Companies and organizations are starting to take leadership training more seriously—throwing time and money at development programs to upskill and retain employees and groom up-and-coming executives. In fact, between 2021 and 2026, the corporate leadership training market is expected to grow by more than $18 billion, according to a Technavio market study.
The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University wants to target professionals earlier on in their careers. Kellogg, which Fortune ranks as having one of the best business schools in the U.S., offers a leadership program for its evening and weekend MBA (part-time MBA) students. During the three-part Kellogg Leadership Journey (KLJ), MBA students learn who they are as a leader, where they want to go, and how they’re going to get there.
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“The program is an opportunity to accelerate students’ leader development, which can aid in expanding the roles they might elect to pursue upon completing the program,” Bernie Banks, a Kellogg professor and faculty director of KLJ, tells Fortune.
The KLJ experience focuses on leadership development science, self awareness, self efficacy, empathy, and inclusion. The three-part journey includes a two-day orientation, the Leadership Immersion Retreat, and a capstone immersion program. During orientation, students reflect on why they’re at Kellogg, learn the keys to leadership development, and start to explore who they are as a leader. Students also complete assessments such as the CliftonStrengths finder to learn more about their own leadership qualities.
When evening and weekend MBA students at Kellogg reach their halfway point in the program, they attend the Leadership Immersion Retreat at the school’s downtown campus at Wieboldt Hall. Students attend leadership talks and network with other program participants. The KLJ culminates in a multi-day capstone program in which students reflect on how to continue building their leadership skills, as well as develop a roadmap for personal and professional growth.
“Those who described themselves as ‘technical contributors’ prior to starting KLJ have moved to saying they now possess identities rooted in viewing themselves as leaders,” Banks adds.
Fortune spoke with a few Kellogg evening and weekend MBA students to learn about their biggest takeaways from the KLJ and why leadership training has been critical to their career development. Here’s what they told us.
Learning the power of personal stories
Chieke Offurum was born and raised in Nigeria, where he earned an undergraduate degree in geology. He moved to the U.S. to pursue a master’s degree in the same field from Texas Christian University and went on to work in the oil and gas industry for several years before realizing he wanted to transition into a business role. Vying for a career switch, Offurum chose to pursue the MBA program at Kellogg in spring 2021 because the school has a strong energy curriculum, he says.
What Offurum didn’t realize he’d get out of the Kellogg program was learning to embrace his full personal story—and use it as a leadership strength.
“Before, I never really understood the power of my story,” he tells Fortune. “I used to talk more about my American story, but I realized that wasn’t truly me—I have a lot of Nigerian stories, too, to tell. I realized the power of telling my full story, not just my American story.”
One of the key parts of the KLJ for Offurum was a session led by Professor Michelle Buck called “What’s Your Story,” which helped him develop a strong and cohesive personal story. This, in turn, has allowed him to make deeper connections with people—a key pillar to successful leadership.
“When I started to [share my story] at work and with my friends here, I realized I started to make deeper connections with people,” he says. “Now they see me as my full, authentic self.” Offurum’s projected graduation date is August 2023.
Overcoming imposter syndrome
Alexandra Krall started her Kellogg MBA journey in summer 2020. The beginning of her career was spent in supply chain and project management roles, but she wanted to make a career switch into social impact work. She says she chose Kellogg for its emphasis on leadership and collaborative culture as well as social impact offerings and resources.
The time and space for self reflection is what made the biggest impact on her leadership development journey, Krall tells Fortune. Throughout the journey, she began to understand how her past experiences—both personal and professional—shapes how she shows up as a leader.
“This was a really powerful experience for me because it really allowed me to overcome some of this imposter syndrome that I had,” she says. “It really helped me understand that my background and my past experiences really are my source of power and my source of differentiation.”
Now, Krall serves as a talent solutions manager for a nonprofit organization in Chicago focused on growing the city’s tech talent pipeline. She graduated from the Kellogg MBA program in December 2022.
Focus on empathetic leadership
The Kellogg Leadership Journey served as a space for a lot of soul searching for Hannah Acharya, she says. Coming from a background in industrial supply distribution, Acharya pursued an MBA because she realized her passion for helping Rust Belt communities with labor and investment issues. What drew her to Kellogg in fall 2020 was the school’s focus on empathetic leadership, and she wanted to use the program to help her explore business models that could have a positive impact on communities.
The retreats throughout the KLJ process helped Acharya with crafting her leadership values and “prototyping” what her life could look like as a leader.
“It’s rare you actually take the time to sort that out in a structured way,” she says. It’s helpful “to have an assignment where you had to sit down and really identify those core principles and what they look like in your life so you could articulate it while managing a team.”
The retreats—both the midpoint and capstone—were critical in helping Acharya’s empathetic leadership skills. Acharya plans to graduate from the program in March 2023.
“The two retreats truly have changed how I talk and think about myself and how much I own what I really want to do in life instead of what I think other people want me to do,” she says. “It’s really helped create some deeper bonds.”
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