Not An MBA is an eight-week live online course for experienced leaders. It teaches the strategic skills you won't get in an MBA: how to think, decide and lead when things are complicated and the world keeps changing.
I built Not An MBA because I kept having the same conversation with smart, capable senior people. They were spinning their wheels in difficult systems, keeping their heads down through restructures and uncertainty, and slowly losing their spark.
Since 2021, hundreds of senior leaders from over 130 organisations have graduated Not An MBA, across government, councils, health, banking, energy, tech and not-for-profits, in New Zealand, Australia and further afield.
Who it's for
Senior leaders with 15+ years of experience who are ambitious, curious and willing to challenge the status quo - including their own. Many are in transition or looking for a new challenge. You don't need a degree, just experience and commitment.
How it works
- Eight Tuesdays, live on Zoom: a three-hour learning sprint each week, 10am to 1pm NZ time, with me and a cohort of up to 35 people.
- Between sprints: a short video module, a chapter of You Don't Need An MBA, and an assignment applied to a live issue at work.
- Five to eight hours a week, about half of it in work time. No travel and no days out of the office.
- Peer feedback on every assignment, in a private online community you keep for three months afterwards.
- A final Showcase, where you present your leadership commitments, and a certificate when all eight assignments are in.
What you'll learn
Not An MBA teaches the five skills of strategic leadership:
- Flexibility: stretch limiting mental models and set effective boundaries around your time and energy.
- Decisions: apply strategic frameworks to your curliest projects and troubleshoot how decisions get made.
- Systems: move from operational problem-solving into enterprise-wide systems thinking.
- Performance: improve performance through focus, not effort.
- Influence: build trust and influence from the inside out, starting with your own habits.
2027 cohorts
- February 2027: Tuesdays from 9 February to 6 April. Enrolments close 24 January.
- August 2027: Tuesdays from 3 August to 21 September. Enrolments close 18 July.
NZ$5,999 per person, plus GST for NZ enrolments. Most students are funded by their employer: we invoice your organisation and work with purchase orders. You can enrol up to six people from one organisation into the same cohort.
Need a yes from your manager first? Download the 2027 syllabus or use the PD request email template.
Want Not An MBA run in-house for your team? Email me.