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Leadership is a major responsibility. There is an art to delegating tasks, exerting authority, and maintaining sanity with a group of people following your lead. While many people may aspire to attain leadership roles, the best leaders are usually people who have been intentional about expanding their knowledge base and growing. One of the best ways to increase your knowledge is through education. Consider these four degrees that can help prepare you for leadership roles in the future.
1. Psychology
There are so many intricacies involved with human psychology. Understanding why people do what they do and learning human behaviors and patterns are vital for any leader. When leaders can relate to their followers and extract the best out of them, they are most effective. A psychology degree can help someone who is not a people person learn more about those around them and how to lead them better.
2. Business Management
Running a business has rarely ever been a solo effort. In order to see a business achieve exponential and scalable growth, you’re going to need other people. While business management may seem like it only teaches technical skills with growing a company, it’s important to remember that running a business also means you’re leading people. With classes like business communication and leadership programs, you’ll learn how to speak to others and get your point across as a leader as well.
3. History
It’s important to look at the past to have a better understanding of what could happen in the future. It’s often said that history repeats itself. Why not look at the effective leaders of the past? Even though the “battlefield” may be the boardroom, there’s no reason history can’t help you learn more about how to approach a problem, handle a crisis, and lead a team to victory. By showing how leaders dealt with conflict in various continents like Africa and Asia, a military history master’s degree program teaches those exact concepts and makes them relatable.
4. Education
Whether you choose to major in Elementary Education or explore higher grade levels as a college professor, the classroom is a breeding ground for leading. As the leader of an entire classroom, you’ll learn skills like classroom management and risk management. It’s no easy feat to have 20-30 students in a room stay focused on a particular topic. A strong teacher is a leader who engages his or her students, relays the information in an understandable fashion, and inspires them to become better. Those tasks are ones that should be on any leader’s to-do list.
If you’re destined for greatness, there’s really nothing that can get in your way of that. However, there are some ways to facilitate the growth process in the meantime. Choosing one of these four majors is a great way to begin.
This article was contributed by guest author Anica Oaks.