Leadership@Booth: A Student Journey

In this post, we’ll explore ongoing leadership engagement opportunities at Booth and learn about Weekend MBA student Tim Turner’s leadership journey. Our previous post can be accessed here.

Tim Turner, Manager, Pharmacy Insights, Walgreens

What Leadership resources have you leveraged at Booth?

I’m currently a student leader of Coalition of Minorities in Business, on the General Assembly of the Student Advisory Committee and have been working on 1:1 coaching with Caroline on the Lead (Leadership Development) team, working on developing my personal brand and leadership style. I’ve participated in several Leadership in Practice sessions. Booth’s orientation, Launch, really set me on the path of being thoughtful and reflective of my leadership style. I’m also part of the inaugural cohort for a leadership retreat which launched this year.

Can you talk about one leadership resource or activity that made the most impact in your leadership development?

The Leadership retreat was a really valuable experience. On Saturday we had networking activities and on Sunday we had leadership workshops. This retreat is meant to take place halfway through your Booth experience. It was a good time for me to reflect. We started with an assessment around understanding motivations and values. The results allowed me to have a sense of career and personal opportunities I’d want to align myself with. It helped give me a sense of what I see myself doing over the course of my career. It also helped me create a roadmap of what I want to complete in the rest of the program- which classes to take and which other leadership opportunities I want to engage in.

Can you share your top tips for students who are looking to build their leadership skills while at Booth?

I know it’s hard while working, but you can really use the opportunity to cultivate your leadership while at Booth. To me leadership is about having a high degree of self-awareness. Everyone has had some experience with a manager who doesn’t have that self-awareness, who is difficult to work or communicate with. There are so many resources in this program to help you develop this sense of self-awareness and there’s also value in engaging in some of the assessments. I recommend you go into leadership development with the mindset of gaining a better appreciation and awareness of self and how others may perceive you.

Be deliberate to take time and advantage of the resources that are available. Consider serving in some leadership capacity of a student group. When I was evaluating and thinking about MBA programs, I didn’t realize how much of a robust leadership experience I would have at Booth. I thought my MBA would only give me analytical and strategic frameworks, but I’ve come to learn about all the ways that Booth offers opportunities to develop leadership skills.

Leadership Development at Booth

Leadership Development for Part-Time MBAs supports each student through their unique leadership journey by providing experiences and coaching that increase a student’s awareness, generate new insights and keep a student in action around their growth and development. Throughout a student’s time at Booth, we design, deliver and manage the academic LEAD Course, 1:1 coaching and co-curricular experiences such as Leadership in Practice, Leadership Retreat and Booth Women Advance.

Special thanks to Meenakshi Lakshmanan, Evening MBA Student and a member of the Student Advisory Council, for organizing and moderating this panel.