Wharton's leadership programs are at the heart of MBA life. Our programs emphasize hands-on learning, from 1st year Learning Teams to experiential co-curricular Leadership programs. In addition to learning leadership in the curriculum, you will find many other options to develop your leadership style by analyzing and building on your strengths, from challenging leadership ventures to sustained leadership learning in leadership fellows programs.
Wharton's Center for Leadership and Change Management creates and runs many of the school's innovative leadership experiences. Under the direction of Professor Michael Useem, one of the leading global experts on corporate leadership and change management, the Center supports leadership development at Wharton and Penn, as well as generating research projects, Wharton Leadership Conferences, and an electronic Leadership Digest with subscribers around the world.
Leadership Resources:
Mission
Learning Teams
Learning Team Retreat
Leadership Fellows Program
Wharton Leadership Ventures
Venture Fellows
Leadership Development Workshop Series
Leadership Development Coaching Program
Non-Profit Board Leadership Program
Social Enterprise Fellows Program
Mission
To develop leaders who act with a deeper understanding of themselves, their organizations, and their communities, and contribute positively to the growth of each.
Learning Teams
The business world requires people to work successfully in teams that depend on persuasive rather than positional leadership. The learning team is a laboratory meant to cultivate these leadership skills. A diverse group of five to six students is randomly assigned to collaborate on assignments throughout the first year.
Learning Team Retreat
The Learning Team Retreat is the kick-off for first year students' learning team experience. The primary goal of the retreat is to introduce the members of a learning team and to provide the opportunity for the level of team formation that is necessary for success. The retreat, designed by the Leadership Fellow Coordinators and the Leadership Program staff, is held at a remote location in Upstate New York, located 3 1/2 hours from Philadelphia. Following the Learning Team Retreat, all first year MBA students are required to complete the Management 652, Foundations of Teamwork and Leadership course during their first year.
Leadership Fellows
Through a rigorous selection process, 40 first-year MBA students are chosen every January to serve as Leadership Fellows. Fellows are charged with providing every first year student the opportunity to enhance their leadership potential through the development of practical tools and concrete strategies applicable in every area of their lives. To achieve this goal, Citigroup Foundation sponsors a thorough training program for the Fellows that gives them greater awareness of, and exposure to, the leadership skills of self-awareness, emotional intelligence, group facilitation, and conflict mediation. Along with these skill-building training sessions, the Leadership Program delivers team-building social opportunities to unite and encourage teamwork amongst the Leadership Fellows.
Leadership Ventures
Wharton Leadership Ventures are a set of outdoor experiential leadership development opportunities for Wharton MBA students. The Ventures afford students the opportunity to engage in sets of hands on experiences for exploring and mastering the capabilities for effective individual and team leadership in business and beyond. Using an expeditionary format, teams of student participants are supported in partnership by world-class outfitters and Venture Fellows. The Ventures are intended to assist participants in improving their capacities to think strategically, communicate effectively, and act decisively. They are designed to foster forward thinking, a bias for action, risk awareness, and rapid decision-making. More than 400 MBA students will participate in the 13 leadership ventures scheduled for 2009-2010.
Leadership Ventures have included:
Quantico USMC Program
Antarctica Expedition
Ecuador Mountaineering
Winter Ice-Climbing
Caribbean Voyage
Venture Fellows
The primary role of the Venture Fellow is to create an environment for both individual and team leadership development on a specific Wharton Leadership Venture. Venture Fellows fulfill this role by facilitating learning, mentoring participants, and providing logistical support for the Venture. The National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS), the Wilderness Medicine Institute (WMI), and WLV faculty and staff, provide trainings for the Venture Fellows who are responsible for the design and delivery of the educational curriculum of the Venture.
Leadership Development Workshop Series
The Leadership Development Workshop series is designed to provide MBA students with action-based leadership learning opportunities to explore and develop their leadership skills and competencies. This series focuses on one to three day workshops that highlight alternative leadership education methodologies or specific topics such as leadership presence, critical decision making, and intergroup dynamics.
Leadership Development Coaching Series
Open to first year students, this program begins during the spring semester and runs through the fall of the second year. The Leadership Development and Coaching Program focus is on student leaders and helping them to develop their leadership skills in real time. This is accomplished primarily through feedback and coaching. The essential elements of the program are: a self-assessment, a group dynamics workshop, professional coaching, an alumni mentor and leadership communications.
Non-Profit Board Leadership Program
The Non-Profit Board Leadership Program ("NPBLP") at the Wharton School was launched in the spring of 2005 with the goal of creating an experiential learning environment for students that would also support local non-profits. More specifically, the NPBLP seeks to provide second year MBAs with a greater sense of how their leadership skills can be used to make a significant contribution within the non-profit sector. The program is rooted in a commitment to serving the long-term needs of non-profit organizations in the Philadelphia area. Together, it is envisioned that both Wharton and local non-profits can help each other succeed and achieve a rich understanding of the growing intersection between business and non-profit activities.
Social Enterprise Fellows Program
The program consists of two concurrent courses in the spring and fall semesters. In the first course the Social Enterprise Fellows focus on partnerships possible between for-profit, non-profit, and governmental sectors through study of social movements and creation of purpose-driven organizations. It is an interdisciplinary experience where the Fellows join graduate students from the Masters Program in Non-Profit/NGO Leadership, and Penn Law School students. In the second course, the Fellows take on one of three projects -- pair with an existing nonprofit, private or government organization, create or expand a purpose-driven, 4th sector entity devoted to social change and sustainability, or conduct research in a related area. They aim to complete projects to meet the program mission of “developing the capacity for transformative acts of leadership that create sustainable economic and social value through cross-sector partnerships.”