In the Berkeley MBA for Executives Program, 25 percent of your learning is experiential, with field immersions that invite deep focus on five areas: leadership, design thinking, entrepreneurship and innovation, global business, and public policy.
Led and developed by top faculty, these powerful immersive courses place you on the ground in Silicon Valley, Washington, D.C., and in such global business hubs as Shanghai or Copenhagen. They connect you with path-breaking entrepreneurs, with high-level leaders in business and government and, even more closely, with your classmates.
And though these immersions take you off campus, the experience is 100 percent Berkeley Haas: transformative and powered by our thought leadership and deep connections in the Bay Area and around the globe. (Field immersion faculty, locales, and itineraries are subject to change.)
The field immersions are really a chance for you to break out of your work environment and the classroom environment and put the ideas that you’re learning about into action in the real world. What a place like Haas really gives you is the perspective that you need to realize that the impact that you can have in the world is actually greater than you could have imagined."
Lee Helms
Director of Innovation Programs, San Francisco Opera
Berkeley EMBA Field Immersions
Leadership Communication Immersion
Term 1 | Santa Cruz
With executive coach and Distinguished Teaching Fellow Mark Rittenberg, learn how to enhance professional and leadership skills through authentic communication. Students will learn how to inspire others, create cooperation among those who work with them, and advocate ideas within and outside of their organizations.
Entrepreneurship and Innovation Immersion
Term 2 | Silicon Valley
Gain insight into the core capabilities of entrepreneurs and the demands, benefits, and risks of launching or working at a startup. You’ll explore the unparalleled entrepreneurial ecosystem of Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area with Toby Stuart, faculty director of the Berkeley Haas Entrepreneurship Program, and learn through case studies and by engaging with the entrepreneurial community through frank conversations with founders and C-suite executives.
Applied Innovation Immersion
Term 3 | Napa Valley
In this hands-on week, focus on design-centered thinking and idea development, and engage with design firms and leaders from corporate innovation labs. Learn how to go beyond obvious questions and answers to find the insights that lead to breakthrough innovations with Teaching Professor Sara Beckman. Generate ideas, experiment, prototype, derive meaning from customer insights, iterate, and pitch, applying these tools to design and redesign solutions and business models.
Business and Public Policy Immersion
Term 4 | Washington, D.C.
Travel to Washington, D.C. to explore the intersection between public policy and business. Previous classes have discussed policy with White House staff members, such as the chair of the president’s Council of Economic Advisors, and with U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, former Chair of the Federal Reserve, and Haas Professor Emeritus Janet Yellen.
International Field Immersion
Term 5 | International
Uncover the key factors influencing global business success during a week in an international hub, through a mix of lecture, company visits, and discussions with local business and government leaders. Previous classes have traveled to Singapore to explore the market entry of U.S. companies into Asia and to Copenhagen to examine corporate social responsibility and sustainability practices in The Nordics.
Immediate Impact of Immersion Weeks
These EMBA students and alum share the impact the field immersion weeks had on their careers:
Business and Public Policy
"During our time in Washington D.C., my cohort and I have met with an impressive roster of governmental leaders curated by Professor Kris Balderston including representatives, secretaries, directors, and senior advisors across critical domains such as AI, healthcare, energy, and immigration," said Nakul Sood, EMBA 24. "The timing also allowed us to gain key insights into the new CHIPS and Science Act and the vital role it will play in reestablishing U.S. leadership in semiconductor manufacturing. As a member of the industry working at Micron Technology, being part of these discussion was especially relevant."
Applied Innovation
"Our Applied Innovation week in San Francisco included visits to IDEO, Salesforce (including a visit to the top), Autodesk, Hopelabs, and classes at Grace Cathedral," said Michelle Koffler, EMBA 24. "As a born problem solver, I'm taking with me the exercises and journey mapping that encourages creativity and divergent thinking. I'm also sitting with some of the passionate messages from Ben Davis who did the incredible Bay Lights, 'When you give people permission to work in the sweet spot of their genius, that's when the magic happens.'"
Entrepreneurship and Innovation
“I don’t actually have a drive to run a startup or to become an entrepreneur, but what I do have a drive for is harnessing entrepreneurship and taking that back to my company. How do we innovate in a large biopharmaceutical company? How can I create an entrepreneurial spirit to drive innovation internally? We do collaborate with startup biotechs very early and they’re liquid by different avenues. For me to better understand their internal structure before I partner with them is helpful knowledge," said Sally Allain, EMBA 16. "The Silicon Valley immersion also showcased the Haas network. Twenty-eight companies in one week speaks volumes.”
