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I was an adult student and didn’t attend graduate school until I was in my early 40’s.
It took me that long to realize the importance of going to that next level of my education.
At that time, I realized that the great leaders I admired had an educational advantage that I did not. They had an MBA.
So the question is, are great leaders born or made? The truth may surprise you.
Many of the skills needed for business leadership and management can be learned, and an MBA program is the perfect place to learn them.
MBA courses teach the nitty-gritty technical skills future business leaders need, like financial know-how and business acumen.
But that’s not all these programs foster.
By giving you the opportunity to get involved in student groups and forcing you to work with other type-A, ambitious students, an MBA program can teach less tangible leadership skills like integrity, teamwork, and self-confidence.
1. The Benefits of the Business School Environment
According to the dean-designate of the Yale School of Management Edgar A. Snyder, MBA students can grow a lot simply from being in an academic environment.
Attending a university, being around academics, and learning to think about business issues in academic ways fosters critical thinking and can get you asking all the right questions.
You’ll learn to think critically about your own ideas and preconceived beliefs. You’ll learn to anticipate and address naysayers, look for the data you need to support your points, and be prepared to be proven wrong.
As a result, you are a lot less likely to get caught in the trap of thinking that your idea is the best one simply because it’s your idea because you’ll know how to critically evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of your own opinions.
Furthermore, business school will teach you more about how you can impact an organization and how team members work in an organizational context.
Whether you choose a traditional MBA or an online MBA, you’ll come into contact with individuals from all walks of life – perhaps more so if you choose, for example, an online MBA program in California because these programs attract candidates from all over the country and world.
You’ll learn teamwork and integrity from seeing firsthand how you can influence an organization through your presence.
You’ll learn to think about the big picture, develop a long-term perspective, and start thinking about business in terms of values and benefits to others, not just to yourself.
2. The Research Doesn’t Lie
Research recently performed by DDI shows that MBA graduates really do have better skills than those with just an undergraduate degree in business – and that they also have a better overall business and leadership skills than those with graduate degrees in other fields, like humanities, law, natural sciences, engineering, and social sciences.
While the research found that individuals with graduate degrees in the humanities also demonstrated strong leadership skills, only MBA holders demonstrated strong leadership and business skills across the board.
That’s important because it isn’t just soft skills that make strong business leaders.
If it were, we wouldn’t need MBAs because soft skills can be learned on the job, in other degree programs, or through other forms of personal and professional development.
But strong business leaders also need to know their way around a business.
They need a solid background in organizational theory, business finance, planning, and other technical skills that even humanities graduate degree holders don’t possess because only an MBA can impart those skills.
Making the Most of Your MBA
There’s one caveat to all this – you may not develop all of the leadership skills you need inside the classroom.
Don’t make the mistake of placing too much emphasis on your grades within your MBA program.
While grades are important, employers won’t care nearly as much about your GPA as they will about the experiences you had and the leadership skills you developed.
Make the most of your MBA by taking as many opportunities as you can to develop leadership skills outside of the classroom. Join student groups and professional organizations.
Seek advice from mentors.
If you’re doing your MBA online while staying in your full-time position with your company, take advantage of any opportunities to do group work or attend residencies, and speak to your supervisor about ways you can put your newfound leadership skills into practice on the job.
If you’ve been looking for a way to hone your leadership skills, an MBA could be the answer.
MBA programs produce better business leaders by offering ample opportunities for students to beef up the hard and soft skills business leaders need.
There’s a reason why the MBA unemployment rate is only 1.6 percent. Enroll in an online MBA program now and watch your career take off.