Welcome to Wharton Leadership

As we kick off a new academic year, we are also excited to launch a new look for the Wharton Leadership Program website.  It is our hope that our new site will provide the information that you may be seeking about both our coursework and out-of-classroom development experiences, whether you are a prospective student, current student, mid-career manager, or just interested in our research and teaching.

We seek to help people at all stages of their careers – high school students, undergraduate students, MBA students, and mid-career managers and executives – develop and learn as leaders.  We want to provide an array of opportunities for strengthening their leadership through class work, experiential learning, short courses, and access to research.

For high school students we support two summer programs on leaderships; for undergraduate students, our offerings include a course on “Leadership and Communication” (Management 100); for MBA students, we include a course on “Leadership and Teamwork” (Management 652); and for mid-career managers and executives, we help Wharton Executive Education support an array of leadership programs.

We are also working to build a variety of opportunities for people to apply their classroom learning and program concepts.  Our learning venues range from non-profit organizations and the mountains of Ecuador to the Shakespearian stage and Civil War battlefield.  We believe that by combining leadership coursework with direct experience, the premier concepts of leadership – thinking strategically, communicating persuasively, deciding decisively – can be best learned and enduringly mastered.

Experiential Learning: Our Approach to Leadership Development

Wharton turns leadership education on its head by giving students the test first, and then mining that test for learning and lessons.  Jeff Harmer, a 2006 MBA graduate, first said that to me when reflecting on his experiences as part of the Wharton Leadership Ventures and the Leadership Fellows program.  It’s a statement that has stayed with me for the past five years, and Jeff’s comment has, in many ways, shaped and guided my approach to leadership development.

The Wharton Leadership Program is at heart of the student experience, and the key word is “experience”.  Experiential learning shapes the courses and co-curricular programs that the Leadership Program delivers and supports.  At Wharton, students learn leadership by linking core academic concepts – influence, emotional intelligence, decision-making, and organizational awareness, for example – with hands-on experiences created specifically for Wharton students to test and acquire new skills.

From the wilderness expeditions of the Wharton Leadership Ventures to the community leadership projects and roles found in Management 100, the Non Profit Board Leadership Program, and the Social Enterprise Fellows, our programs create deep leadership roles imbued with meaning and peer-based learning and reflection.  Management 652, the Foundations of Teamwork and Leadership course that features the innovative Wharton Teamwork and Leadership Simulation, is the first course that incoming MBA students complete.  Every Undergraduate and MBA student completes coursework in leadership, communications, and ethics, and this commitment to leadership education has shaped the student experience for close to 20 years.