Join Duke faculty and fellow CEOs to examine how decisions about leadership, accountability, teams and culture shape performance across your organization.
As companies become more complex, strong performance depends on more than capable people. It’s shaped by how clearly information travels, how expectations are understood, how teams take ownership and how leaders reinforce accountability and culture in everyday decisions.
At Duke University, you’ll spend two days examining the decisions and leadership practices that shape results across teams, functions and management levels—drawing on research from Duke faculty, firsthand lessons from business leaders and candid discussion with fellow CEOs.
You’ll leave with sharper judgment about what your company needs to perform at its best.
Examine how information, assumptions, team dynamics and emerging technology affect what leaders see and how they make consequential decisions.
Assess how expectations, feedback, ownership and operating disciplines reinforce performance in everyday work.
Consider what enables teams to perform, how workforce expectations are changing and what helps organizations develop and retain critical people.
Explore how leadership expectations and cultural standards are carried through decisions and behavior when the CEO is not directly involved.
President, General Motors
Every CEO eventually faces a moment when the organization they built, or inherited, becomes harder to lead. The workforce grows more complex. The market shifts. The old structures stop working. What separates the leaders who navigate that successfully from those who don’t isn’t just strategy, it’s how they lead people through it.
In this opening fireside chat, Mark Reuss will share an unfiltered look at what it actually takes to lead a complex organization through significant change — the talent decisions that defined the outcome, the cultural fault lines that had to be addressed head-on, and the leadership lessons that only come from living through it.
Vice President and Director of Athletics
Duke University
James L. Vincent Professor of Leadership,
Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business
Founder, Rhythm Systems
Author, LEADERSHIP INTELLIGENCE: Science-Backed Strategies for Mastering 21 Everyday Management Challenges
D. Richard Mead Professor of Finance, Fuqua School of Business, Duke University; Economist & CNBC Guest Commentator
“This event had so much content that is relevant for our organization – culture, leadership, talent, execution and motivation.”
Chief Executive’s CEO Summit is designed to move beyond presentations. Research from Duke faculty and firsthand experience from business leaders provide a starting point; structured peer exercises, table discussions and roundtables give you time to examine those perspectives against the decisions facing your own company.
You’ll compare how other CEOs are approaching information flow, accountability, team performance, critical talent and culture—where their approaches differ, what tradeoffs they’re making and what could apply in your organization. Conversations continue over meals and breaks, creating time to ask questions, contribute your own experience and build relationships with leaders facing similar decisions.
Step away from the day-to-day demands of your business and spend two days inside Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business with faculty, business leaders and fellow CEOs.
The campus setting gives the Summit a different pace and focus: time to examine your organization from outside it, engage directly with Duke research and continue the conversation with peers between sessions.
A room block is available for attendees at JB Duke Hotel.
For added peace of mind, registration is fully refundable until March 16, 2027.
“Great speakers with tangible solutions to real organizational issues”
Visual Solutions Group
“Overwhelmingly beneficial perspective, ideas and insight and a lot of great time outside the sessions connecting.”
Bonvera Solutions
“An excellent group of peers and speakers providing useful tools for work and life”
Options for Learning
Step away from the day-to-day demands of your business and spend two days inside Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business with faculty, business leaders and fellow CEOs.
The campus setting gives the Summit a different pace and focus: time to examine your organization from outside it, engage directly with Duke research and continue the conversation with peers between sessions.
A room block is available for attendees at JB Duke Hotel.
Attendance is intentionally curated to preserve peer quality and candor.
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For chief executives responsible for building the leadership, talent and accountability systems their strategy depends on—and deciding what must change as the organization grows more complex.
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For senior HR leaders responsible for workforce strategy, leadership development, performance management, executive retention and the organizational systems required to support stronger execution.
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For senior leaders who shape enterprise-wide decisions about people, performance and organizational effectiveness and want to work through those challenges alongside CEOs and peers.
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1:00 - 5:00 pm
Over 70% of Executives Surveyed Agree: Many Strategic Planning Efforts Lack Systematic Approach Tips for Enhancing Your Strategic Planning Process
Executives expressed frustration with their current strategic planning process. Issues include:
Steve Rutan and Denise Harrison have put together an afternoon workshop that will provide the tools you need to address these concerns. They have worked with hundreds of executives to develop a systematic approach that will enable your team to make better decisions during strategic planning. Steve and Denise will walk you through exercises for prioritizing your lists and steps that will reset and reinvigorate your process. This will be a hands-on workshop that will enable you to think about your business as you use the tools that are being presented. If you are ready for a Strategic Planning tune-up, select this workshop in your registration form. The additional fee of $695 will be added to your total.
2:00 - 5:00 pm
Female leaders face the same issues all leaders do, but they often face additional challenges too. In this peer session, we will facilitate a discussion of best practices and how to overcome common barriers to help women leaders be more effective within and outside their organizations.
Limited space available.
10:30 - 5:00 pm
General’s Retreat at Hermitage Golf Course
Sponsored by UBS
General’s Retreat, built in 1986 with architect Gary Roger Baird, has been voted the “Best Golf Course in Nashville” and is a “must play” when visiting the Nashville, Tennessee area. With the beautiful setting along the Cumberland River, golfers of all capabilities will thoroughly enjoy the golf, scenery and hospitality.
The golf outing fee includes transportation to and from the hotel, greens/cart fees, use of practice facilities, and boxed lunch. The bus will leave the hotel at 10:30 am for a noon shotgun start and return to the hotel after the cocktail reception following the completion of the round.
