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  1. Home
  2. Programs
  3. Full-Time +Flex MBA
  4. Why Kelley?
  5. Leadership
  • MBA Curriculum & Experience
  • Leadership
  • Value
  • Rankings
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Kelley Full-Time +Flex MBA: Leadership programs, major

At Kelley, you can major or minor in strategy and leadership and refine your MBA leadership skills in the second-year Leadership Academy, GLOBASE, or MBA Association, if you choose to stay on campus. And there’s more! Leadership development opportunities are woven throughout the program for all of our students—and it begins before your first MBA course.

See how we help you find your own perspective on leadership so you can understand and implement what you—and the people around you—need for success:

To be a successful leader, you must first understand yourself. In-depth, guided introspection begins prior to the start of your degree, then continues during orientation through our innovative Me, Inc. program. After Me, Inc., you will continue to discover more about yourself throughout your entire Kelley experience. 

Effective leaders are also effective team members, able to influence regardless of status or position. As you build self-awareness, you will also build team-based skills, enabling you to tackle challenges through collaboration. From your first team experience and throughout the MBA Core, you’ll refine your leadership abilities with strategic planning, giving and receiving constructive feedback and visioning: being able to see—and achieve—the long-term objective.

Self-evaluation and refinement of your leadership style continues throughout the MBA Program. During the second semester of your first year, you’ll push your abilities to a new level through a real-world Academy-based project, delivering real impact to companies in the industry of your choice.

Second-year MBAs who stay on campus can participate in the optional Leadership Academy, spending two semesters developing such skills as coaching, group facilitation and conflict resolution, providing and receiving feedback, and self-reflection. They can also apply to be a student leader for our GLOBASE global consulting program or step up to lead one of our 25 student clubs.

Journey of a leader

Effective leaders must first know themselves. Meet Meghan Curran. As a leader of one of our Global Experiences, she took a moment to reflect on what she learned and what lay ahead.

Description of the video:

Meghan Curran:

You can discover a lot about yourself in a year. When you're caught up in the chaos of working life, there really isn't time for self-reflection, for personal development.


Over the past year, I have come to realize the power of introspection: that taking the time to reflect honestly on your behaviors and feelings is an essential part of the journey to becoming a better leader.


And it starts with taking on new challenges, pushing yourself to do something or go somewhere that makes you uncomfortable. If you'd told me three years ago that today I'd be halfway through my MBA at the Kelley School of Business, I would have laughed at the absurdity of that idea. But I realized that the only way to achieve greater impact was to embody effective leadership skills.


Leadership isn't about being in charge or being the boss. It's about having self-awareness, understanding your values, being positive, a good listener, and a forward-thinker. It's about going the extra step or the extra mile, not for personal gain, but for the good of the project or the team.


The past year has been incredibly challenging. I've discovered a lot about myself, especially my weaknesses. I hate conflict. I avoid confrontation at all costs. I check out when I am disinterested or unmotivated. I procrastinate excessively.


The thing is, good leaders aren't born or named overnight. It's a journey, a continuum. At Kelley the journey has intensified, and I'm constantly forced to address the things I struggle with. This year I'm embarking on a journey within a journey, leading a student consulting team to India. I know what faces me won't be easy, but I'm ready for the challenge.

“I’ve learned so much about what it means to be a servant leader. I’ve had the opportunity to mentor first-year MBAs and learn from some of the most distinguished executive coaches in the country. Servant leadership is all about ‘leading from behind’ and focusing on the growth and development of others.”

Joseph Dilworth, MBA’20Brand Manager, Conagra Brands

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