Credential of Leadership, Impact, and Management in Business (2024)

Our Most Comprehensive Offering

5 pre-set courses + 2 electives + a capstone project. Choose from the New Leader or Experienced Leader learning paths.

7 Courses

$15,000 (four installments of $3,750)

Next session starts September 18th & 25th

This course earns you a Credential of Leadership, Impact, and Management in Business from HBS Online. What you earn.

Overview

Syllabus

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I loved being able to learn the material through real examples and have found that this sort of learning makes the content stick much better in my memory.

Dustin Brown
Working in real estate in Indiana while applying to MBA programs
BS, Selling & Sales Management, Minor, Organizational Leadership and Supervision Certificate, Entrepreneurship & Innovation

“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.”

Melanie Lehnert-Bechle
Strategy Execution Participant

Credential of Leadership, Impact, and Management in Business

Reach your peak with a comprehensive business credential.

Earn by: completing seven courses and a capstone project

Four Certificates of Completion

Earn by: completing courses in leadership, strategy, and finance, plus an open elective

CLIMB New Leaders
7 courses (with capstone), 1 year

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Modules

1. Psychological Safety

2. Inclusion

3. Tools for Teaming

4. Failing Well

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Modules

1. Taking Charge

2. Leading Your Team

3. Unleashing Potential in Yourself and Others

4. Your Network

5. Leading Effective Teams

   See Also

   Data Science Principles | Harvard Online CourseCourses Page | Harvard OnlineReducing Racial Disparities in Health Care | Harvard Online Certificate CourseThe Crimson: Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences will no longer require diversity statements in hiring process | CNN

Featured Exercises

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  Build a foundation of self-awareness through a 360° assessment (Emotional and Social Competency Inventory)

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  Explore the internal drivers of your motivations as a leader through the Personal Values Questionnaire self-assessment

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  Create a diagram of your professional network to visualize, reflect on, and better utilize professional relationships

• 

  Reflect on what you’ve learned throughout the course, and consider your personal leadership development plan

• 

  Various video uploads to practice what you’ve learned throughout the course

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Modules

1. Leading Innovation

2. Leading in the Digital Era

Featured Exercises

• 

  Self-assessment: leadership style analysis

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Modules

1. Personal Branding

2. Leveraging Your Personal Brand

Featured Exercises

• 

  Personal branding workbook to create and strengthen stories that convey your brand

• 

  Create a media kit for effective outreach

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Modules

1. Creating Value for Customers

2. Adding Value Through Complements

3. Competing with Network Effects

4. Creating Value for Talent

5. Mastering Productivity

6. Implementing Strategy

Featured Exercises

• 

  Create a customer journey map to discover complementary products and services

• 

  Establish an employee journey map to find ways to improve the employee experience

• 

  Develop a value map for your company

• 

  Diagram your professional network

CLIMB Experienced Leaders
7 courses (with capstone), 1 year

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Modules

1. Psychologically Safe Teams

2. Leading Effective Teams

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Modules

1. Leading at Scale and Scope

2. Leader as Beacon: Understanding and Setting Direction

3. Leader as Beacon: Communicating Direction

4. Leader as Architect: Designing to Deliver Value

5. Project Week

6. Leader as Catalyst of Change

7. Leader as Catalyst of Innovation

8. Leading Self at Scale and Scope

Featured Exercises

• 

  Learning Path Tool assessment

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  Time allocation exercise

• 

  Identify key contextual factors shaping your organization

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  Video upload: Record yourself communicating direction and evaluate the effectiveness of you and your peers’ communication techniques

• 

  Generate a three-year value creation plan and align your organizational architecture to it

• 

  Perform a root cause analysis

• 

  Explore the value of learning from mistakes to develop a culture of innovation

ShowHide Details

Modules

1. Leading Innovation

2. Leading in the Digital Era

Featured Exercises

• 

  Self-assessment: leadership style analysis

ShowHide Details

Modules

1. Personal Branding

2. Leveraging Your Personal Brand

Featured Exercises

• 

  Personal branding workbook to create and strengthen stories that convey your brand

• 

  Create a media kit for effective outreach

ShowHide Details

Modules

1. Managing the Tensions of Strategy Execution

2. Aligning Job Design to Strategy

3. Energizing Employees to Execute Strategy

4. Measuring and Monitoring Performance

5. Identifying and Managing Risks

6. Balancing Innovation and Control

Featured Exercises

• 

  Analyze your organization’s approach to managing common organizational tensions

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  Analyze a job using the Job Design Optimization Tool (JDOT)

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  Identify ways to dial up performance and increase innovation within your team

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  Identify internal risk pressures using the Risk Exposure Calculator

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  Identify which opportunities your organization should and should not pursue

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  Capstone activity: develop an action plan for implementing the levers of control at your or another organization

Download the Brochure

Develop forward-looking business skills you can use to elevate your career, advance your team, and transform your organization.

