Skip to Main Content
HBS Online
  • Courses
    Open Courses Mega Menu
    • Business Essentials
      • Credential of Readiness (CORe)
      • Business Analytics
      • Economics for Managers
      • Financial Accounting
    • Leadership & Management
      • Leadership Principles
      • Management Essentials
      • Negotiation Mastery
      • Organizational Leadership
      • Strategy Execution
      • Power and Influence for Positive Impact
    • Entrepreneurship & Innovation
      • Entrepreneurship Essentials
      • Disruptive Strategy
      • Negotiation Mastery
      • Design Thinking and Innovation
    • Strategy
      • Strategy Execution
      • Business Strategy
      • Economics for Managers
      • Disruptive Strategy
      • Global Business
      • Sustainable Business Strategy
    • Finance & Accounting
      • Financial Accounting
      • Leading with Finance
      • Alternative Investments
      • Sustainable Investing
    • Business in Society
      • Sustainable Business Strategy
      • Global Business
      • Sustainable Investing
      • Power and Influence for Positive Impact
    • All Courses
  • For Organizations
    Open For Organizations Mega Menu
    • Corporate Learning
      Help your employees master essential business concepts, improve effectiveness, and expand leadership capabilities.
    • Academic Solutions
      Integrate HBS Online courses into your curriculum to support programs and create unique educational opportunities.
    • Need Help?
      • Frequently Asked Questions
      • Contact Us
    • Black, Latinx, and underrepresented minority professionals
      Pathways to Business

      Stories designed to inspire future business leaders.

  • Insights
    Open Insights Mega Menu
    • Business Insights Blog
      • Career Development
      • Communication
      • Decision-Making
      • Earning Your MBA
      • Entrepreneurship & Innovation
      • Finance
      • Leadership
      • Management
      • Negotiation
      • Strategy
    • All Topics
    • Sample Business Lessons and E-Books

      Gain new insights and knowledge from leading faculty and industry experts.

    • Free Guide

      Learn how to formulate a successful business strategy.

  • More Info
    Open More Info Mega Menu
    • Learning Experience
      Master real-world business skills with our immersive platform and engaged community.
    • Certificates, Credentials, & Credits
      Learn how completing courses can boost your resume and move your career forward.
    • Learning Tracks
      Take your career to the next level with this specialization.
    • Financing & Policies
      • Employer Reimbursement
      • Payment & Financial Aid
      • Policies
    • Connect
      • Student Stories
      • Community
    • Need Help?
      • Frequently Asked Questions
      • Request Information
    • Apply Now
Login
My Courses
Access your courses and engage with your peers
My Account
Manage your account, applications, and payments.
HBS Home
  • About HBS
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
HBS Online
  • Courses
  • Business Essentials
  • Leadership & Management
  • Entrepreneurship & Innovation
  • Strategy
  • Finance & Accounting
  • Business in Society
  • For Organizations
  • Insights
  • More Info
  • About
  • Media Coverage
  • Founding Donors
  • Leadership Team
  • Careers
  • My Courses
  • My Account
  • Apply Now
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • HBS Online→
  • Business Insights→

Business Insights

Harvard Business School Online's Business Insights Blog provides the career insights you need to achieve your goals and gain confidence in your business skills.

 
Filter Results Arrow Down Arrow Up

Topics

Topics

  • Accounting
  • Analytics
  • Business Essentials
  • Business in Society
  • Career Development
  • Communication
  • Community
  • ConneXt
  • Decision-Making
  • Earning Your MBA
  • Entrepreneurship & Innovation
  • Finance
  • Leadership
  • Management
  • Marketing
  • Negotiation
  • News & Events
  • Productivity
  • Staff Spotlight
  • Strategy
  • Student Profiles
  • Technology
  • Work-Life Balance

Courses

Courses

  • Alternative Investments
  • Business Analytics
  • Business Strategy
  • CORe
  • Design Thinking and Innovation
  • Disruptive Strategy
  • Economics for Managers
  • Entrepreneurship Essentials
  • Financial Accounting
  • Global Business
  • Leadership Principles
  • Leading with Finance
  • Management Essentials
  • Negotiation Mastery
  • Organizational Leadership
  • Power and Influence for Positive Impact
  • Strategy Execution
  • Sustainable Business Strategy
  • Sustainable Investing
Subscribe to the Blog
RSS feed

