Meeting a Critical Need in the Evolving Economy

There’s a growing urgency to prepare the next generation of leaders, and the timing could not be more critical. According to the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025, global shifts will create about 170 million new jobs this decade—equivalent to 14% of today's employment — while 92 million will be displaced. The skills gap remains the most significant obstacle to transformation, and nearly 40% of the skills required in today’s roles are expected to change by 2030.

While the world of work is transforming rapidly, the approach to developing leaders has not kept up.

A significant, and little-discussed, challenge to producing leaders who can navigate uncertainty, bridge disciplines, and guide teams through transformation is timing. Harvard Business Review reports that the average age for formal leadership development is 42. The Farmer School’s new Business Leadership programs are designed to close that gap, equipping undergraduate students with the crucial skills needed by age 22. A twenty-year head start that can redefine how and when leadership begins. 

An Interdisciplinary Approach

The immense challenges of this historical moment, the rapid speed of change, and the competencies required for success in the knowledge economy often demand more than just the technical expertise unique to one's discipline of study. With new technologies coming in and out of demand so quickly, the success of our graduates now depends on durable skills like critical thinking, communication, and agility.

The Business Leadership programs include both a co-major and a minor, each designed to complement a student’s primary major in distinct ways. The co-major, open only to students outside the Farmer School of Business, allows non-business majors to pair their passions with the foundational business and leadership training that brings their career ambitions to life. It is a program for those who want to become athletic directors, work in healthcare administration, represent artists, or manage construction, engineering, or data science teams. The minor is open only to Farmer School of Business students, enabling them to deepen their skillsets in leadership, strategy, and ethics.  

Building a program that welcomes students from all majors combats groupthink–when a finance major, a data scientist, and a psychology major look at the same case, they’ll see different things. That’s exactly how innovation happens.  The interdisciplinary nature of the students in the program forces them to solve problems like a leader does: with as many viewpoints in mind as possible.

Ella Rebernak, a Human Capital Management major in the Farmer School of Business, was one of the first students accepted into the new Business Leadership minor. "I wanted to build on my Human Capital Management and Leadership major, but wasn't sure which classes aligned with my interests. The Business Leadership minor allows me to enhance my professional and leadership skills through courses including Business Ethics, Business Strategy, and Change Management. With evolving business environments and shifting organizational practices, this minor will strengthen my ethical decision-making skills and help me implement effective leadership in my future career." 

The Four Essential Pillars

While students in the co-major and minor will gain a number of skills and hands-on experiences through the program, the focus will be on building capacity in leadership, change management, ethics, and strategy . These are the key skills that, regardless of your discipline or your passion, our students will need to mobilize people and make extraordinary impact.

Leadership

Leadership is about understanding people and leaders know that how you see a problem shapes how you solve it. We want to teach our students how to understand people, hear every voice, frame problems clearly, and turn what others see as threats into opportunities.  Our program emphasizes the development of soft skills like collaboration, communication, problem-solving, and emotional intelligence so students graduate with skills that translate to any position at any level.

Change Management

While the future of work in any field constantly evolves and even remains a bit uncertain, there is one thing we know for sure: leadership is fundamentally about change. Effective leaders are those who can guide organizations through change grounded in strong values and clear vision.

Rapid advancements in AI, shifts toward remote and hybrid work, and economic uncertainties are just some of the current challenges organizations face. While our students will graduate prepared to help organizations navigate these changes, they’ll also be able to anticipate and manage the changes we cannot even imagine yet.

Ethics

A large majority of prospective students believe corporations have a social responsibility to the countries and people that support them, shifting ethics from a "nice-to-have" to a critical business imperative. According to the 2025 GMAC Prospective Students Survey, ethical behavior and sustainable business practices are becoming decisive factors for graduates when accepting job offers, and 63% said it is important or very important for a school to actively support and incorporate sustainability into the academic experience.

Darryl Rice, associate professor of management and a leading researcher in business ethics, is developing a new ethics course for the Business Leadership program. "What excites me most about the new Business Leadership program is the new emphasis on organizational ethics," Rice commented. "Students will have an opportunity to learn about modern-day ethical and moral topics and analyze business ethics-related data."

This focus on ethics is so integral that it extends beyond the classroom and into the program’s admissions criteria. In addition to meeting GPA requirements, students must have a clear record of academic integrity to be considered for acceptance.

Strategy

Strategic thinking is the ability to see the big picture, plan ahead, and be action-oriented in achieving organizational goals. According to Inside Higher Ed, strategic thinking skills are among the most highly sought-after management competencies. Employees capable of thinking critically, logically, and strategically can have a tremendous impact on a business's trajectory.

Chris Welter, assistant professor of management in strategy, remarked, "Strategy is all about doing the right things, not just doing things right.  As AI revolutionizes all business functions, doing things right will become easier and choosing the right things to do will be even more important for anyone looking to be successful in all areas of business."

A Lab for Leadership

Leadership development comes from a combination of education and experience, so we have really designed the Business Leadership programs as a place to learn and then practice, make mistakes and get better.

Much of the curriculum is case-based. Through hands-on discussion, reflection, and applied problem-solving, students learn practical ways to assess situations, see patterns, and decide what to do next—as if they were encountering it in real-time in the workplace. Students can start to see why something worked in one context but failed in another, and how to navigate ambiguity.

The Complete Leader

You can know everything about your subject matter, but that technical expertise alone, while important, is not enough. If you really want to mobilize people and make change, you have to have leadership expertise as well. 

The Business Leadership programs provide this broader foundation, preparing students for a future where adaptability is paramount and where industries increasingly overlap, requiring diverse skill sets that combine expertise from various fields. 

Zeb Baker, Dean of Miami’s Honors College, noted, "The Business Leadership minor and co-major provide highly-motivated, highly-engaged students from across campus with an unparalleled opportunity to integrate business into their Miami. This market-driven idea democratizes leadership development, innovation and design, and engagement with core business principles for all well-qualified Miami undergraduates looking to enhance their marketability and workforce readiness."

At the end of the day, it’s about ensuring our students show up in the world ready to make an impact. And we are equipping them with the tools, the mindset, and the space necessary to understand what effective leadership depends on before they ever set foot in the workplace. Students who complete the Business Leadership Co-Major or Minor will graduate prepared to navigate complexity, drive change, uphold ethical standards, and think strategically—not just in business, but in whatever field they choose to pursue .