ATAIRU open program
Strategic Leadership for Women: a leadership program for women managers and board members
You are ready for a bigger role. The question is whether you will be ready when it comes.
Program start:
2 February 2027
For whom:
Women in middle and senior management and business owners
Program length:
9 months
Number of participants:
20
Strategic Leadership for Women is a nine-month ATAIRU leadership program for women in middle and senior management, top executives, board members and business owners.
In a group of twenty women, over six workshops you will build your own Strategic One-Pager, name the kind of leader you want to be and rebuild one of your processes with AI in the AI Value Game. The program is led by Radka Viktorie Dohnalová, a Harvard Business School MBA graduate who led the McKinsey study on unlocking the full potential of women in the Czech economy. The program is delivered in Czech.
Perhaps this is where you are right now
You are doing well at work. You deliver results, people come to you for advice and you are given more responsibility. Then comes an offer: a new position, a bigger team, a seat on the board. And suddenly you find that the rules of the game are different. Being the best expert in the room and having everything under control is no longer enough.
You need to:
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say where the team should go when the answer is not clear,
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make your view heard among people with the same or greater power,
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delegate things you used to handle yourself,
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talk about your value without feeling that you are selling yourself,
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know what kind of leader you want to be in the next stage of your career.
Why women come out as less strategic in evaluations
INSEAD analysed thousands of 360° evaluations, and women managers scored as well as or better than men in most areas of leadership (Harvard Business Review, 2009). With one exception: vision and strategy. It is not that they are not strategic. It is that they never get to that work.
Strategy is important, but never urgent. The team needs a decision, a meeting is waiting, a project is on fire. Strategy gets postponed to next week, and so does work on your own leadership. Until the moment you have the new role and only then discover what you are missing.
The program creates the space you will not create in a normal week: nine months, one session a month.
Program taster
Aiming for a bigger role? Come and find out how this program will prepare you for it
And meet women whose careers it has already changed. At an evening with graduates and trainers, you will find out in two hours whether the program is right for you.
24 November 2026, 18:00, Prague-Karlín. No obligation, free of charge. The evening is held in Czech.
What you will take away in nine months
Clarity about the kind of leader I want to be
You will name your talents and the patterns that hold you back. You will build a personal One-Pager: who you are, where you want to apply it, what you want to contribute and what you want to achieve.
Strategy on one page
You will put the entire strategy of your team or company on one page, clear even to people three levels below you. You will fine-tune it with your manager and present it to your team.
Influence with the people above you
You will learn to turn strategy into a story. You will present your real topic to women who sit in their companies on exactly the side you need to convince.
Value from AI, not just time saved
Most AI initiatives stop at productivity. In the AI Value Game® you will go through four levels of creating value with AI and rebuild one of your processes according to the AI First principle.
A team with greater impact
You will gain tools for empowerment, for working with priorities and team capacity, and for building high-performing teams that make decisions on their own while holding the direction you have set.
How the program works
9 months · 6 full-day workshops in Prague · 2 one-to-one consultations of 90 minutes · work on your own topics between workshops · a group of 20 women · ATAIRU alumni community
Between workshops you have weeks to try new things in your company. You bring what worked to the next session. AI is not a separate module: it runs through strategy, change leadership and communication, exactly as you deal with it at work.
WORKSHOP #1
Talents and limiting behaviour patterns
How to work with your talents
Using Talent Dynamics tests, you will discover your strengths and weaknesses in communication and collaboration. You will learn to build on what comes naturally to you – where you create the most value with ease.
What holds your success back
You will uncover behaviour patterns that undermine your ambitions. You will see what drains your energy and how to stop making the path to the changes you really want harder.
You leave with: your own talent profile and named limiting patterns.
WORKSHOP #2
Personal identity
The pillars of your personal identity
You will put together your own One-Pager with four pillars that hold everything together: who you are, where you want to apply it, what you want to contribute and what you want to achieve.
