Articles / Leaders Program CEW: Transforming Women Into Executive Leaders
Development, Training & CoachingDiscover CEW's Leaders Program—an intensive development experience for women executives. Learn curriculum, benefits, and career impact.
Written by Laura Bouttell • Wed 19th November 2025
Why do some talented women advance effortlessly into executive roles whilst equally capable peers plateau at senior management? The answer often lies not in competence or work ethic but in access to targeted development that addresses the unique challenges women face in leadership progression. Chief Executive Women's Leaders Program represents one of Australia's most impactful interventions—an evidence-based development experience that has transformed over 2,500 women leaders across industries.
The CEW Leaders Program is an intensive six-day leadership development course designed by women for women, focusing on amplifying individual strengths, developing authentic leadership styles, and building executive networks. With Net Promoter Scores of +92 and +100, the programme demonstrates exceptional participant satisfaction and tangible career impact, making it a benchmark for gender-intelligent leadership development.
This isn't another generic executive education course with gender as an afterthought. CEW's programme represents 18 years of refined methodology specifically addressing how women leaders develop, the systemic barriers they navigate, and the strengths-based approaches that accelerate their progression. Participants consistently describe the experience as "life-changing"—not through hyperbole but through fundamental shifts in how they perceive their capabilities, lead their teams, and position themselves for executive advancement.
This article examines the CEW Leaders Program's curriculum, methodology, participant experiences, and practical application for women seeking to accelerate their leadership journey from senior management into executive ranks.
Before exploring the Leaders Program specifically, understanding the organisation behind it provides essential context. Chief Executive Women (CEW) represents the pre-eminent body for senior women leaders across Australia, founded in 1985 and now comprising over 1,000 of the nation's most distinguished leaders from corporate, public service, academic, and not-for-profit sectors.
CEW operates on a foundational principle: women leaders possess unique insights into developing other women leaders. This isn't about excluding men from the conversation but recognising that shared experiences—navigating unconscious bias, managing visibility challenges, balancing career and caring responsibilities—create understanding that informs more effective development.
The organisation maintains ambitious targets, committing to ensure Australia achieves 40:40:20 gender balance across executive leadership by 2030 (40% women, 40% men, 20% any gender). This goal requires not merely awareness but systematic development of executive-ready women leaders—precisely the gap CEW's programmes address.
Unlike organisations focused exclusively on advocacy or exclusively on development, CEW integrates both approaches. The annual CEW Senior Executive Census tracks women's representation across ASX300 companies' leadership teams, providing data that informs both policy advocacy and programme design.
When research reveals that women remain underrepresented in line roles with P&L responsibility—the traditional pathway to CEO positions—CEW designs development addressing this specific barrier. When data shows women leave organisations disproportionately at senior management levels, programmes focus on capabilities enabling that final progression into executive ranks.
This evidence-based approach ensures development resources address actual barriers rather than perceived or historical challenges that may no longer represent primary obstacles.
The Leaders Program represents CEW's flagship development offering, annually working with over 280 women across Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, and Brisbane. The programme's structure reflects deliberate design choices informed by both adult learning principles and research on women's leadership development.
The programme comprises six days divided into two three-day blocks, creating sustained engagement without requiring participants to absent themselves from responsibilities for extended periods. Each day runs 9am-4pm (with Day 4 extending to 5pm), balancing intensive learning with participants' ongoing professional commitments.
This structure provides several advantages over traditional executive education formats:
Spaced learning enables application and reflection between blocks. Participants implement initial insights, test new approaches, and return with questions informed by real-world application rather than theoretical curiosity.
Peer learning develops progressively. Initial connections deepen through the interval between blocks, transforming polite networking into genuine relationships where vulnerability and honest challenge become possible.
Reduced career disruption matters particularly for senior leaders whose absence creates operational challenges. A week-long continuous programme forces difficult trade-offs; the split format enables participation without compromising professional responsibilities.
CEW deliberately selects venues in central business districts—a seemingly minor detail that carries strategic significance. Senior executives can attend without extensive travel, potentially participating between morning and afternoon commitments on lighter days.
The professional environment signals this is serious business development, not a retreat from work but an investment in professional capability. Participants arrive in business attire, maintaining professional mindset whilst exploring personal development.
The programme explicitly targets women in senior management roles: Head of Department, General Manager, Director, Lead, or Partner positions. This specificity creates cohorts facing similar challenges—not entry-level leadership development but the final progression into executive ranks.
