10 Years of Leadership Training at Saint Cyr

Not all leadership seminars are created equal. During the off-campus seminar held at Saint Cyr Coetquidan, HEC Paris MBA students have the remarkable opportunity to take the leadership theories they’ve learned in the classroom and put them to the test.

For the 2-day training, students are divided into groups of 10, then asked to perform a series of increasingly difficult field exercises under the supervision of a military-trained mentor. After each timed exercise, they receive feedback about their effectiveness leading the group and their method of problem solving. “You stretch your skill set in dynamic and foreign situations,” explains Impreet Natt-Kallu, MBA ’14. “You work on building collaborative skills and find confidence in yourself. It’s an experience that sets HEC Paris apart from other MBA programs.”

Since organizing the off-campus seminar for the HEC Paris MBA a decade ago, Xavier Boute, Affiliate Professor of Economics and Decision Science, has seen the seminar’s lasting effects. “Former students tell me they apply what they learned at Saint Cyr regularly at work. There’s just no better feedback for a professor.”

Here’s to the next 10 years at Saint Cyr!