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# Cornell University Business School Executive Education Course in Adaptive Leadership

## Details

**Authors** Cornell University

**Year** 2021-2026

**Publisher** Cornell University

**Kind of work** course

**Discipline** Business & Management

**Secondary disciplines** Systems Science

**Reading level** beginner

**Kind of engagement** applications

[Read it](cornell.edu)

## In authors' words

### What they set out to do (purpose)

Cornell-affiliated executive education delivered by Derek and Laura Cabrera focused on helping organizational leaders develop systems thinking and systems leadership capabilities for operating in complex and changing environments. The leadership approach centers on designing organizations that can continually learn, adapt, and build the capacity necessary to accomplish their mission and achieve their vision.

### What they found (results)

The framework argues that successful organizations should not merely react to individual changes but develop the capacity to adapt continuously. Organizational learning occurs when real-world feedback changes mental models; that learning builds organizational capacity, capacity enables execution of the mission, and repeated execution moves the organization toward its vision. Systems thinking supports this process by helping leaders improve the mental models through which they interpret complexity, while VMCL translates that learning into organizational structure and leadership practice.

## Commentary

### In short

Executive Education chose Cabrera's VMCL as the basis of their executive training in organizational design and adaptive leadership

### In more detail

Derek and Laura Cabrera brought material from their graduate Systems Thinking and Systems Leadership courses into organizations. The offerings included Systems Thinking Training, which trained executives and key personnel in DSRP and systems modeling; Systems Leadership Training, which trained participants in VMCL and modeling; and consulting designed to help leaders develop an adaptive organization. The VMCL framework organizes leadership around four functions: Vision (the desired future state), Mission (repeated actions that bring about the vision), Capacity (the systems necessary to execute the mission), and Learning (continuous modification of mental models based on real-world feedback).

### Response

Cornell's executive education program selected VMCL as the basis of its organizational design and adaptive leadership training for practicing executives. An adoption in a market where the buyers are organizations paying for results.

**How to cite this** Cornell University (2021-2026). Cornell University Business School Executive Education Course in Adaptive Leadership. Cornell University.