The RSM Global Executive MBA: A totally new programme for the new normal

What’s next? 

It’s hard to imagine a moment in history less certain than the one we are in right now. 

The COVID-19 pandemic caught the world off guard at the start of 2020. In less than three months, the novel virus first detected in January had spread to every continent in the world, affecting millions and bringing economy after economy to a screeching halt. The economic shock of lockdowns and social distancing measures has been devastating. Every industry and sector on the planet has been impacted in some significant way.  

RSM went back to the drawing board to create a new MBA programme for the new normal 

Adapting to change

The impact of this crisis has, of course, been uneven. Some organisations have managed to fare better than others, adapting their business models to leverage the rapid change and emerging opportunities. Others have closed down their offices and workspaces – many for the last time. 

Some organisations have had to adapt overnight to working remotely; a sudden shift in processes and procedures that has effectively blurred the boundaries between private and professional life. Many employees have lost their jobs and incomes. For many, the longer-term prospect looks very hard. For all, the future is profoundly uncertain. 

Lessons for the future

If the COVID-19 crisis has shaken the world to its core, unleashing an economic and societal domino effect, exposing weaknesses in our interconnected systems and structures – and the geo-political and racial fractures that risk undermining our societies – it has also taught us important lessons.  

The greatest of these is perhaps that we will not be going back to the way things were. We cannot.  

The RSM Global Executive MBA helps leaders prepare for the challenges of the future.

The new, or next, normal is here to stay. And part of that new normality is an understanding and a growing consensus that as societies, organisations, business leaders and human beings, we need to change. We need to do better for our communities and our environment. We need to do more to identify, mitigate and contain the risks ahead of us that seriously threaten our wellbeing and our ability to thrive.

We need to prepare for what’s next.  

Preparing for the digital age 

Like every other institution and organisation on the planet, Rotterdam School of Management has had to adapt to our new normal.  

For them, part of that adaptation has meant rethinking the value that they, as a business school, bring to the leaders, the decision-makers and the organisations that look to them to help them prepare for the future.  

In 2020, they went back to the drawing board and, together with faculty and programme direction, they asked some big questions: questions about what next-generation leaders will need as they prepare to not just to rebuild in the post-COVID-19 economy, but to construct a better future than the one we had imagined.  

One of the greatest shifts in the COVID-19 crisis has been a huge acceleration of mega-trends. We have seen leaps forward in digital communication and technology-powered ways of working, trading, supplying and purchasing.  

The great shifts towards the digitisation of our economy, to AI and automation in so many areas of life, has yielded and will continue to yield huge gains in flexibility, productivity and cost reduction. But at the same time, there are emerging risks and challenges that we will all need to navigate.  

They asked: 

• How do we capitalise on the new appetite for change, while ensuring that the pace of that change remains manageable and that no one is left behind?  
• How do we build that resilience into our culture, our structures, our workforces and systems to respond to change with flexibility and certainty? 
• How do we brace for change itself; or manage the kind of disruption that will increasingly become the norm?  
• What do we as leaders need to build a future-proof strategic vision that can unify, align, inspire and mobilise people? 
• And how can we bring this all together with the integrity that will guarantee a better future for all?  

The new RSM Global Executive MBA 

From September 2021, RSM will be empowering a cohort of next-generation leaders to prepare for the challenges of the new normal – in a changed, digitally-interconnected future.  

The RSM Global Executive MBA (GEMBA) is a totally new programme for the new normal. A 21-month learning journey that integrates the theory, knowledge, frameworks and personalised leadership development that these leaders need to map the road ahead, make sense of the complexity, spot the risks and challenges and lead change with great responsibility.  

The Global EMBA leverages everything that makes RSM a global reference in executive development: from their world-class faculty and their deep understanding of the forces that are shaping business, to the quality of their peer cohorts, and their commitment to business leadership as a force for positive impact and transformation.  

There has never been a more uncertain time in living memory. But RSM believes there has also never been a greater opportunity to drive real, positive and lasting change.  

They are taking applications between now and August 31, 2021. So if you’re ready to face up to the new normal, get in touch with them and let them help you to prepare for what’s next. Visit their website to learn how the RSM GEMBA can drive your career forward.