How to Choose Your CLIMB Electives

The Credential of Leadership, Impact, and Management in Business (CLIMB) is Harvard Business School Online’s most comprehensive program. Designed to equip you with vital, cutting-edge leadership skills, CLIMB comprises seven courses over a yearlong period.

The program is fully online and provides a global network of peers eager to grow as leaders. To tailor your education to your experience level and professional goals, you can select the New Leaders or Experienced Leaders learning path and two elective courses.

"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 HBS Professor and CLIMB Faculty Chair Amy Edmondson in the program’s trailer. "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."

If you’re interested in CLIMB, here’s a breakdown of each learning path and how to choose the right electives for your goals.

What Are the CLIMB Learning Paths?

CLIMB offers two learning paths—New and Experienced Leaders—to take your career to the next level.

New Leaders is best if you have zero to three years of managerial experience and five-plus years of total experience. Experienced Leaders is better if you have four or more years of managerial experience and seven-plus years of total experience.

Both paths feature three new short courses:

• Dynamic Teaming, taught by HBS Professor and CLIMB Faculty Chair Amy Edmondson
• Leading in the Digital World, taught by HBS Professor Linda Hill
• Personal Branding, taught by HBS Senior Lecturer Jill Avery

Where they differ is in their leadership and strategy course offerings:

• Leadership Principles (New Leaders) or Organizational Leadership (Experienced Leaders), both taught by HBS professors Joshua Margolis and Tony Mayo
• Business Strategy (New Leaders), taught by HBS Professor Felix Oberholzer-Gee, or Strategy Execution (Experienced Leaders), taught by HBS Professor Robert Simons

Finally, both enable you to customize your learning by selecting two electives:

• A finance elective of your choice from the finance and accounting subject area
  
• An open elective of your choice from HBS Online’s course catalog

Once you’ve determined which learning path fits your experience level, identify the electives you’d like to take. Here’s how to do so.

How to Choose Your CLIMB Electives

1. Take Stock of Your Options

You must select two electives: one from the finance and accounting subject area and one open.

For your open elective, explore the HBS Online course catalog, which features more than 20 courses across eight subject areas. You can select any course besides the Credential of Readiness (CORe) and those you’ve already completed.

Related: CORe vs. CLIMB: Which HBS Online Credential Program Is Right for You?

2. Identify Your Goals and Skills

Solidify what you aim to gain by taking CLIMB. What skills do you already possess? Where do you need to improve?

Once you’ve defined your goals, consider which electives could help you develop the skills to reach them.

For instance, if you’re a new leader who wants to use financial statements to make decisions and cultivate a culture of innovation, you might select Financial Accounting as your finance and accounting elective and Design Thinking and Innovation as your open elective.

3. Consider Your Broader Education

After determining which programs can help you build the skills to achieve your goals, consider how they fit in with CLIMB’s courses and those you’ve previously taken.

Ensure your electives complement your other areas of study. For instance, if you’re in the Experienced Leaders learning path, you likely won’t choose Leadership Principles as your open elective since Organizational Leadership is required.

Select courses that empower you to explore new topics and skills or hone in on a specific facet of leadership or strategy.

CLIMB Elective Suggestions

To get started, here are suggestions for open electives you might choose based on your experience and goals.

If you’re a New Leader:

• Power and Influence for Positive Impact can enable you to use your power before you have a formal leadership role.
• Business Analytics can prepare you to make data-driven decisions.
• Economics for Managers can help you apply economic fundamentals to create value and compete in a saturated market.
• Leadership, Ethics, and Corporate Accountability can provide the knowledge to navigate your ethical, legal, and economic responsibilities as a leader.

If you’re an Experienced Leader:

• Disruptive Strategy can help you harness disruptive innovation to create winning strategies.
• Sustainable Business Strategy can equip you to run a purpose-driven organization and help solve the world’s most pressing challenges.
• Business and Climate Change can enable you to think strategically to address climate change’s risks and opportunities.
• Design Thinking and Innovation can empower you to employ design thinking principles to drive innovation.
• Digital Marketing Strategy can help you craft or optimize your organization’s marketing strategy to reach and retain customers.

Charting Your Path

Because CLIMB is customizable, you can choose the learning path and electives that match where you are in your career.

By considering your goals, taking stock of your options, and envisioning your choices as part of your overall educational experience, you can determine how to best position yourself to advance your career and grow as a leader.

Are you ready to dive in? Explore our yearlong Credential of Leadership, Impact, and Management in Business (CLIMB) program, which comprises seven courses for leading in the modern business world. Download the CLIMB brochure to learn about its curriculum, admissions requirements, and benefits.