Introduction
What do famous personalities like Steve Jobs, Sheryl Sandberg, and Indra Nooyi have in common? They are the driving force behind the world’s biggest multinationals, like Apple, Facebook, and PepsiCo. But, is that all?
These individuals are the ones who inspire innovation, motivate their workforce to put their best foot forward, and work together towards achieving a common goal — they are the leaders recognized for their management style.
Are you willing to acquire a similar skill set and work with such organizations? If yes, it is imperative for you to be an effective leader. This is because, when it comes to getting the best results possible for a company, it’s all about drawing out the very best from your team. If you want people to be innovative, motivated, productive, and loyal, you must lead them effectively.
There are numerous ways to develop and enhance your leadership skills, but one option you should consider is through a management degree. An MBA degree is typical amongst leaders across all industries.
Keep reading to learn more about why leadership matters and how an MBA will help you become a better leader.
Importance of Leadership in Business & Career
It is believed that without strong leadership, other business elements lie dormant. This is because effective leaders have the skills to help an organization to maximize productivity and accomplish goals, whereas weak leadership hinders productivity and puts the health of the business in jeopardy. Now, let’s understand how good leadership helps while running a business.
- Provides Guidance
This skill helps managers show employees how to perform their job tasks effectively and provide the support that employees need to grow.
- Motivates Employees
Good leaders motivate their team mates to work hard and meet organizational requirements.
- Initiates Action and Gives Direction
Leaders are known to initiate action by planning out who will perform what tasks, when the tasks will be completed, and by what means the tasks will be accomplished.
- Builds Morale
This quality helps drive employee productivity by building confidence in employees and creating a positive environment that is conducive to productivity.
- Delegates Responsibilities
Strong leaders know how to delegate tasks, use their resources optimally and work towards meeting the organizational goals.
How an MBA Can Help You in Leadership?
From providing guidance and boosting employee morale to delegating responsibilities and working towards common business goals, good leaders are undoubtedly the catalyst for business success. Now that you know why they are important, let’s take a look at how an MBA degree will help you in leadership.
Problem Solving
An MBA program is designed to hone your problem-solving skills. Whether it is working on multiple projects with tight deadlines, completing internships, giving presentations, working in groups, there will be several occasions where you will be constantly challenged to come up with unique solutions. You will know how to tackle difficult situations as you near the last semester, just like a leader.
Integrity
Integrity is being honest and having unshakable moral principles. As MBA programs are dynamic in nature, you need to perform what you claim, you know. For instance, the case study you work on will be presented to a broad audience and cross-questioned by many. This is to see how much you have explored the said subject and whether you will change your opinions when challenged.
Teamwork
The success of any business depends on its people working together. Individual initiative is essential, but it is almost always teamwork that helps businesses accomplish their goals. At ISMR B-School Pune, we include group discussions, projects, competitions, and other activities to ensure you know how to work within groups. The purpose of such events is to help you understand how to cooperate, make decisions as a whole, share credit, and motivate others.
Diverse Skills
Our MBA program is focused on holistic development, where you will be able to sharpen different skills. For example, if you are good at public speaking, you can lead the group presentations or events and enhance this skill.
Communication
To become a better leader, you must know how to communicate the vision to your team to ensure they can achieve it. To help you become a better communicator, we include varied group assignments. While working on such projects, you learn to listen attentively, offer constructive feedback, and come up with solutions as a team.
Professionalism
One of the main reasons why an MBA is known as the game-changing qualification is because it makes you a better professional. Whether you have just completed your bachelor’s degree or have any work experience, MBA programs are designed to nurture the soft skills required by top blue-chip companies – leadership, empathy, and global awareness.
Crisis Management
The next step in solving problems is handling a crisis. Take the current situation the entire world is facing as an example- the unpredictable pandemic due to COVID-19. This pandemic has affected the industries in varied ways, from shutting down all retail operations to being a boon in disguise for digital marketers.
Our MBA program is developed, keeping such situations in mind. We focus on educating our students on how to work under such circumstances and rise above it once again. After all, a leader is the one everyone looks up to in the time of a crisis.
Introspection
A leader needs to introspect to consider who they are, what they value, what motivates them. It enables them to focus on long-term success, not simply putting out small fires. When it comes to introspection while pursuing an MBA program, there will be many times where you will have to step back and think: who you are, what you care about, and what makes you unique.
When you are nearing the end of your second year, you’ll have to face some formidable questions designed to surface your guiding values, unique qualities, and career and academic aspirations.
Innovation
The biggest success stories hinge on innovation and creating breakthroughs no one else achieved. The leaders behind these departures are courageous enough to step away from the tried-and-tested methods to carve their way forward.
To awaken the creative-thinker in you, we organize inter-college competitions, quizzes, and other co-curricular activities. This aspect of the MBA experience pushes you out of your comfort zone, question the status quo, and discover hidden talents.
This kind of an academic journey eventually helps you become an innovator and work towards coming up with out-of-the-box ideas.
Social responsibility
A leader has to strategize ways to increase business profits and understand how he can benefit society as a whole. Fortunately, MBA colleges like us, focus on creating a curriculum where our students are taught sustainability and social impact.
Conclusion
ISMR’s MBA program is designed to enhance skills such as communication, problem-solving, crisis management, integrity and more; while ensuring you are a domain expert. A blend of such skills and industry knowledge is bound to make you a better leader. Hopefully, by now, you have a brief idea of how an MBA program will help you become a corporate leader.
Stay tuned with us for more updates on MBA and PGDM programs!