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Berkeley Haas MBA Admissions & Related Blogs 12 Nov 2025, 10:00
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FROM Haas Admissions Blog: The versatile Haas MBA: Curriculum prepares grads for the human side of business
Finance, marketing, and data analysis are all core parts of every MBA program. While those things are important, a good business school will teach about the people behind the numbers. Without people, a business can’t be successful, which is why the MBA programs at Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley, have implemented courses to help their students become well rounded employees, executives, and managers.

Though they are traditionally called “soft skills,” people skills can be hard. Numbers are solid and trends can be somewhat predictable but humans are full of surprises. Emotion plays a big part and having happy employees can translate into success for an organization. People are diverse so understanding and respecting different perspectives and feelings can play a big part in whether or not someone is considered a good leader.

“People ask a lot about the MBA and say something about ‘Oh, you’re a finance expert or an accounting expert’ and actually from a Haas perspective I don’t think that’s the biggest thing I learned,” says Bree Jenkins, MBA 19. She continues, “I’ve learned how to be a good listener, an active listener with other people. I’ve learned how to build my empathy and understand what others might be experiencing. I’ve learned how to communicate better.”

Alumni like Bree have experienced the innovative curriculum that the Haas MBA has built to prepare students for the human side of the business world. Whether approaching things as a leader or as an employee, students are ready to face challenges.

Haas has been really pivotable for me in terms of not only my professional growth but also my personal growth.”

Facing uncomfortable situations
Bree took her experience at Haas and in the business world to heart. When she started working, she realized that dealing with conflict is a big part of doing business. “I noticed themes and trends with what we were doing at work,” Jenkins said. “There was conflict avoidance and harm from conflict that’s not dealt with effectively. We talked to friends in other organizations and we realized quickly that everyone is dealing with workplace conflict.”

“We” refers to fellow alum, Francesca LeBaron, MBA 19. Bree and Francesca came up with a solution to help employees navigate uncomfortable situations that they might be put into. They designed a syllabus for a pilot course completely devoted to managing difficult conversations. After a successful pitch, the inaugural Conflict Lab launched in the fall of 2022 with 32 MBA students enrolled, plus a waitlist.

Students get a taste of what it’s like delivering a poor performance review, providing a critical work project assessment, or firing an employee. The class may sound negative, but it isn’t, “It’s about maintaining connection, even when we disagree with the person,” co-instructor Francesca said. “What is your objective? Is it to make this person feel heard, to problem solve, or to share your own needs? And how effective were you at achieving that objective?”

During the class, students work to give feedback and dig into their own style of conflict. They also learn how to find conflicts in the media and how those can be improved. “It’s really important that the students find ways to continue to practice this work after the class is complete,” says Bree. “They should have a clear understanding of where they are in their conflict journey and what they want to do to continue to grow.”

Students who’ve been through the class have been thrilled with the outcome. Daryl Pugh, MBA 23 took the course when he was a student at Haas. Because of his background as an executive recruiter, he was used to conflict and it wasn’t uncommon for friends to ask him for advice. One asked him about how to handle laying off employees and the course allowed him to give her a framework, “I tried to talk to her through having that conversation and processing other people’s feelings, understanding what was happening and her interpretation of what was happening.”

Teamwork is at the core
Dealing with conflict is never easy, so building trust and relationships through teamwork is a big part of the culture at Haas. From orientation through graduation, students are part of a larger cohort as well as a more personal study team. The concept, known as Teams@Haas, is a part of many of the business degree programs, including the MBA. In total, it serves over 900 students.

At the heart of Teams@Haas is collaboration. Working together can help students, and eventually business leaders, obtain better results. The program is based on the High Impact Team (HIT) Framework developed by Haas faculty member Dr. Brandi Pearce. The framework is built into nearly every class and experience at Haas.

During their time at Haas, students will learn about HIT tools and practices. Because it’s built into the curriculum, teamwork becomes second nature to students as they enter the workforce. As the workforce has changed, the team focus has remained cutting edge, “When Covid-19 and remote work hit us, teams that once were embedded in a structured environment had to become more fluid and dynamic,” says Dr. Pearce. She continues,“This has significant implications for organizations and leaders orienting us to the importance of being more intentional in how people connect and share information, particularly when they are not physically co-located.”