Common participant characteristics include:
The programme doesn't teach basic leadership—participants already lead effectively. Instead, it addresses the specific transition from successful manager to executive leader, where competence alone proves insufficient.
What distinguishes the CEW Leaders Program from generic executive education? The curriculum centres on a fundamental philosophical shift: women are not broken and do not need fixing. Rather than focusing on perceived deficits, the programme amplifies existing strengths whilst addressing systemic barriers.
The programme utilises the Gallup CliftonStrengths diagnostic tool as a foundational framework. This assessment identifies participants' top talent themes—naturally recurring patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving that can be productively applied.
Why strengths-based development rather than traditional competency-gap approaches? Research consistently demonstrates that individuals achieve excellence by developing strengths rather than fixing weaknesses. Yet women leaders disproportionately receive feedback focused on gaps and deficits, creating development approaches that feel remedial.
The CliftonStrengths approach reframes development questions:
Participants report this shift proves transformative—permission to succeed by being themselves rather than conforming to external leadership templates.
The programme facilitates a "journey of self-discovery" enabling participants to develop authentic leadership styles. This sounds vague until you understand the specific challenge: many senior women have advanced by adapting to organisational cultures and leadership norms that don't necessarily align with their natural approaches.
Consider the woman who succeeded through collaboration and consensus-building in an organisational culture valuing decisive, command-oriented leadership. She's effective but expends considerable energy managing the tension between her natural style and cultural expectations. As she approaches executive levels where authenticity and confidence become crucial, this tension creates friction.
The Leaders Program creates space for participants to examine which aspects of their leadership represent genuine strengths versus adaptations to fit environments. The outcome isn't rejection of adaptation—senior leaders must operate flexibly—but conscious choice about when to adapt versus when to advocate for alternative approaches.
Whilst the programme emphasises strengths, it also addresses specific capabilities required for executive effectiveness. Executive presence—that elusive quality combining confidence, composure, and credibility—receives particular attention.
Research shows women and men receive different feedback on executive presence. Women hear about vocal tone, appearance, and emotional control. Men hear about strategic thinking and decision-making confidence. The CEW programme addresses both sets of factors whilst helping participants identify which feedback reflects genuine development needs versus biased perceptions.
Influence capability similarly receives focused development. At executive levels, success depends less on direct authority and more on influencing across boundaries—peer executives, board members, external stakeholders. The programme develops sophisticated influence approaches beyond the transactional relationship-building that suffices at middle management.
Perhaps the programme's most valuable element receives less explicit attention in marketing materials: the network participants develop. Six days with 40-50 senior women leaders from diverse industries creates relationships that prove invaluable throughout careers.
These aren't superficial networking connections but genuine relationships forged through vulnerable sharing, mutual challenge, and collective problem-solving. Participants describe finding their "tribe"—women who understand their experiences without extensive explanation, who celebrate successes without jealousy, and who provide honest feedback without judgement.
The network value extends beyond peer support. CEW facilitators and guest speakers represent Australia's most senior women leaders—individuals who've successfully navigated the journey participants are undertaking. Access to these leaders' wisdom, their pattern recognition from extensive experience, and their ongoing willingness to advise creates mentorship opportunities rarely available otherwise.
Abstract descriptions of curriculum and methodology provide limited insight. What do participants actually experience? How does the programme create the transformation reflected in testimonials describing it as "life-changing"?
Participants consistently reference the "inclusive, safe space" the programme creates—an environment where senior women leaders can express uncertainties, acknowledge challenges, and explore alternative approaches without judgement or professional risk.
This safe space proves particularly valuable because senior leadership often feels isolating. As one of few women at executive tables, many participants have become accustomed to carefully managing their image, avoiding any perception of weakness or uncertainty. The programme creates rare permission to drop these guards.
Consider the executive who privately questions whether she wants the CEO role everyone assumes she's pursuing, or the leader struggling with impostor syndrome despite objective evidence of exceptional performance, or the woman navigating caring responsibilities whilst maintaining an image of total professional commitment. These realities—common but rarely discussed—surface in programme conversations, creating relief through recognition: "I'm not alone experiencing this."
Many high-achieving women carry unconscious beliefs that constrain their ambitions and capabilities. The programme surfaces these beliefs, examines their origins and accuracy, and helps participants develop alternative narratives.
Common limiting beliefs include:
The programme challenges these beliefs not through lectures but through examining participants' actual experiences, comparing perceptions to evidence, and learning from peers who've successfully navigated similar challenges.
