At the Johnson School, everyone completes a foundational set of leadership learning experiences. We believe our students are already leaders at work, at home, and in their communities, and the MBA is the next step in the leadership journey. Our approach to leadership does not stop in the classroom, but goes beyond instruction to include application and reflection, ensuring students know what they stand for and who they are as leaders.
Every Two-Year MBA student takes two key courses—Leading Teams and Core Team Practicum. These courses are interwoven in the first days of the MBA experience to provide the building blocks of leadership at the Johnson School.
In these courses students:
The 4Cs Leadership Assessment prompts incoming students to discover and reflect on their leadership skills and shape their goals. This assessment is based on the Johnson School’s 4Cs Leadership Framework. Students complete a self-assessment and invite managers, peers, and others to provide feedback. The assessment reveals leadership strengths and areas for growth during the Core Team Practicum course.
In Core Team Practicum, every student is assigned to a core team for group assignments in core courses. Team members take turns leading the group as they work together, share feedback, and evaluate their performance to determine how to be more effective. Each team is assigned a second-year Johnson Leadership Fellow, who provides leadership coaching and facilitates feedback conversations.
One of the most memorable elements of this course is the Johnson Outdoor Experience—also called J.O.E. In this all-class retreat, core teams tackle challenges, debrief their experiences with trained facilitators, and develop their leadership skills. The experience builds trust and community while introducing students to New York’s beautiful Finger Lakes region.
Taken concurrently with the Core Team Practicum course, Leading Teams draws from cutting-edge behavioral science to develop managerial and leadership capabilities. Students translate research into practical tools for leadership that they can later use in the Leading Teams case competition, the course capstone.
Johnson School MBA students continuously develop their leadership skills throughout the core curriculum.
MBA students work in core teams on assignments across the core curriculum. Students try new leadership styles, practice giving and receiving feedback, and implement practices of effective teams to build their leadership abilities.
Core courses in Strategy and Critical and Strategic Thinking help students hone key competencies within the cognition portion of the 4Cs Leadership Framework. Students sharpen their leadership thinking skills in hands-on assignments and cases.
Each MBA student must take at least one elective course in leadership. Popular choices include:
Many students opt to take additional leadership coursework in communications, advanced critical and strategic thinking, and philanthropic leadership.
If the Johnson School’s Two-Year MBA program and its leadership focus sound like the right fit, we can’t wait to learn more about you.