Teams@Haas are built to try to bring people together who may normally not have the opportunity to experience this level of diversity in the workplace, “In my first-year study group, I was teamed with another woman with a strategic consulting background, a German banker, a finance guy from New York, and a start-up founder from Korea,” said Jes Deputy, MBA/MPH 16. She continues, “We couldn’t have been more diverse, and we soon realized that our team represented the skills and knowledge needed to tackle any problem.”

One of the biggest reasons that teamwork is such a big part of life at Haas is because it’s crucial to developing leadership skills. Every student will be called on to lead while still being a team player. This experience was new to Jane Alston, MBA 19. As a surgeon turned MBA student, she had to learn a new way of studying, “In medical school you study and test alone,” she says. “At Haas, it's primarily group work so you learn how to be a more effective team member, which is just as important as being an effective team leader. I now have a better understanding of team dynamics and how to utilize each teammate’s capabilities to the fullest.”

Leadership at its best
Teamwork and leadership go hand in hand. Without one you cannot have the other, “Leadership is a combination of being able to drive and also to collaborate,” says Claudia Silva Fajuri, MBA 17. She continues, “You want to have good ideas, as well as be able to motivate others to work towards common goals.”

Haas prides itself on leadership development, encouraging students to be empowered to lead innovatively, responsibly, ethically, and with confidence. The Haas MBA offers a wide selection of leadership specific courses to help prepare students for the next step in their journeys. Leading People and Strategic Leadership are two core courses that every student is required to take as part of the curriculum.

Dean Guo, MBA 19, has a background in tech so as a student, he was focused on rounding out his skillset with leadership electives, “Haas has been really pivotable for me in terms of not only my professional growth but also my personal growth.” He continues, ”I’ve been able to take classes like Storytelling for Leadership and Interpersonal Skills and Embodied Leadership where I’ve just gotten to understand my own strengths and weaknesses far more than I thought I would be able to before.”

One of those pivotal courses that Dean mentioned is Storytelling for Leadership. The highly interactive class provides students with personal leadership development through the ability to tell "Who Am I" leadership journey stories, for use in the business context. The course helps leaders learn to assist team members overcome their own obstacles.

Interpersonal Skills and Embodied Systems Leadership takes a different approach to leading by showing students how to change the way they think about others. It enables leaders to think about things that can cause misunderstandings such as social identity and power dynamics. When Bosun Adebaki, MBA 19, started a new job after graduation, he implemented the knowledge he gained in the class, “I’m using the techniques taught in Interpersonal Skills and Embodied Leadership. I’m able to share my story and draw out their stories, in addition to helping others manage conflict effectively. That’s the best way to establish trust and build successful cross-functional teams,” he says.

Amy Fan, MBA/MPH 19, elaborates a bit more on how leadership courses opened her mind and made her a better leader, “I am passionate about building a diverse team, and Interpersonal Leadership & Development helped me deepen my empathy to better communicate and collaborate with people from various backgrounds,” she says.
Other leadership courses left an impact on Amy, “Additionally, Professor Cameron Anderson helped me apply learnings from Power and Politics to understand how certain actions and behaviors can impact perception – which is particularly useful as a minority female entrepreneur fundraising in the male-dominated VC world.”

Power and Politics in Organizations addresses the unseen but well known issues that can plague some businesses and their leaders. Students learn how to see the true distribution of power in organizations while learning how to build new sources through influence while leading change. It can help students leverage the idea of getting what they need in situations where they may hold little to no power.

The combination of innovative academics, experienced faculty, and driven students who are passionate about more than just numbers and spreadsheets helps to keep the Haas MBA near the top of business programs worldwide. Entrepreneur Shom Gupta, MBA 19, says he couldn’t have found a better fit, “Haas has lived up to all of my expectations in terms of what I expected from a professional skills development perspective and even more from a personal growth perspective.”

If you’re wanting an MBA that checks all of the boxes for a well rounded, world class business education with a focus on people, Haas has what you need.
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