Whilst personal insight provides value, the programme emphasises practical application. Each element connects to specific workplace challenges participants face. Participants develop concrete action plans addressing:
These plans aren't wishful thinking but specific commitments with timelines and accountability mechanisms. The peer network continues supporting implementation beyond the programme conclusion.
The programme's +92 and +100 Net Promoter Scores indicate exceptional satisfaction, but what about tangible career outcomes? Whilst CEW doesn't publish comprehensive tracking data, participant testimonials consistently reference:
These outcomes reflect not merely programme content but the confidence, clarity, and network enabling participants to pursue appropriate opportunities and advocate effectively for themselves.
The programme investment is $8,400 + GST—substantial but positioned competitively relative to comparable executive education. For context, top-tier business school executive programmes typically range $10,000-30,000 for similar durations, often excluding the gender-intelligent design and peer network specificity the CEW programme provides.
Many participants secure employer sponsorship, positioning the programme as professional development investment benefiting the organisation. When framing sponsorship requests, successful participants emphasise:
Recognising that cost creates barriers for some talented leaders, CEW offers industry-specific scholarships for both the Leaders Program and the Executive Leaders Program. These world-class scholarships aim to "unlock opportunities that build the pipeline of future women executive leaders."
Scholarship opportunities include:
The scholarship application process assesses both individual merit and potential systemic impact—prioritising candidates who will likely pay forward their development by supporting other women leaders.
For women who've completed the Leaders Program or who already hold executive positions, CEW offers the Executive Leaders Program—a five-day immersive retreat priced at $16,000 + GST (including accommodation and meals).
Whilst the Leaders Program targets senior managers approaching executive levels, the Executive Leaders Program serves sitting executives facing different challenges:
The immersive retreat format—extended residential experience rather than day sessions—creates deeper engagement appropriate for the smaller cohort of women at these levels. The isolation many women executives experience makes the community aspect particularly valuable.
Together, the Leaders Program and Executive Leaders Program create a developmental pathway serving women throughout their progression from senior management through executive ranks. Participants often describe completing the Leaders Program before achieving executive promotion, then returning to the Executive Leaders Program once established in executive roles and facing new challenges.
This staged approach reflects sophisticated understanding of how leadership development needs evolve. The confidence and clarity required for initial executive appointment differ from the capabilities required to succeed and sustain executive effectiveness over extended tenures.
Women seeking leadership development face numerous options—university executive education, international leadership programmes, coaching, and various women-focused offerings. How does the CEW Leaders Program compare?
| Programme Feature | CEW Leaders Program | University Executive Education | International Women's Programs | Executive Coaching |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gender-Intelligent Design | Purpose-built for women leaders | Generic with diversity modules | Women-focused | Depends on coach |
| Peer Network | 40-50 senior Australian women | Mixed gender, varied seniority | International women | No peer element |
| Australian Context | Deeply contextual | Variable | Limited applicability | Depends on coach |
| Cost | $8,400 | $10,000-30,000 | $15,000-50,000 | $5,000-20,000 |
| Duration | 6 days over weeks | 1-4 weeks continuous | 3-12 months | 6-12 months |
| Ongoing Network Access | CEW community | Alumni network | International alumni | None |
| Strengths-Based Approach | Foundational | Variable | Variable | Depends on methodology |
| Executive Sponsor Access | CEW members | Faculty only | Programme-specific | None |
The comparison reveals the CEW programme's particular strengths: gender-intelligent design, relevant peer network, Australian market context, and accessible pricing combined with world-class content.
The programme suits specific profiles whilst being inappropriate for others. Ideal participants demonstrate:
Senior management incumbency: Currently holding Head of, Director, GM, Partner, or equivalent roles. The programme targets this specific transition point where technical excellence must evolve into executive leadership.
Career ambition with uncertainty: You want progression but lack clarity about pathways, positioning, or personal readiness. The programme helps crystallise direction and address obstacles.
Network gaps: Your professional relationships predominantly comprise colleagues within your organisation or functional specialty. You need broader connections across industries and functions.
Isolation in current environment: You're often the only woman or one of few in senior leadership meetings. You'd benefit from community with peers navigating similar experiences.
Strengths uncertainty: You've succeeded through hard work and competence but lack clarity about what specifically you excel at and how to leverage distinctive capabilities.
Conversely, the programme may not suit:
Early-career leaders: If you're not yet in senior management, the content addresses challenges you haven't encountered. CEW doesn't offer entry or mid-level programmes—their focus remains executive development.
