Student Stories

Intuit

Executives from Intuit reflect on their experiences in Disruptive Strategy, an online course taught by Harvard Business School professor Clayton M. Christensen.

Brooks Wallace

Public relations professional looking to learn about sustainable business practices

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.

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.

Shrutesh Lati

Petroleum Engineer in Texas who took CORe to expand his knowledge

By the end of the program I realized that CORe was a total game changer on how I see and understand things around me.

This course had an amazing instructor, amazing examples, and an amazing user interface that made it easy for me to grasp the material and learn simultaneously with others around the world.

Enrique Garcia-Rivera

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.

Professor Wheeler's course gave me a new and profound perspective on negotiation. Whether I am trying to convince my daughter to go to bed on time, discussing a contract with a manufacturer, or organizing large scale military exercises with thousands of troops and dozens of aircraft - deftly employing the right negotiation technique can be the difference in success or failure.

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

CORe is something completely different from any online course. It captures the key components of a live classroom and makes it possible for classmates to interact and help one another.

Daniella Patrick

Innovation Lab Product Manager at Accenture

The course equipped me with new ways to think about problems, products, businesses, and just everything in life.

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.

Fabian Ibekwe

Founder, Angelus Consulting and Research Limited

I'm applying things I learned from the courses every single day.

Julian Tan

Recently completed my PhD and starting work at The Boston Consulting Group in London

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.

Nagakrupa Srinidhi

Associate Director of Development Management at RMZ Corp

Now that I've been exposed to these principles, I automatically approach any problem with the tools I learned as part of the course. I look at how best to approach a problem using design thinking principles to get the most innovative solution. I never forget to ask myself, 'Am I missing something key here?'

…the CORe program will help me transition from being a liberal arts student with a humanities major to being a successful consultant…

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.

I felt the course covered a good overall scope and understanding of healthcare economics and would be beneficial for anyone seeking or needing a greater understanding of the stakeholders and forces at work in the healthcare sector. This applies for those new to healthcare as well as those who have worked in the industry for long periods of time.

If you have no formal education in business, this program will dramatically change the way you think…The combination of subjects covered will give you the fundamental knowledge to think deeper about what it takes to run a successful business, how to win in the marketplace, and how to make decisions as a manager.

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.

Jingning Ao

Jingning Ao, Space Tourism researcher and PhD student at Middle Tennessee State University

After summarizing what I learned from this program, I introduced finance in a 90-minute class to junior and senior college students in order to show them different ways of doing business plans in the leisure and sport domains.

No matter the size, depth, or reach of any organization or your role in that organization, a foundational understanding of the finances that drive performance is essential. Mihir’s style is one that is inviting, energetic, and thought-enhancing. He really instills the fundamental belief that in our careers we are really only there to complete one task and that is ‘think.’ He makes you ‘think’ about what we are viewing, turn it over, and makes you ‘think’ about what falls apart and how to put it back together.

CORe Student Testimonial

Hear what students are saying about the Credential of Readiness (CORe).

Learning about concepts through real-life cases was my favorite part of the program. The cases really helped transform abstract concepts into observable situations one could learn from.

Stefan Fijala

Director at Wacky Advisors

Sharing experiences and thoughts with other learners is the greatest value. Having so many smart people in one place with different cultures, habits, jobs, and education is a huge benefit. Take the opportunity to communicate.

Nicholas Grecco

Educator and Healthcare Administrator

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.

Colin Meagle

CEO of Continuum Group, a Global Digital Agency

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 can't say enough about the energy and motivation I gained from taking this course. I felt a renewed commitment to my life-long pursuits and left each class with introspective thoughts and ideas for my future.

Jocelyn Johnson

Working in Marketing/Social Media for an edtech startup in NYC

But in the few years I have been out of school, I have found that being able to understand key business principles is essential, especially in the startup world.

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.

I immediately applied the concepts…I highly recommend the program to students who always had an interest in business and economics but never had the time to devote to course material in their traditional academic curriculum!

