student presenting in class

Leadership

When students graduate from Stanford GSB, they face a world that expects them to demonstrate talent, knowledge, and a capacity for effective leadership. Developing this capacity requires practice.

Traditional leadership curriculum often fails to challenge students in a way that compels them to reflect on their own personal leadership capacities, and to improve them. Our approach involves rigorous application of personal experiential testing, analysis, and reflection that unfolds in multiple steps, including formal classes (both required and elective) and structured, on-going coaching opportunities.

We expect students to actually lead in our programs, so that students can confidently claim “I lead” after completing the curriculum. Among other leadership programming, first-year MBA students participate in the innovative Leadership Labs course and Executive Challenge, the culminating event of the autumn quarter during which students put into practice what they’ve learned in Leadership Labs. Our students can seek additional leadership training through the most popular elective for 45 years running, Interpersonal Dynamics, and the highly selective and sought-after Arbuckle Leadership Fellows program for second-year Stanford MBA students.

Insights by Stanford Business