If you find yourself at a turning point in your business or career, or you’re having difficulty seeing the big picture through the thicket of your day-to-day responsibilities, it might be time to hit the books. The nation’s top business schools offer a growing number of executive education programs specifically designed for those looking to hone their skills or pick up new ones.

The trend is light on ivory-tower theory and heavy on practical experience, and many participants find they learn at least as much from their student peers as from their professors. Course offerings run from launching new enterprises to leadership training, and most are tailored to a specific type or size of enterprise.

The Harvard Business School’s many programs, for instance, use the school’s famed case study method to put students in the driver’s seat of real companies in real-life situations. At Stanford, participants are taught by a group of top marketing faculty as well as industry experts.

A caveat: Executive education programs don’t come cheap. They can require from five days to two weeks of your time per session and cost upwards of $50,000. Many take place over several sessions and require home-based and online work.

For a list of the best programs available, visit Business Week’s ranking of executive education programs at businessweek.com/bschools/rankings. Click the Executive Education tab in the center of the page.