The Cornell MBA: A real-life leadership lab

When you pursue your MBA at Cornell’s Johnson School, you enter a practicing leadership lab.
Leadership development is embedded into nearly every aspect of our full-time, two-year Cornell MBA program, from coursework to mentorship to a robust selection of experiential learning opportunities. It begins before your first semester with our 4Cs Leadership Assessment.

Learning by leading: Program overview

Our approach to leadership development is based on a continuous cycle of instruction, experience, and review. This means you won’t just learn about leadership in the classroom; you’ll apply those lessons and receive feedback in real time. Through this cycle of learning and application, you will grow as a leader and discover more about yourself and your leadership style.

Types of leadership experiences at the Johnson School

You’ll develop as a leader in formal and informal ways throughout your time at the Johnson School, including your required coursework and electives, and by opting into experiential learning opportunities like student organization leadership, case competitions, and expeditions and excursions.

Leadership foundations

Your Cornell MBA leadership journey begins with a common set of required experiences, starting from day one with interrelated leadership courses. Leadership electives and a deep dive into a topic of your choice will further expand your leadership knowledge.

Johnson Outdoor Experience (J.O.E.)

Your MBA experience begins with a team-based outdoor orientation retreat in the Finger Lakes region.

Core team practicum and leading teams

Learn how to lead—and contribute to—high-performing teams in these classes taken at the start of the MBA.

Leadership electives

A sampling: Leading across Differences; Women in Leadership; and Power and Politics in Organizations.

Building your leadership foundation

At the Johnson School, everyone completes a foundational set of leadership learning experiences. We believe our students are already leaders at work, at home, and in their communities, and the MBA is the next step in the leadership journey. Our approach to leadership does not stop in the classroom, but goes beyond instruction to include application and reflection, ensuring students know what they stand for and who they are as leaders.

4Cs Leadership Assessment

The 4Cs Leadership Assessment prompts incoming students to discover and reflect on their leadership skills and shape their goals. This assessment is based on the Johnson School’s 4Cs Leadership Framework. Students complete a self-assessment and invite managers, peers, and others to provide feedback. The assessment reveals leadership strengths and areas for growth during the Core Team Practicum course.

Core Team Practicum and Johnson Outdoor Experience

In Core Team Practicum, every student is assigned to a core team for group assignments in core courses. Team members take turns leading the group as they work together, share feedback, and evaluate their performance to determine how to be more effective. Each team is assigned a second-year Johnson Leadership Fellow, who provides leadership coaching and facilitates feedback conversations.

One of the most memorable elements of this course is the Johnson Outdoor Experience—also called J.O.E. In this all-class retreat, core teams tackle challenges, debrief their experiences with trained facilitators, and develop their leadership skills. The experience builds trust and community while introducing students to New York’s beautiful Finger Lakes region.

Leading Teams

Taken concurrently with the Core Team Practicum course, Leading Teams draws from cutting-edge behavioral science to develop managerial and leadership capabilities. Students translate research into practical tools for leadership that they can later use in the Leading Teams case competition, the course capstone.

Building leadership throughout the core

Cornell MBA students continuously develop their leadership skills throughout the core curriculum.

Working in teams

MBA students work in core teams on assignments across the core curriculum. Students try new leadership styles, practice giving and receiving feedback, and implement practices of effective teams to build their leadership abilities.

Leadership skills core classes

Core courses in Strategy and Critical and Strategic Thinking help students hone key competencies within the cognition portion of the 4Cs Leadership Framework. Students sharpen their leadership thinking skills in hands-on assignments and cases.

Leadership electives

Each Cornell MBA student must take at least one elective course in leadership. Popular choices include:

• Leading Across Differences
• Power and Politics in Organizations
• Strategies for Sustainability
• Women in Leadership

Many students opt to take additional leadership coursework in communications, advanced critical and strategic thinking, and philanthropic leadership.

Visit the course roster

Customize your MBA leadership training

During your time at the Johnson School, you can enrich your leadership development with experiential opportunities from leading student organizations to putting your skills to the test on a multi-day leadership expedition off-campus.

Discover your options

Student leadership roles

A chance to lead your peers and put your leadership skills into action within the Johnson community

Leadership workshops

A range of interactive workshops to help you identify and build the skills critical to your growth

Expeditions and excursions

Intensive leadership experiences with real consequences, taking place in the wilderness, on military bases, and elsewhere

Leadership crisis challenge

A unique opportunity to step into company leadership and use leadership skills to resolve an unfolding crisis in real time