Imagine honing your leadership skills under the guidance of some of the brightest minds in the world. These courses provide you with a unique opportunity to learn from the best, gaining insights and knowledge that would otherwise be challenging to access. It’s like having a personal mentorship from top-tier universities at your fingertips.

All of these courses can be studied at your own pace, and have no prerequisites to join. While it’s free to take these courses, though you may have to pay a fee to get a verified certificate of completion. Keep reading for our top 8 picks for courses that provide the knowledge, skills, and confidence to become a world-class leader. 

What Does it Take to Be a World-Class Leader? 

In the quest to unlock the secrets of exceptional leadership, let’s begin by exploring the fundamental question: what does it really take to become a leader? Consider the following: 

• Vision: Have a clear, inspiring goal.
• Resilience: Bounce back from challenges.
• Communication: Express ideas clearly.
• Empathy: Understand and connect with people.
• Adaptability: Adjust to changing situations.
• Decisiveness: Make tough decisions.
• Lifelong Learning: Keep acquiring knowledge.
• Integrity: Maintain trust and honesty.
• Inspire Others: Motivate and empower your team.
• Continuous Improvement: Always aim to get better.

Free Online Leadership Courses

1. Exercising Leadership: Foundational Principles – Harvard University

The crises of our time generate enormous adaptive challenges for our families, organizations, communities, and societies. The need for leadership that can mobilize people to meet these challenges and improve life is critical. In this introductory course, you will explore strategies for leading in a changing world where adaptive pressures will continue to challenge all of us. You will discover new ways to approach complex organizational systems and take thoughtful action on the work we all face ahead. Most importantly, you will reflect on how to move forward on the leadership challenges you care about most.

• Learn how to: exercise leadership in a changing world
• Key concepts and skills: 
• Duration: 4 weeks, 2-3 hours per week (self-paced)
• Enrollment link: EdX

2. Organizational Analysis – Stanford University

In this introductory, self-paced course, you will learn multiple theories of organizational behavior and apply them to actual cases of organizational change. This course has three goals: to become familiar with a series of real-world organizational phenomena; to learn different theoretical perspectives that can elucidate these phenomena; and to apply these different ways of “seeing” and managing organizations to cases. In such a fashion, the course is designed to actively bridge theory and practice, exposing you to a variety of conceptual tools and ways to negotiate novel situations.

• Learn how to: lead organizations toward directed change
• Key concepts and skills: organizational behavior theories, organizational change, feature identification, negotiation processes, group behaviors, theoretical frameworks, leadership role
• Duration: 3 weeks, 8 hours per week (self-paced)
• Enrollment link: Coursera

3. Leadership in 21st Century Organizations – Copenhagen Business School

Learn how to take on leadership challenges ranging from strategy execution to inspiring people, to maintaining an ethical approach. Experts agree that twentieth-century leadership practices are inadequate for the stormy twenty-first-century present. This provocative course equips you with the insights you’ll need to rise with the occasion of a rapidly shifting business landscape.

• Learn how to: Lead in a complex and dynamic world
• Key concepts and skills: adapting leadership, strategy execution, inspiring people, ethical leadership, critical thinking, 21st century challenges, differentiating public and private life
• Duration: 3 weeks, 12 hours/week
• Enrollment link: Coursera

4. Inspiring Leadership through Emotional Intelligence – Case Western Reserve University

This course provides a deep dive into how emotional intelligence can be harnessed to inspire, motivate, and foster trust and rapport among teams. You will learn about resonant leadership, a leadership style that fosters harmony and alignment among team members. The course also explores key concepts such as mindfulness, hope, and compassion. Additionally, it delves into the neuroscience behind resonant and dissonant leadership, discussing the Positive and Negative Emotional Attractors that inspire sustained, desired change and learning at many levels. 

This course is part of the Inspired Leadership Specialization

• Learn how to: lead with heart and mind
• Key concepts and skills: emotional intelligence, resonant leadership and its neuroscience, mindfulness, positive psychology
• Duration: 19 hours, self-paced 
• Enrollment link: Coursera

5. High-Performance Collaboration: Leadership, Teamwork and Negotiation – Northwestern University

Are leaders born or made? Learn the essential skills to develop and expand your leadership repertoire, design teams for collaboration, and craft win-win negotiation strategies. This course focuses on leadership, teamwork, and negotiation. You will engage in self-assessments to analyze your leadership style, develop team charters to optimize your groups, and develop a game plan for effective negotiation.

This course is part of the Organizational Leadership Specialization on Coursera.

• Learn how to: lead and work well with others
• Key concepts and skills: leadership, teamwork, negotiation, self-assessment, team charter development, effective negotiation strategies
• Duration: 14 hours, self-paced
• Enrollment link: Coursera

6. Agile Leadership Specialization – University of Colorado

This specialization consists of five courses, where you will learn how to become an agile leader, how to build agile teams by using Agile philosophy and Scrum tools, and how to approach transforming a traditional organization into an agile one. This specialization prepares you to build change – resiliency within yourself, your team, and your organization and implement Agile practices where appropriate to leverage its maximum benefits.

• Learn how to: lead in a fast-paced and uncertain environment
• Key concepts and skills: agile leadership, agile management, scrum (software development), change management, project management
• Duration: 1 month, 10 hours/week
• Enrollment link: Coursera

7. Building Your Leadership Skills – HEC Paris

When taking this course, you will raise your own self-awareness and gain self-confidence for better leadership. You will discover the “Savoir-Relier” leadership, a new approach of leadership, taught to HEC MBA’s students and top executives. You will develop relational skills, self-knowledge, and self-awareness on the way to unfold your own leadership style. You’ll learn the skills of The Savoir-Relier (SR) methodology for better connecting with yourself or others by going through the following 4 steps for successful leadership: Introspection, Conversation, Resilience, and Responsibility toward Value Creation.

• Learn how to: build your leadership skills from the inside out
• Key concepts and skills: leadership, self-management, authority, power, influence, politics, negotiations, change management, decision-making, various leadership styles
• Duration: 3 weeks, 5 hours/week
• Enrollment link: Coursera

8. Leading People and Teams Specialization – University of Michigan

• Learn how to: lead people and teams using your own leadership approach
• Key concepts and skills: building your team, improving teamwork and collaboration, managing decision-making, managing conflict resolution, building trust
• Duration: 1 month, 10 hours/week
• Enrollment link: Coursera

Study A Degree Abroad

By enrolling in these transformative programs, you’ll gain the skills and knowledge needed to excel in the dynamic business landscape of today. Don’t hesitate – it’s time to take charge of your leadership journey.

Ready to explore these opportunities further? Studying towards a degree in leadership abroad can bring about many career opportunities for you. Browse and apply to universities on the Global Admissions platform and embark on your path to becoming a world-class leader. Your future awaits!