Program Overview

Part-time Executive MBA: Leading with Purpose

The VU Executive MBA: Leading with Purpose equips you to drive strategic impact, inspire teams, and make purpose-driven decisions in complex, global environments. Building on your career experience, the curriculum blends advanced business acumen with transformative leadership development.

Curriculum

The curriculum is structured into six integrated blocks, culminating in a Capstone Project that blends theory, practice, and reflection to prepare you to lead with purpose. An important part of the programs is the 18-month long Purposeful Leadership Journey that runs alongside the EMBA curriculum, integrating reflection, coaching, mentorship, and applied projects. From day one, it immerses you in a transformative experience designed to refine your leadership identity, enhance strategic and ethical decision-making, and strengthen your capacity to navigate complex challenges.

What You Will Gain from the Executive MBA

The Executive MBA: Leading with Purpose equips you with the skills, insights, and perspective to lead at the highest levels. You will:

• Transformative Leadership: Gain the confidence, authority, and judgment to inspire people and drive purpose-driven change.
• Strategic Impact: Lead organisational transformation, drive innovation, and make decisions that create lasting value.
• Global Perspective: Learn from international peers and broaden your understanding of societal, economic, and cultural dynamics.
• Ethical, Human-Centered Leadership: Build capacities to navigate complex challenges with integrity, inclusivity, and resilience.
• Real-World Application & Network: Deliver tangible outcomes through a capstone project while developing a lifelong network of purpose-driven leaders.
• Executive-Level Perspective: Guide strategic initiatives and create sustainable impact across organisations, stakeholders, and society.

Curriculum, Core Courses, and Learning Experience

The program consists of six blocks:

• Block 1: My Personal Leader Purpose
  • What: How to be a purpose‐driven leader
  • Focus: Explore your leadership identity, values, and personal purpose.
  • Courses: Empowering People, the Purposeful Leadership Journey
• Block 2: Business Foundations
  • What: Lead an organisation in dynamic markets.
  • Focus: Develop a holistic perspective on the organisation and its operations to drive its performance.
  • Courses: Operations Management, Strategic Marketing, Managerial Finance, Strategic HRM, International Strategy Lab
• Block 3: Leading with Purpose for Business and Stakeholders
  • What: Create a responsible, purpose-driven organisation.
  • Focus: Build responsible, purpose-driven organisations and navigate ethical dilemmas.
  • Courses: Business Ethics and Corporate Governance, Organising with Purpose.
• Block 4: Leading Business Transformation and Organisational Innovation
  • What: Be a strategic leader who guides the path.
  • Focus: Lead organisational renewal and transformation through innovation and change.
  • Courses: Business Model Innovation & Disruption, Organisational Renewal & Innovation, Leading Change
• Block 5: Strategic Decision Making
  • What: Create impact through insight.
  • Focus: Drive business success through data-driven decisions.
  • Courses: Data Science for Executives, Strategising for Success
• Block 6: Capstone Project
  • What: Prepare your master piece and leave your imprint on your organisation and society.
  • Focus: Use the tools you have learned to provide a solution to a relevant problem.
  • Course: Putting Science into Practice

This program is designed to equip you with the skills, insights, and perspective to lead at the highest levels, driving strategic impact, inspiring teams, and making purpose-driven decisions in complex, global environments.