Student Stories

Dan Grünstein

Co-founder of a tech startup in Strasbourg, France

Recently, I realized that I did not have the business “toolbox” and that is why, while I am still involved in this amazing project, I am reaching out to new horizons.

Michael Colletti

Working for a cutting-edge SaaS startup in Boston, MA

My goals also include applying the knowledge learned in this program to my professional life, really soaking it in, and learning from the experiences and perspectives of my peers in the course.

Dr. Patricia Hewston

Dr. Patricia Hewston is a post-doctoral fellow at the GERAS Centre for Aging Research in the Department of Medicine at McMaster University. Her research aims to optimize care pathways and develop tailored interventions for older adults with complex care needs.

"Leadership Principles has helped shape my unique leadership style. One of the most influential lessons for my leadership development was the HBS four-step process for delivering effective feedback and coaching—a process that I now apply on a daily basis."

I thought I knew the subject relatively well and it would be a refresher. I was in for a surprise. After the first module, I realized that I did many things wrong. The most chilling thought was about missed opportunities. The course is giving me a good structure to understand organizational behavior.

Bharat Anand’s Economics for Managers course has proven to be the most influential for my career. Understanding the basic concepts of economics from the course really broadened my approach to various planning-related problems I tackle each day. My ability to identify details related to business efficiency and performance that I may have missed in the past was fine-tuned in the program, and my understanding of the business is now much stronger.

Jean Claude Benga

"I'm feeling more confident in knowing that a career is a story with twists and turns, and ups and downs. Before Managing Your Career Development I was a skillful manager, but now I'm an authentic leader, braver, and open to criticism."

...it's beyond the value I could have ever expected for such a small investment, life changing

Liz Taylor

An advertising account director in NYC applying CORe to better serve her clients

I honestly use something from CORe nearly every day. In general, I have a much better appreciation for my client's business.

Sheneka Balogun

Meet Sheneka, a CORe participant who took the program in order to advance her career and to begin an Ed.D. in Entrepreneurial Leadership.

Mirza Mahmood ul Hasan

Chief Financial Officer at Alsulaiman Group

The course, through its excellent design, has given me an approach and the confidence to deal with disruption either as an opportunity or a business risk.

This was an awesome way to get your feet wet in the world of business. I think that the courses were well-designed so as to maximize the impact they have on your real-world outlook.

Dave Nelson

Head of Sales at WegoWise

I feel like I have an unfair advantage now knowing what I've learned from this course. It has given me confidence and clarity in my decisions, and I can already see the material impact of applying this model and mindset to our business and our culture.

Megan Valanidas

A designer who took CORe to understand the language of business.

It is really helpful as I apply for jobs to be able to demonstrate that I have the capability to consider economic constraints or opportunities.

Adriel Tjokrosaputro

A Global Masters in Management student at London Business School and Fudan School of Management

In no time, not only will you build fundamental knowledge of the business world, but also be a part of a community that you can fully trust.

Economics for Managers gave me a new lens to look at the business world using common economics concepts, such as demand-supply curves, elasticity, equilibrium, markets, and pricing.

The way Business Analytics blended numbers with the impact on business forecasting and improvement of business processes was simply amazing. The real-life cases from different spheres made the learning more insightful. The subject further helped affirm the power of data/numbers in analyzing and forecasting about a particular business initiative.

Trevor Tan

Commercial disputes lawyer working in London, U.K.

Already, knowing the fundamentals of business has deepened my understanding of the context and consequences of the commercial disputes I manage daily.

Danielle Dutervil Mubarak

A lawyer in NYC using her CORe knowledge to better serve her clients.

What really impressed me were my classmates - people from all over the world and from all backgrounds that were invested in helping each other.

Bethany Larsen

An aspiring MBA student planning for a career in social entrepreneurship

Those skills are all very useful, but I think my biggest takeaway from CORe is a new perspective on complex business challenges. This lens has given me a more balanced perspective on sensitive topics like LIFO reserves, minimum wage, and drug pricing that will make me a more informed citizen and wiser leader.

Saad Hashmi

Associate Corporate Relationship Manager at HSBC Bank Middle East Limited

In an ever fast changing world, it is important to keep abreast with how people around the world tackle finance related issues and the experiences they go through.

Jackie Lender

Senior at Harvard University

I think that CORe is bridging the gap between what I learned in liberal arts, which is how to identify major problems in the world and be a global citizen, with hard-skill knowledge such as analyzing a business problem.

Emilie Billaud

Emilie Billaud, Research Associate at Harvard Business School

The program gave me a framework and a great toolbox for the cases that I am currently developing.

Christopher Munro

Operations Analyst who took CORe to further a career in business

CORe proved to be so rewarding. I went in with the mindset of something to set my resume apart from others and came out with a broad and detailed understanding of the fundamentals of business.

Enrique Garcia-Rivera

Pursuing a PhD in Chemical Biology in Boston

By learning these essential business skills, I now feel more prepared to advance scientific discoveries; raising capital, leading a team, developing strategic partnerships with established pharmaceuticals, and other crucial activities are now even clearer to me because of CORe.

