IMD Annual Report 2021

69 Learning

The IMD MBA

IMD’s full-time MBA program, ranked as the top course in Europe (Bloomberg Businessweek), develops leaders who transform organizations and contribute to society. The program offers its participants, across 11 months, the opportunity to develop the fundamentals of responsible business leadership: technical competence, self-awareness, and sound judgment.

Throughout the year, MBA participants develop the tools, skills, and self-awareness necessary to become the top business leaders of today and tomorrow. They acquire knowledge and insights about the world, about business and about themselves. Through this real learning, they graduate ready to make an impact and equipped to play a role in shaping society. In 2021, MBAs tapped into exclusive leadership insights from top executives, including Novartis CEO Vas Narasimhan and the Adecco Group’s Alain Dehaze, as well as a graduation keynote from Arne Alexander Wilhelmsen, Chairman of investment firm AWILHELMSEN (MBA 1994). Innovating for in-person learning Recognizing the importance of providing an in-person experience for its intense and close-knit MBA, while also ensuring a COVID-secure environment, IMD delivered the MBA program via face-to-face classes by splitting the cohort into two auditoriums. In these new conditions, faculty innovated with the structure and content to enhance learning impact. All professors maintained responsibility for the learning

of both groups over the normal four-hour block. This allowed for group work and assignments to be incorporated within class planning, while enabling each smaller group to have equal face time with professors. The net effect was deeper individual learning and more focus on each participant. Labs for future skills Professor of Innovation and Strategy Mark Greeven redesigned the week-long Innovation Lab, which challenges MBAs to help transform one of 20 companies by focusing on an innovation idea that supports one of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. The class also took a one-week crash course in digital analytics and coding, led by Professor of AI, Analytics and Marketing Amit Joshi, to build key skills required for the future. International Consulting Projects The International Consulting Projects (ICPs), part of the MBA for more than 40 years, provide participants with an opportunity to put their newly-acquired skills and knowledge into practice through real world business challenges. Over seven weeks, 19 MBA teams helped