Balcı 

Focus:

• Raise awareness of rising competencies towards 2030 with the fast-paced development of AI.
• Incorporate mindful-leadership techniques into daily leadership practices and competencies.
• Enhance emotional intelligence and workplace happiness.

14.30-16.00. Session 3: Leadership influence for sustainable leader-follower relations and engagement

Instructor: Dr. Gergely Czukor 

Focus:

• The leadership influence process – Create enthusiastic followers.
• Emotions in leadership – Turn negative emotions into positive ones.
• Vision, goals, and values
• Win-win leadership

Day 2: 26th of October, Sunday- The activation: Communication & impact

10.00-12.00. Session 4: Crafting your leadership legacy: The sustainability Manifesto

Instructor: Dr. Gergely Czukor

Focus:

• Your core values and vision.
• Elements of charismatic leadership communication.
• Preparation of a leadership motivational talk - your sustainability manifesto.

12.45-14.15. Session 5: The decisive leader: Mindfulness tools for crisis & conflict

Instructor: Kerim Balcı

Activities:

• Daily exercises to stay in the moment during a crisis or conflict.
• Mindful listening and promoting employee voice behavior.
• Goal-setting, employee engagement, and well-being.

14.30-16.00. Session 6: The sustainable culture workshop: Building psychological safety & well-being

Instructor: Dr. Ahmet Aydemir

Activities:

• Workshop on promoting decent workplaces and increasing employee well-being and workplace psychological safety.
• Group session on embedding sustainability and well-being into organizational goals.
• Case studies on successful applications of sustainable management relations.

          Following Weekdays: Individual coaching sessions

The executives will receive 45 minutes of online individual coaching, focusing on their sustainability leadership manifesto presented on the final day. Participants will complete an AI-supported template before the scheduled individual coaching sessions to help them prepare their talk. The coaching will help managers identify their audience and a specific topic, develop a vision, identify values, attempt to create a positive change, and apply communication tactics such as anecdotes, rhetorical questions, contrasts, or three-part lists to enhance the impact of their communication.

Day 3: November 1, Saturday: Assessment – Leadership motivational talk

The final event of the certificate program includes the presentation session attended by all participants and instructors. Each leader will complete a 1-10-minute motivational speech to communicate their sustainability leadership manifesto to create organizational enthusiasm. The presentation language can be Turkish or English, depending on preference. The motivational talks will be formally assessed as part of granting participants their certificate.

Program schedule

 More than a certificate program

1.     A seat in an exclusive C-level program, limited to 10 leaders to ensure engagement and high-level networking.

2.     Direct access to Istanbul Bilgi University's sustainability, psychology, and leadership experts.

3.     A personalized coaching session to develop your leadership communication.

4.     ROI: A ready-to-implement leadership manifesto and a new network of executives to drive your sustainability agenda forward

5.     Graduate with a formal executive leadership certificate, enhancing your profile.*

*Official certificate, graduation event, LinkedIn credential, access to Bilgi's alum network

  Program Fee: 46,000 TL (VAT included) per executive

*Members of the Bilgi community are entitled to a 20% discount.

Dates: October 25 – November 1: 3 program days plus 2 days of online coaching, 45 minutes per participant.

Training venue: Istanbul Bilgi University santralistanbul campus

For more information and registration: bilgi-egitim@bilgi.edu.tr