MS in Leadership

Online education offers an accessible way for working professionals like you to pursue a degree and apply that learning immediately in your career. When you decide to earn your master’s in leadership from an online university, you can complete your coursework right from home. Plus, online master’s programs let you choose when in the day you attend class, providing you with the level of flexibility you need to complete your program while you continue to work full time. Walden’s MS in Leadership program is delivered through a convenient online learning platform that connects you with expert faculty, resources, and the support you need to be successful throughout your program and beyond. Plus, when you earn your degree from Walden, you’ll potentially be learning alongside students from all over the world, which can enhance your experience and expose you to varied leadership perspectives.

Leadership development requires learning and practice. And while some companies offer leadership training, many of the best leaders go a step further and earn a business management degree from a top business school. While there are many types of business degrees available, one of the most valuable for up-and-coming leaders is an MS in Leadership. When you earn a master’s in leadership, you can build the knowledge base and skills you need to meet the ever-evolving challenges of a complex world.
And becoming a better leader doesn’t require you to put your job on hold. Thanks to online learning, you can earn your MS degree from the convenience of your home—all you need is internet access. You choose what time to attend class, so your work and school schedules won’t conflict.

The most common leadership styles are:

• Transformational
  Often considered the gold standard of leadership styles, transformational leadership focuses on inspiring your team members and providing them with the coaching they need to excel without a lot of supervision or micromanaging. These are particularly good qualities for a leader in any field that relies on innovation.
• Transactional
  Transactional leaders are all about incentives and disincentives. If your people perform well, you reward them (with bonuses, better offices, awards, etc.). If they perform poorly, you punish them (with the withholding of bonuses, demotions, privilege revocations, etc.). While many leaders, especially in the sales world, are transactional, this leadership style tends to be ineffective in less competitive settings.
• Democratic
  Leaders who are democratic prefer to lead by consensus. They often listen carefully to the ideas of team members and use that input when making decisions. If you have a talented team, a democratic leadership style can help ensure you don’t miss the best ideas.

Here is a sampling of what Walden’s online master’s in leadership program has to offer:

• Dynamic Leadership
  In this introductory master’s in leadership course, you’ll closely examine your current strengths and weaknesses, values, decision-making processes, and approaches to dealing with difficult problems. And you’ll explore leadership in turbulent times by examining how effective leaders think as well as how various management styles impact situations and relationships within an organization.
• Building Organizational Culture: Leaders as Architects
  Leaders must thrive within an organization’s culture. This MS in Leadership course will teach you how to recognize organizational culture, then harness it for positive change and organization-wide success. You’ll learn how to make conceptual sense of various cultural landscapes and determine how to best lead and build effective communities.
• Communication for Leaders and Managers
  Your ability to lead is closely tied to your ability to communicate. In this MS in Leadership core course, you’ll examine interpersonal and intercultural intersections and study the influence of cultural diversity on interpersonal communication. By examining theory, you’ll develop an approach to practice and hone individual strategies for communicating successfully in diverse interpersonal situations.

MS in Leadership programs often offer a variety of focus areas so that students can align their program with their interests and career goals. At Walden, students can choose the General Program or one of the following specializations:

• Executive Leadership
• Integrated Communication Skills for Leaders
• Leader Development
• Self-Designed