News Stories · Leadership

IMD MBA - New direction, new focus

Beginning in 2018, the IMD MBA will be led by Seán Meehan and will take an increasing focus on business leaders' impact in society
December 2017

The IMD MBA Program is a transformational leadership program, with a mission for developing leaders who have a desire to have a positive impact in our world.

Following a rigorous admissions process, on January 8, 2018, ninety MBA Class participants will embark on their one-year journey – under the leadership of the incoming Dean, Seán Meehan and Knut Haanaes, MBA Deputy Dean.

Collaborative, open and pioneering – IMD puts a strong emphasis on the development of individuals in a group setting and on creating an environment where individuals and teams can focus on their learning experience.

The MBA Program, in its 46th year, provides an intimate, personalized leadership development experience delivering an unmatched emphasis on entrepreneurship, global and digital – whilst equipping participants with the classic MBA toolkit. Intimate, as the program has a 1:2 Faculty MBA ratio which enables professors to get to know each class member’s profile and aspirations; Personalized, includes the personal development elective, individual career plan, development feedback and reflection; Entrepreneurship as our dynamic campus is located in Lausanne (Switzerland) – with a vibrant start-up, innovation and research environment – with start-up projects at the core part of the program; Global in class composition, institutional values and the round-the-world discovery expeditions exposing the participants to global innovation hubs such as Bangalore, Silicon Valley and Singapore; Digital focus with our Digital Lab and Innovation Lab which will accelerate digital technology expertise and will support the participants to gain experience in design thinking – in collaboration with partner institutions such as EPFL and ECAL.

Seán Meehan, Dean IMD MBA Program “As incoming program Dean, I look forward to welcoming the class of 2018, arguably the most diverse MBA class in the world, and beginning what we hope will be a transformative experience placing them at the centre of a shared learning environment – comprising 9000 senior executives. Our whole community is dedicated to equipping them to face tomorrow’s challenges, ready and able to make a positive impact.”

Business plays an increasingly important role in society. It is essential for business leaders to know how to find ways of collaborating with other stakeholders, and need to learn to live with increased transparency. The ‘Business and Society‘ module of the program, will enable participants to explore cases and meet central actors who can discuss these topics and provide best practices.

The IMD MBA Career Services team, with input from IMD Alumni and external expertise, will lead the Career Management module which will enable participants to prepare for a highly competitive job with a long career goal in mind – incorporating envisioning, planning and building a personal board of directors.

This year, we are proud to announce that 34 IMD Scholarships were awarded, meaning that we have been able to support 38% of the 2018 class.

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