Just five years after a global pandemic, uncertainty is nothing new. However the lack of a perceived ‘new normal’ on the horizon presents challenges for those executives seeking to guide the future of their companies and industries.
For Vanina Farber, dean of the Executive MBA program at the International Institute of Management Development (IMD) in Switzerland, these challenges create the need for new approaches.
“It’s a time when there are a lot of different pressures, so I think it’s an important time to build a community of like minded people who are going through similar situations, and also to give them the right blended skills to confront this uncertainty,” she explains.
At IMD, where the school’s EMBA program has recently been redesigned to reflect the evolving workplace, the school believes there has never been a better time to pursue an EMBA.
So, why should business leaders go back to school in 2025?
Why consider an EMBA in 2025?
Learning that reflects the modern business world
Whether it’s the rapid growth of artificial intelligence (AI) or the ongoing debate over in-office versus remote work, the challenges executives face often stem from external changes beyond their control.
How leaders respond, however, is up to them, and the tools by which executives can do this are a key feature within the curriculum available to IMD EMBA participants in 2025.
“The previous design, in my view, was kind of outdated,” says Vanina (pictured). “We were fighting tomorrow’s battles with yesterday’s tools.”
Today, leaders who enroll in the IMD EMBA program can deepen their understanding of AI by using a custom-built tool, IMD AI+ , to assist with their studies. This includes accessing course-related information and receiving personal feedback on assignments. There are also similar opportunities to work with augmented and virtual reality technologies during the program.
Likewise, on the topic of uncertainty, participants can undertake a three-day crisis-leadership simulation working under the guidance of generals from the Swiss Armed Forces.
This combination of cutting-edge technologies and practical experience is designed to reflect the learning required of executives navigating the fast-evolving modern workplace, helping refine their technological knowhow and increase their ability to deal with change.
“You have the same DNA of IMD—reflective leadership, real learning that’s applied to the market and is very global and experiential—but we’re pushing it into the future,” explains Vanina.
A participant-led approach to learning
While many of these concepts were being incorporated into the IMD EMBA learning experience previously, the newly-designed program ensures participants can access this teaching through formats designed to fit with their own personal needs and goals.
A new Modular Flex approach allows participants to choose whether they learn physically, online, or via a combination of the two. They can also opt to complete the program in a standard 18-month period, or by picking it up at various points that suit their own schedules, with a maximum completion time of 48 months.
“We’re pushing more into modularity, so participants can have different entry points and also exit and re-enter the program, which allows them to match their career demands,” Vanina explains.
If they prefer, participants have the option to forgo the modular approach and instead focus on increasing the level of content personalization available to them during their studies.
An Elective Flex format allows participants to tailor the subjects they cover to match their own interests and career needs—this includes options to enroll in some of the school’s executive education courses, undertake a themed practical immersion week at a global location, or even study modules taught outside of IMD at the school’s international partner institutions.
“At the end of the program, people can really focus on topics where they need self actualization,” Vanina adds.
A more valuable learning experience
Changes to both the content that’s available and the mode by which it’s delivered mean that, in 2025, enrolling in an EMBA looks a significantly different prospect when compared with the past.
Today’s Executive MBA participants have the ability to make choices that match with their needs. Tailoring their journeys around their work and personal situations ensures lifelong learning is both more valuable to each individual and more accessible.
“[In the past] participants worried about the cost of face-to-face studies—of travelling, staying in hotels for so many weeks, and having to stop work or ask for permission. Others worried about the sustainability issues and the emissions of the program. So, with this flexibility we allow them to choose,” Vanina explains.
“That helps to reduce those hidden costs and democratize access.”
Opening up the learning experience to work with partner schools also allows executives to operate on a more international platform, spending time immersed within new cultures and interacting with other business leaders from diverse industries and backgrounds. This, Vanina says, is crucial in developing a community that’s capable of navigating global challenges, with access to broad networks and the ability to bond and connect quickly.
“Having this idea that there's a wider ecosystem of people who can create a community of practice and open doors, I think, is quite important,” she says. “This idea of fluidity, flexibility, and building a community prepares executives much better for the kind of environments they are going to be leading in the future.”
So, is now a better time than ever for business leaders to go back to school?
In redesigning the curriculum, Vanina and her team worked closely with former EMBA participants to gain their insights on the changes. Their responses were telling, she says: “A lot of them actually asked me, ‘Why couldn’t you have had this 10 years ago?’”
