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The modern MBA: A practical roadmap for today's business leaders

A 24-class business curriculum for leaders who want to learn real skills—fast.

A man is sitting at a table in a diner on his laptop. There is an open notebook and a cup of coffee next to him.A man is sitting at a table in a diner on his laptop. There is an open notebook and a cup of coffee next to him.

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Insights from Ellen Raim, Founder of People MatterWe focus more on solving than preventing People problems.

Forget everything you know about the traditional MBA. Business moves faster now. Work is more complex. And old-school leadership models can’t keep up.

Today’s leaders need a different kind of training—practical, flexible and relevant. That’s where the Modern MBA comes in. It’s a 24-class journey built with Electives’ live sessions. No theory. Just skills. It’s the business education your top talent needs.

What is the modern MBA?

This isn’t about theories, lectures and textbooks. It’s about real-world skills, taught by real-world experts. The Modern MBA is built around six core modules, each focused on the capabilities leaders need right now.

Here’s how it breaks down:

Module 1: Business foundations

  • How to build a strategy: A practical approach to setting and executing smart strategy
  • Business finance: Understand financial statements and key business metrics
  • Project management: Build the skills to manage people, timelines and outcomes like a pro

Module 2: Leadership & management

  • Leadership legacy: Define the kind of leader you want to be
  • Lead with emotional intelligence: Build awareness and trust
  • Accountability in today’s world: Support your team while still holding the line
  • Building high-performance teams: Make collaboration and resilience the norm
  • Leading teams through challenge: Guide teams through stress, change and uncertainty

Module 3: Strategy & innovation

  • Design thinking in business: Solve creatively, innovate boldly
  • Business creativity and innovation: Break old habits and think in new ways
  • AI as a strategy consultant: Use AI to accelerate problem-solving
  • AI agents & agentic workflows: Build your organization’s AI roadmap

Module 4: Communication & influence

  • Storytelling for business: Inspire action with a clear narrative
  • Storytelling with data: Make your data meaningful
  • Public speaking lab: Practice presentations with real-time coaching
  • Prepare to win: Use proven negotiation tactics that actually work

Module 5: Marketing & sales

  • Marketing fundamentals: Understand what drives customer decisions
  • Effective pricing strategy: Use psychology to price with precision
  • How to sell anything: Apply universal sales frameworks to any product
  • Mastering customer success: Keep customers happy, loyal and engaged

Module 6: Advanced Business Concepts

  • Financial analysis & decision making: Sharpen your business instincts
  • Scenario planning: Plan for what you can't predict
  • Global business & cultural agility: Lead across countries and cultures
  • The CEO mindset: Think like a strategist, act like a leader

Why it works

This isn’t about checking training boxes. It’s about building better leaders, quickly and meaningfully. Electives’ classes are live, interactive and led by industry pros who know how to connect content to context. Your people don’t just learn. They practice, reflect and grow.

The takeaway

Your future leaders don’t need another degree. They need relevant, accessible learning that fits where they are and takes them where they want to go.

The Modern MBA does exactly that. It’s time to rethink leadership development—and raise the bar on what great looks like.

Learn live. Adapt faster.

Latest resources

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ENJOYABLE. EASY. EFFECTIVE.

Learning that works.

With live learning + AI simulations, Electives is a learning platform that makes it easy to design, execute and measure effectiveness.

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