“How to be a good leader” is a question so significant that academics and the business world spend billions — in dollars and hours — to crack the code.
Every year, global organisations spend more than $60 billion on leadership development programmes, according to a report by Future Market Insights.
Why do businesses go that far? To them, it’s an investment — they spend a staggering amount in hopes of turning their executives into leaders who can inspire, guide, and extract the best from those under their purview.
Let’s take a look at why:
Businesses thrive when they have good leaders.
As Simon Sinek, business leadership and author says in the video above: “The world is filled with danger — things that are trying to frustrate our lives or reduce our success. It could be the ups and downs of the economy, the uncertainty of the stock market, a new technology that renders your business model obselete overnight. It could be your competition that’s trying to kill you or put you out of business, and we have no control over these forces.”
“The only variable,” Sinek continues, “are the conditions inside the organisation, and that’s where leadership matters. It’s the leaders that set the tone.”
Indeed, companies set themselves apart from the herd when their leaders are able to:
Strong leaders can create a vision for the company. But more importantly, they are able to guide teams to achieve that vision.
The right leaders will provide support where needed to achieve business goals, helping employees work toward the same objective while monitoring their progress and making necessary adjustments.
A toxic workplace is a major contributor to high turnover rates — no longer are employees, especially those from the Gen Z workforce, putting up with environments that are disrespectful, unethical, negative, and stressful.
Good leaders know how to engage and motivate employees, and offer them the empathy, compassion, structure and tools they need to perform at their best. 46% of job seekers consider corporate culture an important factor in their decision to accept an offer.
Around 79% of employees will quit due to a lack of appreciation.
One of the key functions of being a good leader is being able to recognise your employee’s achievements and success, and boosting their satisfaction and motivation by acknowledging their efforts.
How to be a good leader when it comes to increasing company profits? The answer is through delegating tasks properly, helping employees increase efficiency, and even reducing costs and risks.
On the flip side, ineffective leadership is often costly. They lead into high turnover rates, reduced productivity, and wasted time — and that’s only the tip of the iceberg in terms of the challenges you’ll face.
In your quest to discover how to be a good leader, there will be many obstacles in your way. Source: AFP
As any manager will know, even the best advice isn’t foolproof. But don’t get discouraged.
Below are some challenges that can come in your journey of how to be a good leader. Prepare well and you’ll be able to overcome them with confidence.
Leadership roles often come with inherent stress and anxiety, stemming from the responsibility to make crucial decisions and navigate challenging situations. Leaders must develop effective strategies to manage and mitigate stress while maintaining a composed and focused demeanour.
Delegating tasks and managing time is fundamental to leadership, yet it becomes a huge challenge if not managed properly. Leaders may do micromanagement, overseeing every minor subtask, leaving little room for team members to take the initiative.
On the flip side, another challenge arises when a leader fails to delegate tasks altogether. This often stems from a lack of trust in others’ abilities to handle responsibilities adequately.
Leaders face the ongoing challenge of sustaining self-confidence, particularly amid setbacks or uncertainties. Overcoming self-doubt and maintaining a positive self-image are crucial for inspiring trust and motivation among team members.
But perhaps the answer to these issues lie within the world’s best MBAs. While they’re excellent programmes on their own, everyone could stand to learn a thing or two about them.
Let’s take a look.
How to be a good leader? Give everyone in your team a voice. Source: AFP
MBAs are prestigious postgraduate qualifications that provide an overview of key business practices. Top employers value these master’s level degrees for many reasons — chief among them is how they include the latest knowledge on how to become a good leader.
Can’t find the time to get an MBA yet? Check out the growing list of online MBAs and our summary of the top leadership lessons from the world’s best MBAs.
The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania offers an MBA programme covering the foundations of teamwork and leadership.
It emphasises on developing a leadership style by providing you with a highly interactive environment to work with team members. This programme teaches how to be a good leader by creating an environment that values autonomy and encourages initiative to empower team members.
