Prerequisites and leadership opportunities through an MBA
Have you gained at least two years of professional experience, completed a bachelor’s degree and interested in an online MBA in leadership or attending a program on campus? In this article you will find out everything you need to know to be able to make an informed decision for or against a Master of Business Administration degree (MBA) and how it can help you develop essential leadership skills.
MBA Leadership -
In-depth knowledge and the power to inspire
What is leadership?
The term leadership not only designates a position that you hold in the company, but also encompasses a concept that is proving to be competitive with a view to current and future transformations in international business.
The easiest way to understand exactly what this concept looks like is to compare leadership and management. One of the classic management tasks is to analyze and structure business processes.
This requires specialist knowledge of necessary tools and methods. The perspective of management and managers is therefore primarily geared towards the requirements of corporate management.
The concept of leadership, on the other hand, is more focused on the development of entrepreneurial objectives that open new directions, new markets, and new approaches. Going in these directions means not only changing the structures but getting the entire staff enthusiastic about the transformation process. One focus of your studies is therefore on personality development and the development of qualities that enable you to convince and guide people.
In contrast to leadership in the traditional sense, modern leaders do not rely on an authority that is bestowed on them through hierarchy. You know how to activate dynamic processes and identify with the values and objectives of a company.
What does leadership in an MBA mean?
An MBA is a postgraduate course that is ideally taken up after several years of professional work (on average, this tends to be around five years of work experience).
At WHU, students in the MBA program acquire skills that enable them to take on responsibility in middle to senior management in international corporations with a more holistic approach.
As Germany's leading business school, we offer the MBA with the intention of promoting both the technical competence and the soft skills of our students every semester. As important as creativity, empathy, charisma, and visionary ways of thinking are for an MBA in leadership, basic knowledge of economics and corporate management always determines whether the right goals are targeted and implemented.
For us, MBA leadership means more than just training emotional intelligence. The programs are aimed at anyone who wants to become a leader who is just as convincing in terms of their emotional qualities as they are in terms of their professional competence.
What makes a good leader?
For a good leader, expertise, confidence, and a leadership style that engages staff are not opposites. Those who have successfully completed the integrated personal leadership module in the WHU MBA program are able to evaluate their personal values, reflect on their communication style and receive feedback from their peers in a constructive and beneficial way.
The authority that a good leader needs for actioning concrete steps arises from renouncing authoritarian behavior. Instead, it arises from the sympathy and acceptance shown to them by the workforce due to their professional and personal attributes.
Typical MBA leadership skills that WHU students develop to become recognized leaders include the following talents,
• to communicate new objectives transparently and energetically.
• to excite and motivate employees.
• approach other people openly and react communicatively and convincingly to criticism or internal resistance.
• understand intercultural differences and include them in the development of communicative strategies.
• to strengthen identification with the company's own values and processes.
However, the development of entrepreneurial values and processes, which are equally promising for economic and human development in the company, requires that an MBA also enables you to take on classic management tasks.
Does the personal leadership module in the MBA at WHU prepare me for management tasks?
Your studies and degree prepare you for all the tasks mentioned and thus provide you with the propulsion you need to get your career started.
We offer the MBA course in three MBA programs or formats, from which you can choose one that suits your current life circumstances. All programs include integrated modules in personal leadership development and the language of instruction is English.
In the full-time MBA course, you will earn your degree in just 12 months at our Düsseldorf location; for the part-time MBA you can normally take 24 months. The part-time program is therefore also well suited alongside full-time employment. The prerequisite for participation in both programs is that you already have two years of practical work experience.
You can also acquire an online MBA from us, optionally with a study duration of 24 or 36 months. A minimum of two years of professional experience are required for participation, although the average work experience of current students is eight years.
Whether full time, part time or online, all programs follow a clear structure that enables you to work in management positions in international companies.
The compulsory core modules in Financial Performance, Exploiting Market Opportunities and Managing in the Organization create a common basis. With the subsequent elective modules, you decide in which subject areas you would like to deepen and expand existing knowledge. You can choose between Strategy and Organization, Marketing and Sales, Entrepreneurship and Innovation or Advanced Finance.
You train your competence in personal leadership in integrated modules that strengthen your self-awareness, your ability to reflect and communicate as well as your leadership skills. You don't follow any predetermined paths or general instructions but find out what your personal strengths are and how you can use them for the and subsequent work.
Stays abroad, exciting contacts and practical workshops round off your MBA course, which you complete with your thesis under expert training and supervision
What are the advantages of an MBA with leadership modules?
If you look at the world's most successful companies, you will notice that the concept of personal development and holistic leadership plays an important role. It was and is characteristic of Generation Y that they intensively discuss topics such as “New Work” and look for new forms of cooperation in which the individual no longer feels like a cog in the machine. This trend will intensify in the future.
But not only the well-being of employees is affected by changed management styles, the innovative power of companies and their ability to master digital and social transformations are also of enormous importance for the development of new concepts in personnel management.
To do this, companies need management that not only excels in their work, but also knows how to excite and inspire through their leadership style and mindset.
This potential of MBA students is therefore awakened and promoted in a targeted manner through integrated leadership modules throughout the program at WHU.
Can leadership development help improve career prospects?
If we do not explicitly refer to our MBA programs as purely MBA leadership, there is a good reason for doing so: We attach great importance to promoting both classic management skills and leadership skills. Both aspects are equally important for the development and competitiveness of companies.
An MBA degree from WHU opens up excellent career and earning opportunities for you. Whether you then achieve top salaries in the five to six-digit range also depends on which aspects of your professional life are most important to you and how committed you are in setting your own goals.
In dealing with other students and our experienced lecturers, as well as exciting entrepreneurial personalities, you will have every opportunity to develop these goals and to weave your own networks that will support you in achieving them as a future leader.
With additional support from the MBA Career Center which complements the personal leadership module, students receive additional support in implementing what they learn about themselves and applying it to their job search.