Develop forward-looking business skills you can use to elevate your career, advance your team, and transform your organization.

Description of silent animated video above: Learner scrolls through course content in the learning platform

Immerse yourself in a dynamic, interactive learning experience alongside a global network of peers.

Immerse yourself in a dynamic, interactive learning experience alongside a global network of peers.

Description of silent animated video above: Learner reviews team feedback and peer comments

Apply your learning through a capstone project specific to your role or organization.

Apply your learning through a capstone project specific to your role or organization.

Description of silent animated video above: Learner presents findings from the course with co-workers to solve a problem

Amy Edmondson
Credential of Leadership, Impact, and Management in Business

Faculty Chair, Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management

"Whether you’re a new manager or have years of experience, CLIMB delivers the in-demand business skills you need for your career today."

Linda Hill
Credential of Leadership, Impact, and Management in Business

Wallace Brett Donham Professor of Business Administration Faculty Chair

Jill Avery
Credential of Leadership, Impact, and Management in Business

Senior Lecturer of Business Administration and C. Roland Christensen Distinguished Management Educator

Joshua Margolis
Credential of Leadership, Impact, and Management in Business

James Dinan and Elizabeth Miller Professor of Business Administration

Anthony Mayo
Credential of Leadership, Impact, and Management in Business

Thomas S. Murphy Senior Lecturer of Business Administration and C. Roland Christensen Distinguished Management Educator

V.G. Narayanan
Credential of Leadership, Impact, and Management in Business

Thomas D. Casserly, Jr. Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School

Mihir Desai
Credential of Leadership, Impact, and Management in Business

Mizuho Financial Group Professor of Finance

Felix Oberholzer-Gee
Credential of Leadership, Impact, and Management in Business

Andreas Andresen Professor of Business Administration

Robert Simons
Credential of Leadership, Impact, and Management in Business

Baker Foundation Professor

Laura Wingate
Strategy Execution Participant

Kaushal Khodifad
Senior Systems Engineer at Infosys

Upon successful completion of the program, participants will receive a Credential of Leadership, Impact, and Management in Business. In addition, participants will also receive a Certificate of Completion for all four long courses (in leadership, strategy, finance, and an additional elective) they complete as part of their CLIMB requirements.

The credential and the certificates are available as digital and printed documents.

Participants will also be able to add a credential verification link to their digital resumes or LinkedIn profiles.

Participants will complete the required courses (two long and three short courses) with their CLIMB cohort. During their elective terms, learners will select their electives from available HBS Online certificate courses.

An essential part of CLIMB is the peer learning experience. Not only will your section be filled with peers at similar points in their careers, but you’ll be put into peer learning teams that you interact with throughout the program. Peer learning teams will rotate once per term so that you can develop meaningful relationships with several professionals throughout the program.

Our courses have been developed by some of the most renowned Harvard faculty and guest experts. Although professors and guest experts will not have direct, real-time interactions with learners, you will hear from them via short videos that explain key concepts and guide you through cases, exercises, and other interactive learning elements to create a highly engaging educational experience. In addition, we encourage you to collaborate with your peers to find answers to any questions you may have.

We appreciate your understanding that HBS Online faculty and guest experts featured in our courses are not available to communicate with learners directly or participate in learner-organized events. However, you may visit the HBS Online Business Insights Blog and HBS Online Facebook page for information about upcoming conferences and webinars featuring faculty, or join the HBS Online Community to build your network and connect with other business professionals in your area.

The application includes personal information, educational and professional background, and two short answer questions. We expect participants to have some professional experience, commit to a yearlong program, engage with their peers, and answer the application questions thoughtfully.

This program does not require a GRE or GMAT score to apply. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis.

The CLIMB curriculum consists of courses that have been developed by HBS faculty and covers similar topics (leadership, strategy, and finance) to what you’d find in an MBA program. CLIMB was designed to provide both breadth and depth, so you learn essential business topics in addition to having the ability to choose electives in the span of the one-year program.

The CLIMB curriculum is not as comprehensive as an MBA program and differs in a few other key dimensions, including price, length, and modality. CLIMB is a lower price point than most full-time MBA programs. CLIMB is approximately one year in duration, online, and asynchronous, whereas most full-time MBA programs are two years and in-person with set schedules. An online program like CLIMB provides flexibility and convenience to take courses and develop business skills within your schedule. Lastly, those who graduate from an MBA program earn an MBA degree whereas CLIMB participants earn the CLIMB credential and four individual certificates of completion for the long courses included in the program.

