There is always room at the top...
Master of Contemporary Leadership

Leadership is important at every level of human organisation. As you rise up the chain of command it can be even more important than your technical skills. Good leadership skills are highly valued and highly portable.

The Master of Contemporary Leadership is a new degree that builds on Deakin University's MBA experience to create a postgraduate program devoted to the development of your full leadership potential.

The course is designed with the learning needs of mid-career managers in mind. There is a heavy emphasis on learning from experience, through work-based projects and intensive, residential courses that provide a 'hot-house' learning environment. The degree includes six core subjects, crucial to understanding leadership, and six elective subjects that you tailor to your individual needs. You can choose your electives from almost any discipline in the University.

The Master of Contemporary Leadership is centred on individual learning needs. It recognises prior learning and is delivered flexibly. Participants may enrol directly, or progress through the Graduate Certificate of Contemporary Leadership and the Graduate Diploma of Contemporary Leadership gaining a valuable management qualification at each level.

Features

The core units begin with Organisational Behaviour. This is a residential unit taught experientially, over six intensive days, through games and simulations. You will be asked to complete various diagnostic questionnaires related to your leadership. At the end of the week we will give you feedback and discuss a learning plan to unlock your leadership potential.

The companion to Organisational Behaviour is the adventure-based Audacious leadership. This unit explores qualities that will bring you to the fore as a leader. You can negotiate your own adventure or come on one with us.

In 2011, we crew the sail training ship One and All on a voyage from Tasmania to Victoria. The ship provides a working metaphor for an organisational system. Its effective running demands answers to leadership questions such as:

• What is the sum total of human energy available in the system?
• What proportion of this energy is currently being used?
• What kinds of energy (physical, intellectual, psychic, moral, artistic, technical, social) are represented?
• What might be done to release this energy for accomplishing greater goals for the system and the individuals in it?

The challenge will bring out strengths that you did not realise you had and a sense of achievement that will set you on the path to leadership. See a video of the January 2011 trip in iTunes.

Other core units include:

• Managing for Environmental Sustainability,
• Strategic Management,
• Managing Innovation and
• Change Management.

The elective units are designed to allow you to tailor your studies to your own career-related needs. We can suggest units but this is a course about leadership. We encourage you to take charge of your learning and your destiny.