I am very excited about our partnership with the Harvard Business School Executive Education Program, “A New Path: Setting New Professional Directions.” 85 Broads will gift a 1-year Power Circle membership to members that participate in the program!

Rockstar 85 Broads member Sasha Grinshpun, Career and Executive Coach, interviewed Dr. Timothy Butler, the Senior Fellow and Director of Career Development Programs, MBA Program Administration at Harvard Business School, and faculty chair of "A New Path," about the program:

Why does Harvard Business School have an executive education program exclusively for women in career transition?

Research at Harvard Business School (HBS) has shown that there are significant gender differences in the career paths of business professionals. Women face different challenges concerning issues such as identifying mentors and role models and integrating child caretaker roles with a professional career. They also face issues concerning gender stereotypes and have different styles of establishing effective professional networks. A New Path seeks to address these, and other issues, in providing an intensive career development program for women professionals who are looking to expand their professional horizons.

Describe the profile of an "ideal" participant.

The ideal participant is a woman professional who sees herself as in or approaching a significant career transition. She might be employed and looking to enhance her career development potential or she may be returning to the workplace after a significant time away. Our participants span sectors in corporate, non-profit, government and entrepreneurship, which makes for a dynamic and mind-opening group of women.

Describe how the women of 85 Broads in particular might benefit from the program?

85 Broads is a network of professional women who are looking to actualize their professional potential through the sharing of knowledge, support, and information with each other. This is an ideal group for New Path where they can expect challenging classes with accomplished peers taught by HBS professors, extensive career coaching from highly experienced professional coaches from the HBS coaching program, and an extraordinary opportunity to network and share insights with a talented group of women who are exploring a range of career development options.

Gail Fell, 85 Broads Member and New Path 2009 Participant, transitioned from being an executive in the Media and Telecommunications sector to becoming a Foreign Service Officer at the State Department. She reflects, “The mini-MBA courses were a great refresher and often resulted in new ways of looking at problems or understanding new solutions. The career coaching gave me different perspectives on my motivations and attitudes and helped open up possibilities I hadn’t even thought about. I got two priceless things out of New Path: 1) I had a renewed sense of confidence in myself, and 2) I experienced a renewed sense of enthusiasm; I was excited about the future and the possibilities.”

Find out more about the program here: http://www.exed.hbs.edu/programs/path/