6 Leadership Traits MBA Graduates Share
By Deborah Anders
So, you’re thinking about getting an MBA, you say. Let’s assume business is your strong suit. If you’ve earned a degree in business administration, those skills in accounting, finance, or project management may already be in your wheelhouse. But do you have what it takes to lead a team? To perform not just as a businessperson, but as a business leader of entrepreneurs. Here are a few core strengths MBA leaders typically share:
Innovation– A focus on newness, improvement, and spread of ideas or technologies.
Efficiency– The ability to do things well, successfully, and without wasting materials, energy, effort, money, and time in approaching a task or in producing a desired result.
Collaboration– Occurs when teams work together to access greater resources, recognition and rewards when facing competition for finite resources.
Communication– Business communications guide an organization towards fundamental goals, through information-sharing between employees and people outside the company.
Problem solving – The process of identifying difficulties, developing possible solution paths, and taking the appropriate course of action.
Strategic thinking– Intentional and rational thought processes that analyze critical factors and variables that will influence the long-term success of a business, a team, or an individual.
“Today, leadership is more important than ever,” says Dr. Carly Speranza, Assistant Professor at the College of Business, Innovation, Leadership and Technology (BILT) at Marymount University in Arlington, VA. “You want an MBA program that gives you an opportunity to expand your personal and professional leadership abilities.”
While leadership traits that organizations seek, by and large, remain consistent, trends and best practices continue to evolve in today’s business landscape. In the past it was thought that innovation could only come from hiring outside of a company. But in fact, there’s evidence that under the right conditions, a wide range of rank-and-file employees can be a continuous source of new ideas.
With that in mind, the best Master’s in Business Administration programs are designed to prepare you for real, measurable success — a graduate program that’s dedicated to weaving inquiry-based learning, hands-on assignments, faculty research, and one-on-one professional development into the curriculum.
Whether you’re a rising professional who wants to become a better, more confident and emotionally intelligent collaborator or a manager looking to reposition yourself in the workplace, an MBA with a leadership specialization from Marymount University can help you promote your organization’s success, as well as your own. You’ll be well prepared to think critically about options, identify emerging business problems, and design and manage ethical solutions in an evolving global world. And that’s good business.
Keywords: leadership, MBA, master’s degree in business administration, professional development, strategic thinking, innovation
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