29 Jun 2023

Harvard Business School Online Announces New Seven-Course Credential Program to Help New and Experienced Leaders Advance Their Careers and Transform Their Organizations

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BOSTON—Harvard Business School Online today announced its premiere Credential of Leadership, Impact, and Management in Business (CLIMB), a rigorous yearlong seven-course asynchronous program designed to help new and experienced leaders accelerate their careers. CLIMB teaches a combination of essential and forward-looking business skills and features an immersive, group-based learning experience. The program offers flexibility for participants to tailor it to their interests and complete the work on their own time while meeting weekly deadlines.

To earn the credential, participants must complete seven courses, four long courses (each five to nine weeks in duration) and three short courses. Of the four long courses, two in leadership and strategy are required and vary based on years of leadership experience. To tailor the program so it best suits varying professional interests, participants will also take two electives—one in finance and one open elective from HBS Online’s course portfolio. The three exclusive short courses are about vital topics for leaders today: Dynamic Teaming, Leading in a Digital World, and Personal Branding. The program concludes with a capstone project in which participants will demonstrate their expertise by applying the skills and frameworks to their own role or organization.

“Learners can customize their curriculum by selecting an elective from the HBS Online portfolio and a finance course that best suits their professional interests and experience,” says Amy Edmondson, the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at HBS and CLIMB faculty chair. “Whether you’re a new manager or have several years of experience, CLIMB delivers the in-demand business skills you need for your career today.”

Upon successful completion of the program, participants will receive a Credential of Leadership, Impact, and Management in Business in addition to four HBS Online Certificates of Completion for each long course in the curriculum. In total, CLIMB will take approximately a year, and participants should allow five to nine hours per week to complete the coursework. The program doesn’t require a GRE or GMAT score to apply, and applications are reviewed on a rolling basis. There are two program starts per year.

CLIMB delivers on HBS Online’s real-world learning via examples and challenges faced by real business leaders. In this program, learners will:

  • Develop a robust set of critical and forward-looking business skills to advance as a leader
  • Engage with a global cohort of like-minded peers and build a network that lasts far beyond the program
  • Practice effective teamwork and learn how to implement strategies of high-performing teams in the workplace
  • Explore digital tools and data-informed leadership to execute, innovate, and work smarter
  • Identify what makes a successful personal brand and how to establish one
  • Gain frameworks and in-demand skills from a business curriculum with breadth and depth
  • Build expertise in an elective topic of choice
  • CLIMB is divided into two sections to tailor the curriculum to where each participant is in their career. The New Leaders path is for people with zero to three years of managerial experience and five-plus years of total professional experience. The Experienced Leaders path is for those with four or more years of managerial experience and seven-plus years of total professional experience.

    Applications for the first CLIMB session for New Leaders will be accepted through December 1, 2023, and the first session will begin on January 17, 2024. The second session will begin in the fall of 2024 and will include both New Leaders and Experienced Leaders tracks. The total cost of the program is $15,000 and will be billed in four installments of $3,750 quarterly from enrollment through completion.

    For more information or to apply, visit the CLIMB program page.

    About Harvard Business School Online

    Wherever you are in your career, Harvard Business School Online offers a unique and highly engaging way to learn vital business concepts. Launched as “HBX” in 2014, our first course, CORe, was designed to help pre-MBA students learn the key concepts and vocabulary of business. Today, Harvard Business School Online delivers rigorous and immersive courses that enable professionals at every level to advance their careers, positively impact their organizations, and appreciate business in powerful new ways. Learn more at online.hbs.edu.