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HBS Announces Online Leadership Development Program

Harvard Business School has announced a new online certificate program focused on leadership. The course, called Developing Yourself as a Leader, will be offered through HBS’s virtual learning platform, HBX. 

Developing Yourself as a Leader will last for 12 weeks and is designed for “high-potential emerging leaders” who want to work with HBS faculty and coaches while enjoying the flexibility of online learning. 

The course, which HBS estimates will take up about 30 hours of time total, is divided into eight virtual classroom sessions and three one-on-one coaching sessions.

HBS emphasizes that the faculty and coaches for the course all work with HBS MBA students. The faculty chair for the course is professor Ethan Bernstein, and other faculty listed for the course include Alison Wood Brooks, Anita Elberse and Ariel Stern. 

The program is intended to develop participants’ ability to bring people together, heighten their impact as leaders, and build their own leadership skills through reflection and self-awareness. Practically, participants will bring a central problem to address that they aim to make concrete progress on.

 Developing Yourself as a Leader is HBS’s latest offering through their online learning platform, HBX. HBS describes HBX as a virtual learning platform that prioritizes interactive and social learning. Like in-person HBS classes, HBX classes draw on the case method. 

Ethan Bernstein, faculty chair of Developing Yourself as a Leader, says the newest HBX offering will “bring some of Harvard Business School’s best theory and research in topics essential to proactive leadership development to emerging leaders around the globe.” 

He adds that it will do so by incorporating “a suite of self-assessments, leading-edge tools, and one-on-one talent development coaching,” which will ultimately “[equip] each participant with a personalized toolkit to make tangible, lasting progress on leadership goals and ready them for a leadership trajectory in their organization.” 

The program will first run from January through April 2019. Admissions is in three rounds, but HBS intends to prioritize applications submitted in the first round, which ends August 29. For details, see the course website. 

Of course, if you’re looking to intensively develop your leadership skills, you might be thinking of going even further than an HBX certificate – for example, with an MBA, EMBA or online MBA.

We can help you evaluate your options. We’ll help you figure out not only what school might be the right fit, but how you can submit an application that highlights your unique potential as a leader. Just ask us for a free assessment!