What determines your direction
You will focus on your inner “why” – what gives you meaning and drives you forward. You will learn how a personal mission shapes your career and your satisfaction in life.
You leave with: completed pillars of your personal identity and a personal bio you can use for your profile and for how you talk about yourself.
WORKSHOP #3
Strategic leadership and personal branding
How to build a personal brand
You will clarify what makes you unique and how to use it inside and outside the company. You will gain tools to communicate your value authentically within the company and beyond.
Key skills of strategic leaders and defining your team strategy
You will build a Strategic One-Pager: the entire strategy of your team or company on one page, clear even to people three levels below you.
You leave with: a draft of your own Strategic One-Pager, which you will fine-tune with your manager between workshops and present to your team.
WORKSHOP #4
AI Value Game
Why most AI initiatives stop at personal productivity
Time saved does not turn into value on its own. In the AI Value Game® you will go through four levels of creating value with AI and see which level your team is at today.
How to design a process as if AI were a natural part of it
You will take one of your own processes and rebuild it according to the AI First principle. You will name what stays with people and what AI takes over.
You leave with: an evaluated AI readiness assessment and your own AI Value Game Plan with concrete first steps.
WORKSHOP #5
Strategic communication for leaders
Storybuilding: how to turn strategy into a story
You will learn the difference between a summary and a synthesis – between listing facts and naming what is really at stake. You will also gain frameworks for audience analysis, because the way you need to talk to an audience depends on where it stands today.
Storytelling: how to win an audience for your strategy
You will bring a topic you really need to communicate right now and build your whole message on it. Then you will present it and get feedback from women who sit in their companies on exactly the side you need to convince.
You leave with: a finished presentation of your real business topic.
WORKSHOP #6
Building high-performing teams and empowerment
How to build high-performing teams
You will better understand the people around you and their strengths. You will learn to build teams that work together effectively, with respect and trust.
How to strengthen empowerment and your team’s strategic impact
You will find out how to use empowerment to increase your team’s motivation, decision-making and performance. You will learn to work with priorities and capacity so that the team grows and brings the greatest value to the company.
You leave with: your own ambition for the next 12 months and a certificate.
A group you will not find inside your company
Some things you cannot solve within your own company.
In the group, women from boards sit next to those heading for them. Twenty women from different companies, industries and roles you can talk to openly about:
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decisions you have no one to consult with in your company,
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situations with your boss or the board,
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the people you lead,
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ambitions nobody talks about at work.
You will leave the program with a network of women you can call.
Program taster
Aiming for a bigger role? Come and find out how this program will prepare you for it
And meet women whose careers it has already changed. At an evening with graduates and trainers, you will find out in two hours whether the program is right for you.
24 November 2026, 18:00, Prague-Karlín. No obligation, free of charge. The evening is held in Czech.
What the program changed for its graduates
“I was originally considering programs in America – at Harvard or Stanford. But ATAIRU surprised me enormously.
It gave me a strategic insight that my job alone could not give me. I had my eye on a different position and I wasn’t sure. At ATAIRU, I named what matters to me and what comes easily to me – and making decisions stopped being hard.”
Katarína Kakalíková
Director Social Impact Europe, Mastercard
“I recommend the program to anyone who wants to move forward in their career but doesn’t know how and wants to find the answer.
I wanted to grow in communication and leadership so that I could become an equal partner for top management. The program helped me understand what skills I have and how to use them. I also appreciate that it is only for women in similar positions – I could draw on the experience of the other participants.”
Barbora Hrdá
Head of Omnichannel and Trade Marketing, Yves Rocher CEE
“I had two reasons for joining the ATAIRU program. The first is Radka Dohnalová’s personality. The second was the wonderful company of women in leadership positions.
I understood that we all face similar problems, even though we work in different companies. After the program, I started to notice the strengths of the people in my team much more.”