Filters

Topics

Topics

  • Accounting
  • Analytics
  • Business Essentials
  • Business in Society
  • Career Development
  • Communication
  • Community
  • ConneXt
  • Decision-Making
  • Earning Your MBA
  • Entrepreneurship & Innovation
  • Finance
  • Leadership
  • Management
  • Marketing
  • Negotiation
  • News & Events
  • Productivity
  • Staff Spotlight
  • Strategy
  • Student Profiles
  • Technology
  • Work-Life Balance

Courses

Courses

  • Alternative Investments
  • Business Analytics
  • Business Strategy
  • CORe
  • Design Thinking and Innovation
  • Disruptive Strategy
  • Economics for Managers
  • Entrepreneurship Essentials
  • Financial Accounting
  • Global Business
  • Leadership Principles
  • Leading with Finance
  • Management Essentials
  • Negotiation Mastery
  • Organizational Leadership
  • Power and Influence for Positive Impact
  • Strategy Execution
  • Sustainable Business Strategy
  • Sustainable Investing
Subscribe to the Blog
RSS feed

How CORe Helped Me Gain a Competitive Edge in the Oil and Gas Industry

Isha Khambra at Work
  • 31 Jan 2019
Isha Khambra Author Student Bloggers
tag
  • CORe
  • Career Development
  • Leadership

“We need an engineer with business acumen,” said my manager at our internal monthly meeting.

The statement surprised me at first. But those words inspired me to become that engineer.

Born in an Orthodox North Indian family, I was an exception. Women aren’t expected to work outside of their home, but I left my town to study petroleum engineering and later work for one of the world’s largest oil and gas service companies. When I reflect on all that I’ve achieved in the last six years, it seems surreal. While there is still a long way to go, I’ve led multiple million-dollar projects for major national and international oil and gas companies, and gained considerable global experience by working with culturally diverse populations.

I was the only woman sitting at the table that day when my manager was looking for a candidate who could navigate the project with both engineering and business skills. He needed someone who could manage not only the technical aspects of the project, but various business segments, such as supply chain, finance, and contracts.

Related: 7 Business Skills Every Engineer Needs

There were two things that intimidated me that day: My background was in engineering and I didn’t have much business acumen. What made me more apprehensive, however, was being a woman in a male-dominated industry and wondering whether I could take on this challenging role.

Being an Engineer Wasn’t Enough

As an engineer, I lacked the business fluency to articulate technical topics and effectively communicate with a broader audience. I had helped solve organizational problems from a technical perspective, but wanted to know how my contributions impacted the business on a larger scale, as well as understand how creative business solutions and processes spark disruption. Seeing things solely through a technical lens wasn’t enough; I wanted to bridge the divide. I was certain Harvard Business School Online’s Credential of Readiness (CORe) program would help me fill these, and many more, gaps.

Access Your Free E-Book | Download Now

Gaining a Competitive Edge in a Male-Dominated Industry

Being a woman in a male-dominated industry comes with its own challenges. There are myriad of times in my career when it was difficult to prove my technical credibility to my male peers. Women are often measured by a different yardstick and, if you don’t define yourself, it’s likely you’ll be quickly and inaccurately defined by others.

Throughout my career, I’ve tried to avoid being passive. I’ve continued to learn, try new job roles, or take on additional responsibilities to make myself more visible. Very early in life, I realized that growing and evolving is not finite, it’s perpetual. One’s job doesn’t end after attaining that much-aspired position or job role. There’s always room to evolve and advance. Up until now, I was a technically proficient engineer with minimal business skills. I signed up for CORe with the goal of expanding my understanding of business fundamentals and becoming that well-rounded engineer my boss wanted.

How CORe Helped Me

CORe consists of three courses: Business Analytics, Financial Accounting, and Economics for Managers. All the concepts were taught using the case method, which puts you in the shoes of a protagonist, or business leader. The modules feature Cold Calls, in which participants are randomly selected and asked to provide their insight or solutions to a particular problem. These time-restrictive Cold Calls helped me learn how to make quick, prudent decisions—which is much-needed in the fast-paced oil and gas industry.

Isha Khambra; width: 600px; align: left;

The case method is not a spectator sport. It requires active engagement, and is an insightful way of understanding concepts. You’re presented with real-world problems and need to provide practical solutions.

Business Analytics acquainted me with various data analysis and forecasting tools. I implemented these crucial skills to optimize our company’s resources and save time and money on my new project. It also helped me create significant value for a client by introducing a new business model that increased oil and gas production from brownfields at a reduced cost.

