“This first week was intense, in the most positive meaning,” says GEMBA participant Tim van Asch. Classmate Wang Long Li agrees: “It was an intense week of deep-diving into leadership – a very inspiring, challenging, and disarming experience within a cohort of senior leaders who embrace the journey of becoming a better leader to make an impact.”
Strategic leadership development
The 21 participants in the GEMBA Class of 2026 have an average age of 40 years and 16 years of work experience, of which 10 years at management level. They are from Canada, China, Morocco, the Netherlands, Philippines, Romania, Russia, Spain, Turkey and the UK. Together, they bring a vast diversity of different cultural, academic and professional backgrounds to the programme.
The transformative first week of their Global Executive MBA programme focused on skills development and students’ Strategic Leadership Development (SLD) journey, a course that continues throughout their GEMBA curriculum. This included masterclasses on diversity and inclusion, self-leadership, decision-making and emergency management simulation, led by Dr Sofya Isaakyan. In a workshop by Antonie Knoppers, the participants explored leading with presence.
In the leadership challenges, the business professionals focused on change and ethics, and on task and relation, and feedback and reflection with their mentors. They were also introduced to executive coaching, and there was ample opportunity to network and socialise during lunches and dinners to become inspired and get to know each other’s backgrounds, businesses and industries.
Global Executive MBA
RSM’s 21-month, part-time Global Executive MBA programme prepares senior managers who have typically grown through the ranks because of their functional expertise for a strategic role at the C-suite level of their business. The programme serves an observed need for senior managers to develop their knowledge in every strategically relevant functional field at a minimal level of proficiency, while developing their skills and attitudes to serve in a strategic leadership role.