Executive-level incumbents: If you already hold executive positions, the Executive Leaders Program provides more appropriate content, though some executives complete both for network benefits.
Men seeking women's leadership insights: The programme is women-only by design, creating the psychological safety that enables vulnerability and honest exploration.
Individuals seeking technical skills: If you need functional expertise (finance, strategy, technology), university-based executive education provides better options. CEW focuses on leadership capabilities transcending functional domains.
Participants who extract maximum value approach the programme strategically rather than passively attending sessions. Consider these recommendations:
Clarify your development objectives: What specific questions do you want answered? What capabilities do you most want to develop? What career decisions are you navigating? Clarity enables you to extract relevant insights from content and conversations.
Complete pre-work thoughtfully: The CliftonStrengths assessment and other preparatory activities deserve genuine reflection rather than hurried completion. Your investment in pre-work directly influences programme benefit.
Brief your manager and team: Explain what you're undertaking and why. This creates accountability for application whilst potentially securing organisational support for implementation.
Embrace vulnerability: The safe space enables honest exploration—don't waste this opportunity maintaining professional facades. Your willingness to be genuine encourages others' authenticity, deepening collective learning.
Build genuine relationships: Treat networking as relationship-building rather than transactional connection-gathering. Who do you genuinely connect with? Invest in those relationships rather than collecting maximum business cards.
Challenge your assumptions: When facilitators or peers offer alternative perspectives, resist defensive reactions. Consider whether different viewpoints might hold validity even when initially uncomfortable.
Document insights and commitments: Maintain a journal capturing key insights, breakthrough moments, and specific actions you commit to implementing. You'll reference this documentation throughout subsequent months.
Implement quickly: Select 2-3 high-impact actions and implement within two weeks. Early wins build momentum whilst programme insights remain fresh.
Maintain peer connections: Schedule regular contact with programme peers. Many cohorts establish quarterly reunions or monthly video calls maintaining relationships beyond programme conclusion.
Access CEW resources: Your participation provides ongoing access to CEW events, research, and community. Leverage these resources rather than treating the programme as a discrete event.
Pay forward your development: As you benefit from CEW's women-enabling-women philosophy, identify opportunities to support other women's development. This reinforces your learning whilst contributing to collective advancement.
Some question whether women-specific leadership programmes remain necessary. Don't women simply need access to quality leadership development regardless of gender? Understanding why gender-intelligent development creates distinct value requires examining persistent realities:
Research consistently demonstrates women's leadership journeys differ from men's in systematic ways. Women receive less developmental feedback, access fewer sponsors, gain less exposure to line roles, and face greater scrutiny around mistakes. Generic programmes designed primarily for men's typical experiences may not address these distinctions.
Women in mixed-gender settings where they represent a small minority often experience "stereotype threat"—anxiety about confirming negative stereotypes about their group. This creates cognitive load that impairs performance and authentic participation. Women-only settings eliminate this dynamic, enabling fuller engagement.
Seeing women who've successfully navigated similar challenges to those you face expands your sense of possibility. The CEW programme provides extensive exposure to women executives who've overcome barriers, made unconventional choices, and created pathways that may not resemble traditional models.
Certain conversations—navigating family responsibilities whilst pursuing executive roles, managing gendered double standards, addressing sexual harassment or discrimination—occur more freely in women-only spaces. This doesn't mean these topics shouldn't be discussed broadly, but women-only settings enable depth and vulnerability often unavailable in mixed groups.
CEW's programmes operate within a broader ecosystem addressing women's leadership advancement. Understanding this context reveals both progress and persistent challenges.
Australian organisations have made measurable progress on gender representation in leadership. Women's representation on ASX200 boards reached 36.9% in recent years, up from 8.3% a decade earlier. Executive leadership roles show slower but still measurable progress.
This advancement reflects multiple factors: regulatory pressure (board diversity targets), reputational considerations (employer brand in competitive talent markets), and business case recognition (diverse leadership correlates with superior financial performance). Development programmes like CEW's contribute by addressing the capability pipeline argument that historically justified male-dominated leadership.
Despite progress, significant challenges remain. Women hold approximately 20% of ASX300 CEO positions. They remain underrepresented in line roles with P&L responsibility—the traditional pathway to top executive positions. They face higher attrition at senior levels, often leaving organisations voluntarily due to limited advancement prospects or incompatible cultures.
