Overview
At Vanderbilt, you will be prepared to be a different kind of business leader—the kind who isn’t afraid to challenge old ways of thinking, put ideas over ego, and shape the future of business.
Leadership development is not an add-on or afterthought. It is integrated throughout the business school experience—across curriculum, team-based coursework, and extracurricular opportunities.
Through a combination of self-assessment, coaching, reflection, and real-world application, students develop a deeper understanding of how they lead, how they work with others, and how they can continue to grow as leaders over time. Together, these experiences establish a strong foundation for long-term career growth.
What to Expect
Discover Your Leadership Style
Build self-awareness through assessments, feedback, and reflection that help you better understand how you lead.
Develop Through Experience
Apply leadership skills through team-based coursework, student organizations, and experiential opportunities across your time at Owen.
Prepare for What’s Next
Translate leadership insights into a clear approach to leading in your career and beyond.
5 Keys to Success
The common theme for students with successful outcomes, regardless of the leadership topics they tackle, is a personal investment.
Your job is to be a good steward of the Leadership Development Program resources by fully engaging the process, honoring and prioritizing your commitments to your goals, and discussing any issues or challenges.
Based on feedback from former students, here are five key things you can do to ensure your expectations about your development are met:
- Be open in all your conversations with the leadership development team and your coach. The more honest and transparent you are (especially with yourself) the more you will learn and be able to grow, so don’t hold back.
- Be observant of your own actions/reactions to a situation, of others’ perspectives and perceptions of you, and when something isn’t going the way you would like. In other words, listen and learn from every experience.
- Be committed to taking action and driving incremental change over the next two years. Development happens only if you are committed to learning and doing something better or different.
- Speak up. The only way someone will know if you want to be pushed more, challenged less, or understand what you want to focus on is if you let the person know.
- Stretch yourself. Take risks and be open to new ideas and trying new things. This is a safe environment, so experiment. Speak up more or speak up less depending on how you are wired, present even when you are afraid, put yourself in ambiguous situations, etc. Stretching will look different to each of you.
What You Will Gain
Students who engage in leadership development at Owen are typically motivated to grow beyond technical skills. They see their student experience as an opportunity to better understand themselves, broaden their perspective, and strengthen how they lead.
Leadership development is not always linear. It can be messy, confusing, and sometimes slow. Students who invest in the process often develop greater confidence, adaptability, and leadership agility.
Leadership development at Owen extends beyond graduation, with continued access to alumni resources, career support, and lifelong connections within the Vanderbilt network.
What Sets LDP Apart
Your Leadership Development Journey
As a graduate of Vanderbilt, you will be well prepared to be a different kind of business leader. The kind who isn’t afraid to challenge old ways of thinking. Who doesn't think you've heard it all before (or pretends you will ever know it all). The persistent kind. You will be ready to work harder and dig deeper, put ideas over ego and performance over pedigree. We believe you, like many before you, will look to not only succeed in the business world but shape it for the better.
Your academic experience at Vanderbilt centers on hands-on learning and teamwork—preparing you for the realities of the business world. In small classes, you’ll learn alongside peers and from professors who know you by name.
You’ll also have access to leadership opportunities and a distinctive Leadership Development Program that includes tools typically reserved for senior leaders at Fortune 500 companies—helping you develop not just business knowledge, but the ability to lead.
Along the way, you’ll build a strong, close-knit network of classmates, alumni, faculty, and staff who will support you throughout your career
After graduation, your connection to Vanderbilt and Owen continues. As an alum, you continue to have access to leadership development resources.
Explore Leadership Development By Program
- 20+
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Years
The Leadership Development Program has been integrated into the Owen experience.
- 42
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Coaches
The number of professional executive coaches we hire and work with each year as part of our Leadership Development Program for students and alumni.