The McColl School defines leadership by the 3C's: Competence, Character and Commitment to Community.  These three components are the guiding principles throughout the McColl experience.  In addition to demonstrating competence in business strategies and practices, effective leaders demonstrate self-awareness, self-confidence, the capability to interact effectively with others, to think creatively and to learn from experience.  Your experience with the McColl program will be rich with opportunities to develop your leadership ability both within and outside the classroom.

Professional MBA and MSOD students participate in the BUSN/ODEV 600 Leadership Development course as a core course requirement in each program. The course includes four class seminars that span over two semesters.

During this two-semester experience, course content focuses on the following:

• Introduction to Leadership: Discuss leadership not only in theory but in practice.  What is your vision for yourself as a leader, what values define your leadership style?
• Development of Self Awareness: Through a combination of a custom 360 evaluation and personality/psychosometric testing, you'll have the opportunity to learn about your strengths, weaknesses and opportunities for development.
• Work one-on-one with a professional business coach and with networking mentors to better understand your assessments and implement a personalized leadership development plan.
• Hands on participation and immersion with local/regional non-profits and community issues. 
• Presentation of an individual community leadership assignment

The leadership development course provides a unique experience that enables students the opportunity to interact with professional coaches, seasoned executives, and a network of business professionals from our community through the following opportunities:

Community Leadership Assignment
The McColl School believes that community involvement is beneficial for both the community and business.  Following seminar 3 of the leadership development course, each student selects a non-profit or community issue that interests them for their community leadership assignment. The goal of this assignment is to involve students in the Charlotte community with active participation.

Coaching Program 
The McColl School is associated with approximately 60 coaches who work with our students on a pro-bono basis. Each leadership student is required to spend 4-6 sessions meeting with one of these professional coaches. These coaches include executives and professional coaches who volunteer their time to work with our students. 

Networking Mentors
The McColl School of Business provides leadership students access to networking mentors so that they can strengthen their skills of building relationships with and without an immediate agenda, expand their contacts in the community, benefit from the wisdom of others' experience and develop their overall leadership capacity.

Executives-In-Residence
The McColl School has a diverse group of on-going Executives-In-Residence.  McColl School Executives In Residence are executives who have established reputations as effective leaders, have substantial experience to share, and are willing to share that experience with our graduate students.  Leadership students meet with each executive in small discussion groups.

BB&T Distinguished Leaders In Action Lecture Series
The BB&T Distinguished Leaders In Action Lecture Series brings distinguished leaders representing diverse industries, backgrounds and leadership styles to the McColl School of Business to interact with the campus community in a candid and inspiring forum. The lecture series integrates business knowledge and leadership skills, focusing on competence, character and commitment to community.