You have hit a ceiling in your career path, or maybe you are just ready for a change. Your personal skill sets have taken you this far. But you know there is still more progress ahead.
When you move into leadership, the rules change. Now you are being judged on things like executive presence, strategic vision, judgement, and decision-making in complex environments.
Nobody has taught you these skills. Yet these are the skills that determine who moves forward into a leadership role and who does not.
These power skills are elusive. Undefined. But they are the skills that empower you to lead with confidence and build consensus around your ideas. They are the capabilities that allow you to build strong teams, shape direction, inspire others and create meaningful organizational impact.
There is a large gap between being good at your job and knowing how to lead at the highest levels. But most workplaces? They are not equipped to bridge that gap.
The Gordon S. Lang School of Business and Economics, Master’s in Leadership program is specifically designed to fill those gaps. To turn high-potential employees into future leaders.
It is designed for working professionals like you. It’s an online program so that you can keep working while you earn a Master’s degree, with an annual opportunity to meet your cohort on campus. The alternate admission pathway means you do not need a traditional undergrad degree to be admitted – it means that your work experience counts. It is a fast track 18-month format so you can apply what you learn while you learn.
Meet Dr. Shawna Holmes. She is a LANG Master’s in Leadership graduate. When she went back to school, she wondered whether a formal credential could develop those higher-level skill sets to allow her to lead in a way that aligned with her current skills and values.
The answer was a resounding yes!
The LANG Master’s in Leadership program curriculum is more like a skills development program for leaders. The program sees skills like self-awareness, ability to motivate people and ethical reasoning not as soft skills, but as the foundation for strategic action! Not supplementary to strategy, but the core of it.
“The LANG MA in Leadership helped me reflect on what matters most to me, my values, my purpose, and how I bring those into the way I lead,” says Holmes, a 2024 cohort graduate and the recipient of the Executive Programs Scholarship. “The program gave me a way to take my background and apply it in a more practical, on-the-ground way.”
Then there is Karisa Farinha. She graduated the Master’s in Leadership program in 2024 as well. Karisa appreciated that the program let her study while still managing a full-time career.
“One of the things I’ve enjoyed most about the program is the ability to be a full-time professional and a student at the same time.”
Karisa felt the program allowed her to learn and apply her learning immediately in the workplace.
“I can integrate what I’m learning and bring it directly into my work.”
Shawna and Karisa learned what organizations need. Good leadership is not just technical. It is relational. Ethical. Human.
It is about understanding your strengths and personal power. Making sound decisions when things are uncertain. Building trust across diverse teams. Guiding people through change without breaking the culture that holds them together.
It is seeing how one decision ripples through the entire organization. Knowing when to trust your gut and when to follow the evidence.
“For me, the program was about becoming the best version of myself and learning how to translate that growth into leading others,” Shawna adds. “At the end of the day… what matters most is what you take away from [this program]; the learning, the connections, and the confidence to say yes to new opportunities.”
Ready to close the gap?
Like Shawna and Karisa, you want to lead differently. You want to lead in a way that aligns with who you are. You want to close the gap between where you are and where you can go.
The Master’s in Leadership at the University of Guelph’s Lang School of Business and Economics was built to do just that.
As a member of the Women of Influence community, you have a unique opportunity. Talk to our program specialist. Get your questions answered. Find out how the program can enhance your skills and get you where you want to go.
Book a discovery call to meet one-on-one with a LANG program specialist or visit the program website to learn more.