Leading Sustainably

This continuing education program is aimed at leaders in organizations and companies for whom a sustainable orientation of leadership practice is important. The knowledge acquired in the certificate program enables you to lead organizations and employees in such a way that they can recognize and actively shape the changes brought about by the transformation of business and society toward greater sustainability, circular economy, and regeneration. You will learn how to engage employees in the sustainability transition and support their sustainability orientation effectively with suitable leadership and HR tools.

After successful completion and if the admission requirements are met, the certificate “Leading Sustainably” can also be credited toward the master’s degree program “Business Administration – Shaping Business Sustainably”. The certificate thus offers the opportunity to earn a master’s degree in business administration step by step alongside your career.

The certificate requires participation in two modules totaling 10 ECTS from the currently offered module catalog (see “Module Overview”).
For each module (5 ECTS each), you should plan for approximately 125 hours of workload:

• 30 to 40 hours of in-person class time
• 80 to 90 hours for preparation and follow-up work for the module

The required materials are provided to participants by the instructors.

After successful completion, you will receive a certificate from Alanus University of Arts and Social Sciences. Registration for individual modules is also generally possible – in this case, you will receive a certificate of participation.

The modules are offered by Alanus University of Arts and Social Sciences.

Please select two of the following modules if you would like to earn a certificate. Registration for individual modules takes place directly with the respective provider via the link provided.

Here you will find the detailed module descriptions offered by Alanus University as part of this continuing education program:

Module “Aesthetic Corporate Design”

The sustainability transition in the corporate context requires profound changes in organizational culture, in our mental models and attitudes, and thus also in the images and narratives that shape our perception and thinking. Aesthetic approaches that take emotionality, visuality, and irreducible complexity seriously as elements of organizational design can provide an effective extension to the dominant rational-analytical perspectives of management. The module explores scientifically grounded perspectives on aesthetics in the corporate context, demonstrates the effects of the aesthetic in specific fields of action, and provides opportunities for the practical testing of aesthetic methods in corporate leadership.

The module places the sensory perception and experience of people in organizations at the center of consideration. Following Eagleton (1990), aesthetics in organizations is defined as “the business of affections and aversions, how the world strikes the body in its sensory surfaces.” The module therefore addresses, on the one hand, the materiality of sustainable organizational and leadership processes (artifacts, design, fashion, gestures, spaces, art as an object within the company) and, on the other hand, the psychological and socio-psychological processes (perception,
interpretation, meaning, emotions) through which employees in the company interact with artifacts and processes in their work environment. The aesthetic dimension thus becomes recognizable as an important arena for shaping change processes, especially for the organization’s sustainability development. The module aims to make the aesthetic perspective visible as a critical perspective on corporate leadership and design.

The module provides knowledge and skills in the following subject areas:

• Aesthetics and organization: terms, concepts, lines of research
• Aesthetic capitalism
• Functions of the aesthetic dimension in the overall organizational system
• Emotionality in the corporate context
• Aesthetic leadership and work
• Aesthetics in the organization’s sustainability development
• Methods of aesthetic organizational research
• Approaches to designing and staging materiality, body, and space in the organizational context

Date: April 14, 2026 and June 15–18, 2026

Module “Artistic Methods and Interventions in Organizations”

Artistic methods and interventions are an important extension of the toolkit of sustainable leadership. Through the direct experience of artistic ways of acting and thinking, they open up new, unfamiliar perspectives and use materials that spark curiosity and invite exploration. One’s own actions and those of others are perceived as shapeable, and new courses of action can be explored in a non-judgmental space for play. Thinking can leave behind its familiar routines. In this way, new spaces for change, creativity, and innovation emerge in encounters with others and with the material.
At the same time, artistic interventions reach employees (and other stakeholders) on different levels: emotionally, radically subjectively, and in an activating way. This creates new approaches and impact processes for the sustainable transformation of business and companies. Look forward to practical artistic experiences beyond the familiar and discover yourself (anew) as a designer.

The module provides knowledge and skills in the following subject areas:

• Linking action situations and action competencies in everyday professional life with artistic action
• The phases and specific features of artistic processes
• Modes of perception and their application
• Selected artistic and creative methods
• Framework conditions for successful artistic interventions
• The significance of one’s own artistic attitude
• Ways of transferring specific artistic methods to everyday professional life

Instructor: Anne von Hoyningen-Huene
Dates: November 13 to 15 and December 12, 2025

• Proof of eligibility for university admission (e.g. Abitur, Fachabitur, vocational training with professional experience, in accordance with KunstHG §41  )
• At least one year of professional experience relevant to the field
• International applicants must have sufficient German language skills, both written and spoken

The certificate can also be credited toward the master’s degree program “Business Administration – Shaping Business Sustainably” after successful completion and provided the applicable admission requirements are met. The certificate thus offers the opportunity to earn a master’s degree in business administration step by step alongside your career.

Please register for the modules by email: zertifikat_wirtschaft@alanus.edu.

Are you interested in Academic Continuing Education? We would be happy to advise you personally!

Prof. Dr. Susanne Blazejewski: 02222 9321-1629.
Email: zertifikat_wirtschaft@alanus.edu

You can find the terms of participation here.