Financial Accounting focused on understanding credits, debits, accruals, deferrals, and financial statements. Learning financial accounting helped me decipher the balance sheet and quarterly profit and loss statements of my assigned project and make more informed decisions that reduced its overall operational cost.

In the oil industry, almost every decision is a multi-million dollar one, which directly or indirectly affects the world’s economy. Cost reduction is the most vital endeavor, especially in the current scenario of crude oil price dropping. Financial Accounting helped me find creative and effective ways to maximize the economic recovery of my project.

Economics for Managers allowed me to better understand the contractual pricing of the project’s operational services and identify the key factors that can influence clients’ willingness to pay for a service—a factor I used to overlook. It also helped me fine-tune my understanding of the client perspective and enabled me to make better decisions while dealing daily with clients.

Why You Should Take CORe

CORe can truly transform the arch of your career. The program is a series of interrelated experiences that equipped me with business basics and helped me identify my strengths, weaknesses, and areas where I have to lean in on others. It’s encouraged me to collaborate with my peers and instilled the humility to learn from others’ perspectives. CORe has made a lasting impact and made me fluent in business. It's also given me the confidence to enroll in a full-time MBA program in the future, so that I can dive deeper into the business world.

Now I have technical and business skills, which are crucial in furthering my career. I have gained a competitive edge as CORe equipped me with the necessary skills to successfully execute the aspired project. I’m now confident I can take on more challenging roles in the future.

Are you interested in learning more about CORe? Visit the CORe page to explore how the program could advance your career.

About the Author

Isha Khambra is a petroleum engineer currently working for one of the world’s leading oil and gas service companies. She focuses on performing detailed technical analysis, and is responsible for evaluating oil and gas wells’ production performance. Passionate about social impact through education, she actively volunteers and is associated with a nonprofit organization focused on providing girls education. Khambra believes education is the best investment.
 
All FAQs

Top FAQs

How are HBS Online courses delivered?

+–

We offer self-paced programs (with weekly deadlines) on the HBS Online course platform.

Our platform features short, highly produced videos of HBS faculty and guest business experts, interactive graphs and exercises, cold calls to keep you engaged, and opportunities to contribute to a vibrant online community.

Do I need to come to campus to participate in HBS Online programs?

+–

No, all of our programs are 100 percent online, and available to participants regardless of their location.

How do I enroll in a course?

+–

All programs require the completion of a brief application. The applications vary slightly from program to program, but all ask for some personal background information. You can apply for and enroll in programs here. If you are new to HBS Online, you will be required to set up an account before starting an application for the program of your choice.

Our easy online application is free, and no special documentation is required. All applicants must be at least 18 years of age, proficient in English, and committed to learning and engaging with fellow participants throughout the program.

After submitting your application, you should receive an email confirmation from HBS Online. If you do not receive this email, please check your junk email folders and double-check your account to make sure the application was successfully submitted.

Updates to your application and enrollment status will be shown on your Dashboard. We confirm enrollment eligibility within one week of your application.

Does Harvard Business School Online offer an online MBA?

+–

No, Harvard Business School Online offers business certificate programs.

What are my payment options?

+–

We accept payments via credit card, wire transfer, Western Union, and (when available) bank loan. Some candidates may qualify for scholarships or financial aid, which will be credited against the Program Fee once eligibility is determined. Please refer to the Payment & Financial Aid page for further information.

We also allow you to split your payment across 2 separate credit card transactions or send a payment link email to another person on your behalf. If splitting your payment into 2 transactions, a minimum payment of $350 is required for the first transaction.

In all cases, net Program Fees must be paid in full (in US Dollars) to complete registration.

What are the policies for refunds and deferrals?

+–

After enrolling in a program, you may request a withdrawal with refund (minus a $100 nonrefundable enrollment fee) up until 24 hours after the start of your program. Please review the Program Policies page for more details on refunds and deferrals. If your employer has contracted with HBS Online for participation in a program, or if you elect to enroll in the undergraduate credit option of the Credential of Readiness (CORe) program, note that policies for these options may differ.

 

Sign up for News & Announcements

Subject Areas

  • Business Essentials
  • Leadership & Management
  • Entrepreneurship & Innovation
  • Strategy
  • Finance & Accounting
  • Business & Society

Quick Links

  • FAQs
  • Contact Us
  • Request Info
  • Apply Now

About

  • About Us
  • Media Coverage
  • Founding Donors
  • Leadership Team
  • Careers @ HBS Online

Legal

  • Legal
  • Policies
Harvard Business School
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College
  • Site Map
  • Trademark Notice
  • Digital Accessibility