Student Stories
Find out what it's like to take an HBS Online course from current and past learners.
Find out what it's like to take an HBS Online course from current and past learners.
CORe gave me a new lens through which I could look at the world. I applied what I learned right away at work and continue to apply it now in business school.
I would be very surprised if the concepts that we talked about in the course are not core to our strategic planning process this year… I expect that we will have a lot more conversation about the course going forward.
Leaders at any level should take this class to improve their leadership proficiency.
The business skills and concepts I learned through CORe will be invaluable in helping me assess the Chinese market, the demand and pricing of our service, and how to differentiate ourselves from our competitors.
The course shifted my worldview: what the most pressing problems are, who comes up with solutions, and how we get there. Professor Henderson pushed hard for us to think deeply about systemic change when it's easy to be satisfied with small wins. Though the course is focused on the private sector, in my public sector job, I often reference the learnings when considering how best to work with businesses so we can leave the world better than we received it.
Learning from Professor Wheeler is a once in a lifetime opportunity. A superb teacher, he shows students how to become masterful negotiators.
HBS Online was an invaluable and essential education. The information provided, the quality of the presentation, and the high-level engagement among students surpassed my expectations.
We are at a time in history where we need leaders now more than ever. Someone who has CORe on his or her resume is a leader, in my mind.
…it was a great experience being able to interact with so many intelligent students all over the world…it's a perfect combination of teaching from the professors and help from all of your classmates.
The course has given me the confidence to know that my suggestions have a solid business basis.
Mihir Desai was able to bring a relatively dry and inscrutable page of numbers to life in a highly engaging and interactive way. He has a great teaching style: clear, sharp, entertaining, and challenging. Mihir was able to truly engage our leaders of all levels of financial experience on the key levers of performance and how this applies to their own businesses.
The real-world examples were the best part of the courses. While going through the examples, I thought a lot about how I would have handled it if I were them. That plays a big role in how I do things now.
This course was impactful especially using case studies of real-life situations to solve complex and confusing problems. The results of this will help improve my managerial decisions within and outside the organizations to minimize risks and increase profits
The academic rigor was thrilling. What made it extra special was the people I met through the experience. That community stays with me every day.
As a classically trained scientist with limited business experience, I believe CORe is a fantastic way to invest in myself and help bridge the gap between being the scientist I am right now and the consultant I need to be in September.
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.
By the end of the program I realized that CORe was a total game changer on how I see and understand things around me.
Additionally, the program allowed me to acquire a more holistic view of the services we provide, and it is helping me develop new ideas to innovate and generate different sources of revenue.
I found myself constantly considering ways that my own company could immediately adapt and adopt some of those practices [from CORe].
Professor Hammond is an outstanding and inspirational teacher. Her Business Analytics course helped to demystify statistics for me, rendering the subject matter approachable and appealing. The fabulous visualizations and graphics, combined with relevant and interesting case studies, brought the concepts to life in a stimulating and engaging way. Mastery of data analysis is critical for business success and I now feel confident that I have the foundations in place. I am looking forward to embracing this capability further in my career.
The course has made me think more carefully about how I could create a competitive cost structure and make appropriate plans before entering the market. [Conjoint analysis] has also helped me think about what product features my consumers would really value and how to highlight those features. Having a better business vocabulary and understanding the underlying concepts has really helped me to contribute more productively to conversations and decisions.
I honestly use something from CORe nearly every day. In general, I have a much better appreciation for my client's business.
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.
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.
Strategy Execution provides learners with tools and frameworks based on real-life business situations. This directly affects the value of the course, as the takeaways are applicable—not just theories you can learn in other courses.
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.
The content and its delivery was spot on for understanding business stages and funding series. I learned a lot of that information in undergrad, but HBS Online’s platform thoroughly delivered and presented the content with amazing examples from real-life startups. Hearing their struggles to success was encouraging, and I was engaged during each video.
Hear what students are saying about the Credential of Readiness (CORe).
For me, that connection from textbook to reality made the courses memorable, enjoyable, and interesting. Case studies were absolutely my favorite part of the program.
Meet Holden, a CORe participant who took the program to help with the transition from military to civilian life.
This was an excellent course with concepts that were immediately applicable to my consulting business.
I now have a better understanding of sustainability and which companies are doing it right. I’m armed with talking points proving that sustainability is good for business, the environment, and its people.
This course is excellent for executives and managers who constantly grapple with finding new ways to make their work impactful and useful for their target audience.
Enrique is pursuing a PhD in Chemical Biology and working to find cures for diseases like cancer. He plans to use CORe as a way to bridge the gap between his work in the lab and the funding and entrepreneurial support he will need to bring those discoveries to the public.
I learned new things that I can apply to my work today. With 28 years of business experience, that doesn't happen often to this extent.
From the moment I started studying I knew there were theories and methodologies that I could apply to the Continuum Group. From a macro scale, it helps me understand where the different elements of the group sit in their respective markets and how they interact, grow, compete, disrupt, and really nail the job to be done for our customers.
I think CORe may be the extra push I need to connect with jobs that really interest me.
The principles I learned in CORe are fundamentally important to a successful business, and taking this program ensured that I mastered these concrete pieces of the puzzle.
Within five days of finishing the course, I had a plan of action for a major part of our business and presented it to our corporate executive. It applied the theories of the customers' Job to be Done and caused us to re-think our strategy to get the customer to “hire” us over the competition.
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.
I was worried that the courses would move too quickly for me to master each concept, but the instructors, the materials, real-world case studies and the class interaction allowed me to truly understand the fundamentals of each…
I was impressed by how well the course material fit my personal challenges and goals at work, and how easy it was to use the material to improve my team’s strategy execution.
I loved the regular use of visuals and videos to fully build up the user's understanding of a new concept.
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.
Professor Sahlman’s careful observation of the best and brightest entrepreneurs over the last 30 years has given him a perspective and insightfulness that few others can rival. He keeps his students eager to dissect and analyze the situation and range of solutions.
[Economics for Managers] has unveiled powerful tools to me which are very useful in my current role.
I got motivated and more optimistic about the success of giving life to my nonprofit organization.
Meet Sheneka, a CORe participant who took the program in order to advance her career and to begin an Ed.D. in Entrepreneurial Leadership.
Executives from Intuit reflect on their experiences in Disruptive Strategy, an online course taught by Harvard Business School professor Clayton M. Christensen.
In Global Business, we learned about currencies, exchange rates, and tariffs, and it helped a lot. It’s one of the reasons Aphrodite supports 50 currencies now.
If you're looking for more information on how Harvard Business School Online programs can teach you the essential skills you need for success, request more information today.