Monica Higgins

Public relations Account Director who took Management Essentials to augment her management knowledge with a practical, case-based approach.

Being able to break down real-life scenarios, and look at the management processes within each - what worked and what didn't - provided a unique method of learning, and incomparable to other course offerings available.

The course surpassed my expectations…I actually regret not having more time to fully utilize all the optional features!

I am applying concepts from the Business Analytics course in my current venture. From designing surveys to hypothesis testing, every aspect of data collection and analysis informs our customer validation process.

This is the closest you come to experiencing a Harvard Business School classroom without actually being there. Participants can interact with each other while being part of the case discussions with faculty.

This program…created so many “ah-ha” moments for me. Even if you've taken similar courses before…CORe walks you through the way of seeing these subjects through the eyes of a manager. It was truly an amazing experience!

J. Holden Gibbons

Meet Holden, a CORe‬ participant who took the program to help with the transition from military to civilian life.

Mohamed Khalifa

Currently pursuing a Masters in Electrical Engineering at the University of Sheffield, UK

CORe is giving me that extra lens I was missing: how products, services and other contents are created, consumed and exchanged from a business perspective.

I was able to use Business Analytics when a project on truck optimization for my site came up while I was enrolled in the course. I was able to apply the statistical concepts that I learned during the course to create an optimizer tool for truck usage and scheduling at the mine. This tool resulted in significant cost savings, which was highly valued by the site management team.

Danilo Salazar

Entrepreneur researching education and solar energy technology in Ecuador

Now I see how to take control of the financial part of my business and also how I can apply strategy when I enter into a new market.

Yefei Jin

An entrepreneur improving education for English language learners

By recognizing that every student brought with her or him a wealth of lived experiences, HBS Online empowered me to learn much more from peers than I had imagined.

Professor Wheeler helped me to change the way I think about negotiation. Negotiation can be complex and chaotic, but if you seek to understand and embrace that chaos instead of fearing it, you can achieve outcomes better than your expectations.

Nicholas Allsop

"My favorite part of the program was the ability to get a global prospective on the case studies live, as if we were all in a classroom in Harvard, all while in the comfort of our own homes."

Fernando Garces

The Negotiation Mastery course has taught me that everyone has their own motivations. Even though we may all be working towards the same goal, there are different priorities depending on who you talk to.

Doug Kinsey

Meet Doug, a Leading with Finance participant who took the course to advance his career and deepen his understanding of essential financial concepts.

This was a class where you could contribute your opinion and hear from two participants who were on opposite sides of the debate, as well as the globe.

Abby Katz

Abby Katz is a Senior Marketing Manager at Mavrck, a Boston-based influencer marketing software company.

"I found the content of the course to be extremely informative and applicable to the real challenges of being a leader. I loved the frameworks and the case study model of the course, and I thought the course was very manageable on top of a full-time job."

I feel like now I can speak more high-level about where we want to take the company and what strategic initiatives we want to put in place….It has given me an entirely new set of tools.

Thanks to Business Analytics, I learned to apply statistical analysis to real world problems. For instance, I am currently doing a research project using regression analysis to see if we can predict emergency department demand on any given day - important for staffing and resource allocation.

Juliana Casale

Juliana Casale is the Head of Marketing at Crazy Egg, a SaaS company that builds website optimization tools.

"I'm now more mindful of how my colleagues are experiencing me, and less averse to having difficult conversations."

Amy Wallens Green

Senior Manager at WGBH Educational Foundation

I'd never taken any official coursework in negotiation. I was drawn to learning to master a skill that would help me in both my personal and professional life.

Marcus Melo

Electrical Engineering student at the University of Brasilia

Taking Entrepreneurship Essentials was an incredible opportunity to learn from the best and to be in a class full of great minds.

Anita Umoh

Making the shift from the corporate world to entrepreneurship.

I loved the case study on Intuit and the Quickbook App. It was something I could relate to, and it helped me to understand and know that fear can be good because it fuels your passion to keep you moving forward.

I believe that CORe helped prove to prospective employers, as well as myself, that I understand the fundamentals of business.

Natacha Godoi

Meet Natacha, a CORe‬ participant who took the program to help advance her career in finance.

Anthony Alvarez

Aerospace Engineering Student at the University of Florida

"During my conversation with a Boeing recruiter (my dream company), he was curious about my experience with HBS Online. He asked, ‘What was the most impactful thing you learned from Economics for Managers?’ Sparing details, I responded with the concept of WTP [willingness to pay] and how important it is to understand how to price a product. He loved my response, and I was fortunate to receive an interview, which led to an offer. Understanding E4M [Economics for Managers] helped me diversify myself as a STEM student in a conference full of technical perspectives.”

Jennifer Moret

Jennifer Moret is a Financial Analyst working in the trust industry in Switzerland.

"The course has given me the confidence to know that my suggestions have a solid business basis."