Student Stories

Elizabeth Narehood

Vice President of Technology at Region 2000 Business and Economic Development Alliance

I really appreciate how Professor Christensen introduced high-level complex theories and broke them down into digestible chunks. When applied to real-world examples, the concepts are brought to life.

Athenahealth

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

The conversations, the dialog, and the team huddles were so enriching and engaging and exciting, really exciting.

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.

Aranzazú Martínez Galeana

Aranzazú Martínez Galeana is a senior project coordinator at ERM, a provider of environmental, health, safety, risk, and social consulting services.

I got promoted to a senior project coordinator role just weeks after finishing the course, so I've had the chance to apply many of the topics covered.

My favorite part of Entrepreneurship Essentials was the financing and equity module. It taught me the basics of how to look at spreadsheets and make sense of them—one of the most vital things for any company or start-up to understand.

Allie O'Hanley

Founder and Director of Rxhibition, a new nonprofit organization that curates, designs, and installs art exhibitions in chemotherapy treatment areas

I expected CORe to be much more of an overview. I never was expecting the depth that it truly delivered. I received a strong foundation to be confident enough to build my own startup.

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.

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.

Corina Cristea Lavoie

Corina Cristea Lavoie is a corporate services manager at an international law firm who took Leadership Principles and Strategy Execution.

HBS Online courses are excellent for anyone who wishes to learn more about a particular subject area or further develop their career.

Peter LaBerge

Undergrad in creative writing who took CORe to help grow his poetry journal

I entered the CORe program with the assumption that business was binary in its reliance on creativity and science, on ideas and numbers. In reality, it’s simply not. There are numbers behind the most successful marketing campaigns, brand directions, and management decisions.

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.

Alvina Chan

Sustainable Investing Participant

The course is a comprehensive introduction filled with dynamic case studies that I found fascinating.

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.

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.

Emily Stebbins

External Vendor Data Relationship Manager, Index & Data Solutions at BlackRock

Alternative Investments provided more substantial coverage than what I previously had from school versus on the job.

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 that will make me a more informed citizen and wiser leader.

Robbee Minicola

Director at Microsoft

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.

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…

Shalini Agarwal

Professor of Radiodiagnosis at the Pandit Bhagwat Dayal Sharma Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences

I loved the mixture of academic teaching, case-based review, interaction with peers who had their own experiences to recount, and application in my place of work. To me, it was a complete package.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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's 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 culture.

The People, Opportunity, Context, and Deal framework is now in the back of my mind. Also, I have learned how to quickly assess and network with other companies and panelists at the hundreds of meetup events I've attended.

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.

I found the overall CORe experience to be…eye-opening. Each of the courses took deep dives into companies of all shapes and sizes to exemplify how core business concepts are applied…CORe took the idea of learning business principles to the next level

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.

Peggy Dau

Founder & Managing Partner at MAD Perspectives LLC

I am paying more attention to how my clients perceive the value of my services. I find myself rephrasing their statements to confirm their true needs.

Manoj Purohit

Product Manager at Thermax Limited

Economics for Managers has unveiled powerful tools to me that are very useful in my current role.

Nisha Patel

Pursuing a Master of International Marketing

I hope to gain confidence in conveying the fundamentals of business and a solid understanding of the application of theory to the real world in any industry.

Ash Kashyap

CPU Core Architecture/Register-Transfer Level Engineer at AMD

An excellent course that covers many aspects of launching a tech startup.

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.

Riya Dashoriya

Engineering Manager at Quizlet

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.

David Luna

U.S. Diplomat and National Security Official

Today, I am applying this new knowledge to continue to make a difference in the world, develop innovative strategies and technologies, and more vibrant partnerships toward collective action to solve some of today’s complex global challenges.

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.

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 I now apply on a daily basis.

Chudhary Kashif

The Entrepreneurial Marketing course provided valuable, real-world insights into how startups approach customer acquisition, growth strategies, and go-to-market execution. The course did an excellent job of blending theory with practical applications, featuring case studies from real startup founders and marketing leaders.

Sandra Pérez Botero

Design Thinking and Innovation Participant

The course masterfully interwove design thinking theory as a process with helpful tools and outstanding examples from practitioners and companies.

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.

Intuit

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

Jessica Shaffer

Disruptive Strategy participant Jessica Shaffer talks about the direct impact the course has had on her work at Leader Bank.

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.

Marcin Jasinski

An excellent course: world-class content, perfect delivery, excellent and diverse cohort, and finally wonderful collaboration with both the organizers and the class.

Pablo Stuardo

IT consultant using CORe to help further his career

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.

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.

CORe Student Testimonial

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

…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.

Daniella Patrick

Meet Daniella, a Disruptive Strategy participant who took the course to become a disruptor and innovator.

[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].