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Harvard Business School has established a leadership position offering nondegree online programs. Simeen Mohsen, senior managing director at Harvard Business School Online, leads that portfolio. I asked if Simeen would be willing to answer my questions about her role, career path and the evolving postsecondary online landscape.
Q: Tell us about your role as senior managing director at Harvard Business School Online. What are the main projects, services and initiatives that you lead and collaborate on? What’s new and exciting at HBS Online?
A: As senior managing director for HBS Online, I’m responsible for all aspects of the organization, from course development to marketing and product management, sales and technology operations. We build on Harvard Business School’s mission—to educate leaders who make a difference in the world—by meeting learners wherever they are in their careers, their lives and the world. We partner with HBS faculty to create fully asynchronous courses, which, once developed, are delivered to a global audience. Having celebrated our 10th anniversary in 2024, it’s remarkable to think we now have 30 courses that have collectively touched more than 290,000 learners.
Looking ahead, we’re transitioning to the new Harvard-wide learning experience platform, which will enable us to offer more flexible, on-demand learning experiences and purpose-built, modular content for organizations. In addition to experimenting with new content and product types, we’re also focused on reducing delivery costs, to scale our global impact and reach new audiences.
Q: You not only work at HBS, but you also received your M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. Why did you decide to come back to HBS and build your career in digital and online learning?
A: Attending the M.B.A. program was transformational. Although I came from a management consulting background, I had some foundational business skill gaps after studying geological and environmental sciences as an undergrad.
I returned to management consulting after graduating from HBS and later transitioned to senior strategy, marketing and general management roles in media and publishing. That experience exposed me to what it takes to build and maintain digital brands, including transforming print brands into the digital world.
When the opportunity came to join HBS Online (then known as HBX), I saw it as a perfect fit to contribute my skills and experience in launching and growing digital brands while helping others worldwide gain critical business skills to help them advance in their careers or fill similar gaps. Additionally, the chance to collaborate with faculty I had as a student and help bring their teaching to the world was a unique opportunity.
Q: Online learning is an increasingly competitive and crowded space. What advice do you have for other institutions considering following HBS and investing in online education as a strategic priority?
A: Competition in online education has intensified since the launch of HBS Online in 2014—particularly during the COVID era, when many institutions pivoted to online learning. Like several others, we’ve faced the challenges of increased competition and rising customer-acquisition costs. As we plan for future growth, we keep returning to our differentiating factors, such as our world-class faculty; case-based, real-world approach to online learning; and global community.
I have three pieces of advice for those investing in this space:
- Focus on what makes you different, whether that’s content, individual faculty or a unique learning approach or model. Find the best way to bring those elements to learners.
- While taking the same path as competitors and pursuing shorter content or subscription models is tempting, think critically about your content and the infrastructure you have to develop, market and support it. Your economics and operations are different from others, so understanding those components will be important as you consider your go-to-market strategy.
- Experimentation is key. Testing and learning can sometimes mean you’ll be slower to market, but it may help in the long run to develop a sustainable path to growth.