MIT Sloan School of Management is home to an MBA programme focusing on developing a leadership signature. It’s based on identifying your unique leadership style and determining if it hinders or forwards your way as an effective leader.
Acknowledging that leadership styles vary among individuals is fundamental to your journey to answer that baffling question “how to be a good leader.” Each leader possesses unique strengths, values, and approaches.
While there are various leadership styles, staying authentic is often considered the most impactful. It allows you to lead with genuineness and integrity, creating a connection with your team based on trust and transparency.
Harvard Business School’s MBA offers a leadership and organisational behaviour course that focuses on creating highly performing teams.
Here, it’s all about translating vision into reality. The curriculum is designed to help future leaders articulate and communicate a compelling vision that directs and motivates the team toward a shared purpose. .
Bill Gates and Melinda Gates were the power team of the 90s. Source: AFP
The Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan offers an MBA programme with a core course in leading people and organisations. It is a rigorous curriculum that creates the analytical capabilities of the leaders.
The programme emphasises the analytical understanding of leaders in the context of the organisational setup. It details how leaders should be prudent in knowing workplace issues and convincing their employees to implement proposed solutions with maximum efficiency. They should exercise influence without formal power tactics and be able to resolve the problems with psychological frameworks.
The Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley is home to a full-time MBA that adopts an unconventional approach to leadership.
Its core focus is developing an intelligent and bold leader who isn’t afraid to lead an organisation in times of uncertainty with excellent decision-making and calculated risk-taking approach.
Graduates turn into innovative leaders that foster a culture that values creativity, forward-thinking, and adaptability. They become valuable individuals who actively support and champion innovative initiatives, providing the necessary resources and freedom for experimentation.
If you can genuinely with a team member, you’re on your way to becoming a good leader. Source: AFP
The W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University offers an MBA that teaches aspiring leaders how to connect with their employees on a deeper level. This programme is filled with team leadership skills, organisational behaviour, and ethical execution of power.
Influential leaders fully know their strengths and the team’s collective potential. They can navigate through uncertainty by connecting with human resources at their disposal. This leads them to make informed decisions and adapt their leadership approach based on insights gained through observation and experience.
The full-time MBA programme offered by the University of Texas at Dallas has a concentration titled “Leadership in Organisations”. This concentration offers various courses focused on topics like leadership theories and soft skills like conflict management, social networking, and negotiation.
Effective leaders possess an arsenal of soft skills that help them make their way successfully in the corporate environment. They are adept at negotiations, conflict resolution, and networking with people from different backgrounds.
INSEAD’s 10-month intensive MBA programme teaches a leadership communication foundations course in the second period. The programme provides practical advice on how to be a good leader by polishing your communication skills.
Your ability to communicate effectively establishes the tone for the entire team and promotes employee engagement. Businesses face a challenge where only 32% of employees feel engaged, and every year this number increases.
Thus, it’s crucial to clearly articulate expectations, goals, and strategies to align team members toward common objectives. Transparent and open communication allows team members to share their concerns and ideas, resulting in a dynamic work culture.
Celebrity chef Ina Garten is worth US$60 million (according to Celebrity Net Worth). In addition to a loyal, diverse and growing fan based, she holds an MBA from George Washington University. Source: AFP
The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University offers an MBA that prepares students to take on leadership roles in various sectors by providing a Growth Core MBA curriculum.
It has a core course, “Leadership in Organisations,” and a half-credit course at the start of the second year, “Leadership and Crisis Management,” encompassing much of the course material from the first-year core course.
This programme reveals that expertise in one domain is good, but great leaders are always well-versed in different categories. In today’s fast-paced world, leaders need to deal with complex problems that require expertise in diverse fields.
The Smeal College of Business at Pennsylvania State University offers leadership courses in their MBA degree spanning around the ethical practices of running a business. The programme’s core focus is to make leaders socially responsible and instil in them regard for sustainable practices.
World-class leaders have an internal compass that propels them to act aligned with their higher values. This creates an environment of trust and courage among the team members where they interact without the fear of injustice or unethical practices.
Disclaimer: This article was last updated on March 14, 2025.
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