Leadership Principles Series | Introduction: Three Core Beliefs

Welcome to a brand new series of posts presenting the leadership principles that guide Mountain State University's School of Leadership and Professional Development. We will highlight these foundational ideas to help you understand the basis for our leadership degrees. As we begin, there are three core beliefs that shaped our selection of the essential components of our programs. These tenets provide a framework for everything we teach at Mountain State. 
 
Organizations and Communities Need Leaders  
 
In our fast paced and changing world, having strong leaders to direct our response is critical. Although the actions and interactions of leaders will vary based on the specific needs of the community or organization, we believe that there is a set of compentencies required for all leaders.  
 
Leadership can be taught 
 
As we seek to develop and train leaders, our goal is to develop this set of competencies to provide a solid foundation for learning. We believe the best way to teach leadership is through active participation. Leadership education must provide guidance in moral and emotional development in addition to adaptive skills for leading others. 
 
Leadership is primarily relational 
 
Leaders accomplish results by connecting and cooperating with others. In order to engage people fully, leaders need to be able to understand and address people's varied interests and motivations. To be most effective, leadership must be dynamic. There is no single leadership approach that transfers to all situations; leaders adapt their own personal styles appropriate for the people and organizations they work with.    
 
These core beliefs underscore both our Bachelor of Science in Organizational Leadership and our Master of Science in Strategic Leadership. In coming posts, we will address the five principles derived from these beliefs which shape our programs: leading self with character, leading others and connecting through communication, leading for results with resource acumen, leading in a climate of change, and leading across boundaries and building coalitions.