Methodology

Learning to lead by leading

How we understand management learning

Leading a business is not simply about mastering knowledge or applying management tools. It means confronting complex situations, making sense of a constantly changing reality and taking specific decisions — often with limited information — that have consequences for both the organization and its people.

That is why, at San Telmo, we see executive education as something deeply rooted in experience, reflection and practice. Above all, you learn to lead by leading.

Our methodology brings that learning process into the classroom: confronting real situations, analysing them, taking a position, testing your judgment against that of other executives, and enriching it with new perspectives and knowledge.

Learning from real-world situations

The Case Method

The Case Method lies at the heart of our learning approach. Each case places participants in a real business situation, at a specific point in time and with the same information that was available to the person who had to make the decision.

Participants must understand what is happening, identify the key issues, analyse the available information, assess the alternatives and, ultimately, take a position: what would they do, and why?
There is not necessarily a single right answer. What matters is learning to read the situation accurately, ask the right questions, build a sound rationale for each decision and consider its potential consequences.

But the learning does not end with the case itself. The experience of fellow participants, the exchange of views with other executives and the professor’s contribution make every session an opportunity to broaden your perspective and sharpen your judgment.

Learning from those around you

At San Telmo, every participant’s experience becomes part of everyone else’s learning.

The classroom brings together executives and business owners with different backgrounds, responsibilities, industries and ways of understanding business. When analysing the same situation, each participant sees different dimensions, raises new questions and contributes insights drawn from their own professional experience.

A professor who helps you think

The professor plays an essential role, but that role is not to provide the solution to the case.

The professor’s role is to lead the discussion rigorously: asking questions, listening, challenging arguments and helping participants uncover the implications of each decision. As the session develops, the professor introduces knowledge, experience and conceptual frameworks that allow the situation to be understood in greater depth.

Developing sound managerial judgment

Good decisions require knowledge, but knowledge alone does not guarantee good decisions.

Leading requires an understanding of the specific circumstances, the ability to connect knowledge from different areas, assess alternatives, listen to other perspectives, anticipate consequences and accept responsibility for making decisions. This is why education at San Telmo integrates knowledge, skills, attitudes and values.

By repeatedly going through this process — analysing, challenging, reflecting and deciding — participants develop practical wisdom: the ability to exercise sound judgment in a specific situation and translate that judgment into action.

This continued exercise of practical wisdom develops what at San Telmo we call managerial judgment: the ability to understand reality more clearly in order to make better, more effective and more responsible decisions.

Latest Case Studies

OPEN DAYS

Experience the Case Method

Join one of our Open Days and experience a San Telmo session first-hand: analyse a real business situation, test your judgment against that of other professionals and discover a learning methodology designed to strengthen your ability to lead.