Towards whole person learning through sustainable executive performance

The purpose of this paper is to present the authors’ approach to managerial experiential learning, sustainable executive performance (SEP) and attempt to situate the concept within the business, societal, and managerial development context. SEP focuses on whole person mastery, particularly physiological and physiological‐psychological elements which are largely ignored in management education.

The narrative is based on several custom and executive MBA program implementations over the past 18 months within a leading global business school. In total, SEP has been delivered to over 500 senior managers in leading multinational companies. Such program experiences are backed up by the relevant literature in the field and wider executive education experiences over the past ten years.

The authors present SEP in the form of the experiential action learning cycle employed during its delivery. The stages of awareness, legitimacy and action provide insight to the evolution, supporting literature and content of the program.

Although the core content of the SEP program builds on existing work, the authors believe the trans‐disciplinary and integrative approach taken to be highly unique in management education on a global scale.