Alberto de la Rivaherrera

Product Manager

The cases were phenomenal. I got engulfed in the videos; they made you feel like you were in sort of a planetarium, right in the tea fields in Asia, learning about the dangers of palm oil. And hearing from the executives at huge companies about their strategies solving their problems was amazing.

Raj Desai

Tech entrepreneur developing mass-scale wifi solutions in India

It's like you're looking through the world with a completely different perspective altogether, yet it's so obvious. The dots were always there, and CORe made me realize the connections.

…beyond mastering the basics of economics, analytics, and financial accounting, you learn Excel. For a philosophy major like me, to be able to put that on a resume…invaluable.

Neeti Mathur

Assistant Professor of Management and Assistant Registrar (Placement) at National Law University in Jodhpur, India

The program is beautifully designed and has so much to offer. Professor Desai explains the concepts effortlessly and it’s easy to grasp and absorb them.

Anastassia Nefedova

Working on a cloud-based product expansion in Central and Eastern Europe for Microsoft and based in Munich, Germany

My MBA was great, however, in five weeks we did not cover nearly as much content as with CORe, so this was a quintessential supplement.

Thank you for explaining concepts that I thought were impossible for me to ever grasp in such simple terms. The examples that Professor Desai chose to illustrate these concepts and the industry experts who give their thoughts and opinions has me eagerly looking forward to the time I spend on the course every day.

Swamy Boggarapu

Social Innovator, Sustainability and Enterprise Reporting & Analytics Solution Architect

I got motivated and more optimistic about the success of giving life to my nonprofit organization.

Sara Simon Pioger

Business Owner and Teacher

I am using some of the negotiation preparation techniques from the course in different aspects of my job. Overall I feel more confident in situations that might have once felt intimidating.

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.

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.

Raymond Porch

Employee in Boston Public Schools who took Management Essentials to develop and improve his managerial skills.

My favorite part of the program was interacting with my cohort members where I received valuable shared experiences, feedback and was able to be a thought partner around strategies and best practices in varying scenarios.

Ryan Dumlao

Electrical Engineer in Pharmaceuticals, pursuing an MBA in the fall of 2016

I had never experienced such an immersive platform online, and could argue that it was more effective at building and solidifying knowledge than some of the in-class courses I took in college.

Tiara Shafiq

Writer, performer, and producer engaging in entrepreneurial and directorial endeavors with business knowledge gained from CORe

I had been intimidated by a lot of the content - particularly Financial Accounting, since the whole idea of understanding financial documents made me panic - but to my surprise everything was presented in very accessible, grounded, easy-to-understand ways.

Akanksha Davera

Sustainable Investing Participant

The course content is well designed and helps investors get a basic understanding of what sustainable finance is, its challenges, the path forward, and its key players.

The content and approach to Finance offered by Professor Desai is a unique, engaging and powerful way to not only look at numbers, but more importantly, understand the story they tell.

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.

[With Business Analytics], I discovered a new-found love of data analytics. I was fascinated to learn about ways we can use data to systematically seek an answer to a specific business question or predict the outcome of a scenario given past behavior. This new interest has motivated me to pursue a career in data science (a field that combines statistics, analytics, and business knowledge), which I have begun to work toward since I finished [the course].

Megan Lacy

Engineer and varsity athlete working towards her master's in Athletic Leadership

I was considering taking economics and accounting classes on the side while completing my master’s degree. However, I realized that through Harvard Business School Online I could get the same experiences I could get in a classroom over time all in only a few months.

Paul Accornero

Paul Accornero, International Commercial Director (MD) Asia Pacific & Americas

I use what I learned on a daily basis. Even though I am not in a Finance role, operating in a general management position I need to make decisions utilizing the principles we learned on a daily basis. The course empowers me to do that with confidence.

Esra Ugurlu

Business Development Manager at Sanita Farma Healthcare Logistics

My certificate gives me a competitive advantage and the opportunity to contribute to the success of my company in a unique way. Moreover, a Harvard certificate opens news doors wherever I choose to work in the world.