Lucie Urválková
Financial Director & Vice-Chairman of the Board, Uniqa
“I moved up to a partner position in my company and knew that along with it I needed to redefine my leadership style.
I discovered my talents and the strengths I can rely on. I learned how to build a functioning team despite individual differences. I have carried what I learned over into my leadership, and it really works.”
Olesia Skibinska
Partner, Enrian Partners
9.9/10
trainer rating
93%
of graduates gained more courage to stand up for their views
15 of 15
graduates would recommend the program to their colleagues
*Ratings from the 15 graduates of the 2025 run who completed the final questionnaire.
Who will lead you
The program is led by leaders who have themselves led boards, large teams and strategic change. Since 2013, more than 15,000 leaders have gone through ATAIRU programs.
Radka Dohnalová
Founder & CEO, ATAIRU
MBA from Harvard Business School, where she took part in research on authentic leadership. At McKinsey, she led the study on unlocking the full potential of women in the Czech economy. Today she works with CEOs of Czech and international companies on strategy and transformation.
Ondřej Čtvrtečka
Senior Consultant, Trainer, Facilitator
18 years in banking, 15 of them in leadership positions. As a board member and head of sales at Stavební spořitelna, he increased the volume of loans sold by 60% and his teams were among the best in employee NPS.
Vladimír Nývlt
Senior Consultant, Trainer, Facilitator
More than 20 years in international FMCG and retail. At HEINEKEN, Tesco and Procter & Gamble he led brands with turnover in the billions and was Country Manager for Sweden, Norway and Iceland.
Price and what it includes
99 000 CZK excl. VAT, can be split into up to three instalments.
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6 full-day workshops in Prague including catering
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2 one-to-one consultations (90 minutes, focused only on you and your situation)
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talent profile, personal One-Pager and Strategic One-Pager
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AI Value Game and AI readiness assessment
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make-up for up to 2 missed workshops in a shortened 2–3-hour version, online or in person
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certificate of completion of the ATAIRU leadership program
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ATAIRU alumni community
2027 workshop dates: 2 February, 17 March, 10 May, 21 June, 7 September, 20 October
Frequently asked questions
How can I sign up for the program?
You can register yourself via the registration form on the Czech page. Or you can be nominated by your manager, HR department or another responsible manager in your company.
How much time does the program take?
You put one session a month in your calendar. If a month includes one-to-one consultations, we do not schedule any further workshops. Workshops do not take place during the summer and Christmas holidays.
What if I cannot attend one of the workshops?
Up to twice during the program, you can make up a missed workshop in a shortened 2–3-hour version, online or in person.
Is the program for me?
Participants include business owners, board members and women preparing for a senior position. Also women managers from the middle management of large companies – at B-1 and B-2 level. It is also for women without their own team who have senior responsibility across an international structure.
Not sure? Get in touch with Jitka – you will find her contact at the end of the page. In fifteen minutes you will know whether you belong in the group.
Why is the program only for women?
Because women managers deal with similar situations, even though they work in different companies: how to get to strategic work, how to talk about their value and how to make themselves heard on the board. In a group of women in similar positions, these things are discussed more openly.
Can my company pay for my participation?
Yes. You can register yourself, or you can be nominated by your manager, HR department or another responsible manager in your company.
What if I do not like the program?
Tell us straight away, not in the evaluation at the end. We then handle each situation individually and agree on what makes sense for you.
Can the price be split into several instalments?
Of course. Let us know which payment plan you need. We can split the fee into up to three instalments. Just mention it in your application.
The program is delivered in Czech
Fluent in Czech? Register on the Czech page. We close the group at twenty participants.
Looking for an English-language leadership program for your team? We design in-house programs in English. Talk to Jitka.
Not sure whether the program is right for you?
Get in touch with Jitka. In fifteen minutes you will know whether the program is right for you.
Jitka Houzarová
Program Coordinator
+420 732 932 613
jitka.houzarova@atairu.com