Additionally, intersectionality matters. While overall women's representation improves, women from culturally and racially marginalised (CARM) or culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds face compounded barriers. CEW's partnerships with Diversity Council Australia and Settlement Services International addressing these specific challenges recognise that "women" isn't a monolithic category.
Where do programmes like CEW fit within this broader change agenda? Critics sometimes argue that development programmes place burden on women to adapt rather than requiring organisations to change. This critique carries validity—systemic barriers require systemic solutions, not merely individual resilience.
However, effective development programmes do both: they help individual women navigate current reality whilst simultaneously advocating for systemic change. CEW combines individual capability development with policy advocacy, research, and direct engagement with organisations. The Leaders Program doesn't accept the status quo but equips participants to succeed within it whilst pushing for evolution.
The CEW Leaders Program is an intensive six-day leadership development course designed specifically for women in senior management roles including Head of Department, General Manager, Director, Lead, or Partner positions who are preparing for executive advancement. The programme uses a strengths-based approach centred on the Gallup CliftonStrengths assessment to amplify participants' natural talents, develop authentic leadership styles, and build executive networks. Over 2,500 women leaders have completed the programme, which operates across Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, and Brisbane with exceptional Net Promoter Scores of +92 and +100 indicating outstanding participant satisfaction.
The programme costs $8,400 + GST for six days of leadership development divided into two three-day blocks. Many participants secure employer sponsorship by positioning the programme as professional development that benefits organisational capabilities, retention, and succession planning. Additionally, CEW offers industry-specific scholarships including the Hansen CEW Executive Leader in the Arts Scholarship and other merit-based funding opportunities designed to build the pipeline of future women executive leaders. Scholarship applications assess both individual potential and systemic impact, prioritising candidates likely to support other women's leadership development.
The CEW Leaders Program distinguishes itself through gender-intelligent design specifically addressing challenges women face in leadership progression, rather than generic executive education with gender as an afterthought. The programme employs a strengths-based methodology using Gallup CliftonStrengths rather than deficit-focused competency gap approaches, creating development that amplifies existing capabilities. The cohort structure generates powerful peer networks of 40-50 senior women leaders across industries, providing ongoing support beyond programme completion. Additionally, CEW's 18 years of experience working exclusively with women leaders informs evidence-based curriculum addressing actual barriers revealed through research like the annual CEW Senior Executive Census.
The Leaders Program requires six days divided into two blocks of three consecutive days, with several weeks between blocks enabling application and reflection. Sessions run 9am-4pm (except Day 4: 9am-5pm) at CBD venues in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, or Brisbane, allowing participants to attend without extended absence from professional responsibilities. This spaced learning format enables participants to implement initial insights, test new approaches in their actual work environments, and return with questions informed by real-world application rather than purely theoretical exploration. The structure balances intensive development with ongoing professional commitments that senior executives cannot simply abandon.
Participants consistently report transformative outcomes including enhanced clarity about their leadership strengths and career direction, increased confidence in pursuing executive opportunities, and expanded networks providing ongoing mentorship and support. Specific career impacts include accelerated promotion velocity to executive roles, successful negotiation of senior positions including first-time CEO and board appointments, and confidence to pursue better-aligned opportunities when current environments prove constraining. The programme's strengths-based approach helps participants develop authentic leadership styles rather than conforming to external templates, whilst practical action planning addresses specific challenges including visibility strategies, sponsorship cultivation, and strategic positioning for target roles.
The Leaders Program targets women in senior management roles preparing for executive advancement, whilst the Executive Leaders Program serves sitting executives facing different challenges including strategic enterprise leadership, board-level relationships, public profile management, and executive team dynamics. The Executive Leaders Program uses an immersive five-day residential retreat format priced at $16,000 + GST including accommodation and meals, creating deeper engagement appropriate for the smaller cohort of women at executive levels. Together, the programmes create a developmental pathway serving women throughout progression from senior management through executive ranks, with many participants completing the Leaders Program before executive appointment then returning to the Executive Leaders Program once facing new challenges.
Yes, programme participation provides ongoing access to the broader CEW community including events, research publications, and networking opportunities beyond the formal six-day programme. Many cohorts establish regular reunions or monthly video calls maintaining relationships developed during the programme, transforming initial connections into lasting professional networks. The peer relationships prove particularly valuable as participants navigate career transitions, executive challenges, and advancement opportunities in subsequent years. Additionally, access to CEW's network of over 1,000 senior women leaders from corporate, public service, academic, and not-for-profit sectors provides mentorship and sponsorship opportunities rarely available through other development programmes.