What does it take to become a future-ready leader?
Programme · 14 Sep 2026 · By Evelina Kramer
When the MBA ETH MTEC was being developed, the starting point was not a list of courses. It was a question:
“What will managers need to be able to do to lead organisations and create impact in the years ahead?”
That question became the foundation for the Future-Ready Leader wheel, a framework that now helps shape the MBA.
Business knowledge is no longer enough
For decades, management education has been built around a strong understanding of business: strategy, finance, markets, organisations and operations.
Those fundamentals still matter, but they are no longer the only capabilities managers need.
Technology is increasingly embedded in how organisations operate, compete and create value. Decisions that once belonged primarily to technical specialists now have strategic, organisational and leadership implications.
That shift was an important starting point in designing the MBA ETH MTEC.
But it was also important to understand what organisations themselves were seeing.
Asking the market
The development of the MBA drew on existing research and conversations with senior leaders from across the Swiss economy, including technology, consulting, life sciences and manufacturing, and representing both SMEs and multinational organisations.
The discussion started openly: What capabilities will matter most for the next generation of managers and leaders?
Business knowledge and strategic thinking remained important. Technology, and the ability to understand its implications, featured prominently.
The conversation also went further.
Industry leaders emphasised leadership and collaboration, as well as something students themselves did not always emphasise as strongly: personal effectiveness.
Grit. Resilience. Curiosity. Self-awareness. Learning agility. And, repeatedly, coachability — the willingness to seek feedback, reflect on it and use it to grow.
A leader is a system
When the group was asked to rank these capabilities, it proved surprisingly difficult.
Perhaps that is because they rarely operate independently.
An excellent strategy has limited value if you cannot bring people with you. Strong business knowledge is not enough if you cannot recognise how technology is changing an industry. Understanding a new technology means little if you cannot translate its potential into organisational change.
That thinking led to six interconnected areas:
Business & Management Fundamentals — understanding organisations, markets and core business functions.
Strategic & Analytical Thinking — analysing complexity, making informed decisions and seeing the bigger picture.
Technology & Future Readiness — understanding emerging technologies and their implications for organisations and society.
Innovation & Transformation — identifying opportunities and turning ideas into change.
Leadership & Collaboration — leading people, communicating effectively and working across different perspectives.
Personal Effectiveness — developing the self-awareness, resilience, curiosity, coachability and learning agility to continue growing.
Together, these form the Future-Ready Leader wheel.
From framework to programme
The wheel is not simply a representation of what the MBA stands for. It helps shape the programme itself.
It informed the qualification profile and programme learning objectives, and provides a way to map courses and activities against the capabilities participants are expected to develop.
Many participants will arrive as experts — engineers, scientists, technology specialists, consultants, finance professionals or specialists in another field. The objective is not to leave that expertise behind. It is to learn to see beyond it.
That may become even more important as AI changes what managers can produce. Generating an analysis, developing a strategy or creating a polished presentation is becoming easier.
Turning an idea into reality is not.
Implementation still requires judgement. It requires resilience when something does not work. It requires understanding technology and business. It requires convincing people, navigating different perspectives and adapting along the way.
That is ultimately what becoming future-ready means.
Not mastering every segment of the wheel, but rather developing the self-awareness to recognise where you need to grow. Those capabilities should continue to matter long after the MBA itself is over.
