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GSB-MSM - Management (MSM)
Overview
Program Overview
The Stanford Master of Science in Management for Experienced Leaders Program (MSx) is an intensive, one-year, residential course of study for middle-management executives leading to the degree of Master of Science in management. Participants generally have eight or more years of work experience, with at least five years of management experience. Some students are sponsored by their company, but most are self-sponsored.
In one year, you can advance your career, explore an entrepreneurial venture, or change a career. You can reflect, connect, refine, and transform.
As an accelerated master’s program, the Stanford MSx Program provides you a year of growth and opportunity at the Stanford GSB.
This one-year master’s program includes:
Customizable Curriculum: Accelerated core business fundamentals are paired with electives that align with your interests and objectives.
Career Impact: Build clarity, confidence, and connections. Focus on your goals, reflect on your career, absorb knowledge, and enrich your life. Break out of the day-to-day to achieve your highest potential.
Community: Live and learn with your classmates — accomplished professionals with an average of 12.9 years of work experience and are from a variety of countries, industries, and companies.
Alumni: Join a network with deep connections to Silicon Valley and the global economy.
Degree: Awarded a Master’s of Science in Management from Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Free Form Requisites
We have designed the Stanford MSx curriculum with you, the experienced leader, in mind.
The academically rigorous curriculum is extremely flexible — more than half is comprised of electives. You choose the courses that will help you achieve your career goals, whatever your path may be. It’s a curriculum that will inspire you and enable you to explore new topics and take risks.
And you are not limited to Stanford GSB courses. We encourage our students to explore interdisciplinary electives offered across Stanford, in order to create the most compelling course of study.
Total Units Required: 64
Core Unit Requirement: 27-28
Your Year in the Stanford MSx Program
Autumn | Winter | Spring | Summer | |
Required Courses 27-28 Units |
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Elective Courses 35-36+ Units |
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Leadership Activities |
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Quarter Breaks |
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Three Popular Curriculum Paths
Many of our alumni have pursued one of three broad curriculum paths. Each path features sample coursework, faculty, and alumni who have pursued that particular path. Use these as a framework for designing your own learning experience that will meet your personal and professional objectives.
Career Advancement Path
The career advancement path will position you to secure a more inspiring position or establish yourself as an expert in your industry.
If this is your goal, you might aim to:
Deepen your knowledge of business fundamentals
Enhance your strategic management skills
Develop your interpersonal dynamics skills
At the end of your year in the program, you’ll be a more impactful leader who can make sound strategic decisions with incomplete information; develop more productive, professional relationships; and inspire and mobilize others in order to accomplish your organization’s vision.
Sample Electives
Below are courses you might consider if your path is career advancement.
Corporate Financial Modeling | Put theory into practice by developing financial models to analyze major corporate transactions including venture capital funding, mergers and acquisitions, and leveraging buyouts. |
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Interpersonal Dynamics | The iconic and intensive “Touchy-Feely” course that many students call “the most important class in business school.” It invites students to tap into heightened self-awareness and experience personal and professional evolution, thereby helping build and maintain better relationships and inspire teams (which is key for successful leaders). |
Strategic Communications | Business leaders have marketing strategies, expansion strategies, finance strategies, even exit strategies. Successful leaders, however, also have communication strategies. Learn why ideas, data, and advocacy are essential for professional, persuasive presentations. |
Paths to Power | Power and influence are key aspects of organizations, and business leaders need to understand how they manifest and decline. Topics include the sources of power, dealing with resistance and conflict, how and why power is lost, and preparing oneself to obtain and exercise power. |
Entrepreneurship Path
Stanford GSB, Stanford University, and Silicon Valley provide exemplary conditions for idea incubation. The entrepreneurship path teaches you to scale your vision to market with precision and speed.
If this is your goal, you might focus on:
Experiential opportunities to test and iterate ideas, with access to unrivaled expertise
Big picture and systematic approaches to launch and lead a breakthrough venture
A low risk, high ROI learning environment to conduct early-market validation that taps a rich network of talent
Pursuing your idea for a venture while at Stanford GSB allows you to leverage the best and brightest students, guest speakers, and expert faculty to guide you along the way. At the end of your year in the program, you’ll have the confidence to launch your venture quickly, strategically, and with scalability.
Sample Electives
Below are courses you might consider if your path is entrepreneurship.
Startup Garage: Design | An intensive, hands-on course utilizing the principles of design thinking, engineering, finance, business, and organizational skills to design and test new business concepts. Collaborative, multidisciplinary teams will identify an unmet customer need, design corresponding products or services, and develop business models to support the creation and launch of a startup. |
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Entrepreneurial Finance | View the financial decision-making process of an entrepreneurial venture from early- to late-stages while exploring new developments like crowdfunding and liquidity provisions. Varied perspectives, from the CEO to the investor, are discussed so you fully understand the range of incentives involved in the context of negotiations. |
Entrepreneurship: Formation of New Ventures | This integrative course structured for future business owners focuses on the point of view of an entrepreneur or manager, rather than the passive investor. It emphasizes high-tech, early-stage, and diverse ventures. |
Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital: Partnership for Growth | Explore the current business landscape and the importance of the partnership between investors and entrepreneurs. Students connect with members of the entrepreneur and venture capital communities while investigating the rapid evolution of the investor sector, how investors differentiate in an “entrepreneur’s market”, and how investors work with entrepreneurs post-investment. |
Career Change Path
The career change path will prepare you to proactively enter a different job function or industry. With this curriculum, you’ll learn to pivot strategically.
If this is your goal, you might aim to:
Sharpen your general management skills
Take industry-specific courses to understand and enter a new field
Study advanced thought leadership in your desired industry
Combine new skills and frameworks with your prior knowledge for maximum impact
You will be able to take courses across the university, allowing you to study topics rigorously and make connections with faculty leading the research in your chosen field. At the end of your year in the program, you will demonstrate an ability to actively participate in a new space.
Sample of Industry-Specific Courses
If you want to build knowledge of a new industry, you might consider taking electives like the ones listed below.
Education |
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Energy |
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Finance |
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Social Innovation |
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Learning Outcomes
Program Learning Outcomes
The Stanford MSx Program is specifically designed for mid-career professionals who are motivated to lead change and seek personal and professional growth.
The program is your opportunity to reflect, connect, refine, and transform. You will emerge from the program with more confidence in who you are, what you offer, and what you want.
By extracting yourself from work to immerse yourself in a vibrant, stimulating, and challenging learning environment, you will:
Grow in new and unexpected ways: Take risks, fail, learn, and iterate to succeed.
Extrapolate lessons from your career and leverage those takeaways to be more effective.
Interlace your peers’ experiences with lessons of Stanford GSB faculty, lecturers, and world-renowned guest speakers to deepen your learning.
Dedicate time to learn new skills, explore new topics, and gain insights that are relevant in today’s economy.