One of the benefits of CLIMB is being able to collaborate and develop a network with peers at similar stages of their careers. To support this, CLIMB is divided into two paths: New Leaders and Experienced Leaders.

The New Leaders path is designed for people with zero to three years of managerial experience and five or more years of overall professional experience. The Experienced Leaders path is designed for people four or more years of managerial experience and seven or more years of overall professional experience.

If you have fewer years of experience but are still interested in the program, please submit an inquiry to our program advising team.

CLIMB consists of four long and three short courses and a capstone project. Required long courses range from six to eight weeks and typically require five to eight hours of work per week.

Elective long courses range from three to eight weeks and typically require five to nine hours of work per week.

Short courses are two weeks each and typically require five to seven hours of work per week.

CLIMB is a 12-month program consisting of four terms of content (three months each) and a capstone project. During those 12 months, participants complete four long courses (three to eight weeks each) and three short courses (two to three weeks each) in addition to the capstone project and peer learning activities.

You’ll select your electives when you enroll and pay for the terms in which you take the electives.

If you need help selecting your electives, you can reach out to a Program Advisor who can provide you with more information based on your needs.

Payments will be made quarterly (four payments of $3,750 throughout the program). There’s no discount for past participants. Scholarships aren’t currently available for CLIMB, but we are working to expand our financial aid offerings to assist a wider range of participants domestically and abroad. For more information and any updates related to financial aid or scholarships, please visit our Payment and Financial Aid page.

Many employers support their staff in continuing education opportunities by covering the costs of online business courses. To learn more, please visit our Employer Reimbursem*nt page.

If you can’t continue the program, you can choose not to enroll for the next quarter of content. Participants can re-join the next time the appropriate quarter of content is offered (three to nine months later).

Participants must complete CLIMB within two years.

To earn a Credential of Leadership, Impact, and Management in Business, learners must successfully complete all four long courses, all three short courses, a capstone project, and peer learning activities.

Participants are expected to fully complete all coursework for each program in a thoughtful and timely manner. They must meet each week’s course module deadlines and fully answer the questions posed therein. In addition to module and assignment completion, learners should offer feedback on others’ reflections and contribute to conversations on the course platform. Participants who fail to complete each course’s requirements or the capstone will not receive a Credential of Leadership, Impact, and Management.

CLIMB is a selective cohort-based learning experience and HBS Online’s most comprehensive offering. The program enables new and experienced leaders to ignite their careers with a combination of essential and forward-looking business skills, self-reflection, and membership in a diverse global network of peers. Some professional experience is required for admission into the program, and participants will complete seven courses and a capstone project during the year-long program. Upon successful completion, participants will earn a Credential of Leadership, Impact, and Management in Business.

CORe is a business fundamentals program that combines Business Analytics, Economics for Managers, and Financial Accounting with a final exam. There is no experience requirement, and upon successful completion participants earn a Credential of Readiness.

Learning Tracks enable participants to take three courses within a specific subject area to gain expertise in that topic. Learning Tracks are a deeper dive into a subject area than a single course but less comprehensive than CLIMB, and participants earn a Certificate of Specialization.

Courses are HBS Online’s most targeted learning experience for those interested in a specific subject and shortest time frame (three to eight weeks). Participants earn a Certificate of Completion.

Yes, successfully completed long courses will count toward achieving a Certificate of Specialization from a Learning Track.

Participants who have already taken one or both of the required long courses (Leadership Principles and Business Strategy for the New Leaders path, and Organizational Leadership and Strategy Execution for the Experienced Leaders path) don’t have to retake the course. However, those participants will have access to the content if they’d like to review or redo any of the course. All participants, regardless of whether they’ve previously taken the course, will be expected to participate in peer learning team activities during that course. Please note that you will not earn an additional Certificate of Completion for a required long course that you completed separately before your CLIMB enrollment. There is no discount for CLIMB participants who have taken one or both of the required long courses listed above – all participants will pay the full CLIMB fee.

Participants must select a finance elective that they have not already taken. If you’ve already completed all of the finance elective options but would still like to participate in the program, please contact our program advising team.

Once you've earned your Credential of Leadership, Impact, and Management in Business, list it on your resume like this:

Harvard Business School Online
Credential of Leadership, Impact, and Management in Business
Successfully completed Dynamic Teaming, Leading in the Digital World, Personal Branding, [and List Four Long Courses Taken]
[Completion Year]

List your credential on your LinkedIn profile under "Education" as follows:

School: Harvard Business School Online
Dates Attended: [The year you completed CLIMB]
Degree: Other; Credential of Leadership, Impact, and Management in Business
Field of Study: Leave blank
Grade: “Complete”
Activities and Societies: Leave blank