Leadership is an essential skill that transcends industries. Whether you’re managing a team, spearheading a project, or aiming for an executive role, strong leadership abilities can make all the difference. To help you develop these skills, we’ve curated a list of the top 10 leadership courses for 2025, ranked using our automated system based on daily ratings and review counts from trusted platforms.
Leadership: Practical Leadership Skills
Master leadership skills and leadership techniques with this highly practical advice and training
Leadership is often seen as an elusive or complex skill, but with this practical course you’ll soon have it mastered. Whether you’re managing a small team or an entire business this course will build essential skills for your time management, team motivation, and personal happiness. Leadership is an essential skill at home, at work, and in every stage of your career. If you’re in charge of two or more people at work, this course could change your life.
Chris Croft is an international speaker, and widely published author, who’s been teaching Leadership Skills to companies for over 20 years. He’s taught all over the world, as well as online, and has an entertaining and practical teaching style. This course is guaranteed to keep you engaged and amused, and teach you life changing skills for home and work.
This Leadership course covers everything you need to know from delegating and motivating, differing leadership styles, keeping your finger on the pulse, and planning the future of your business. It looks at lots of real life examples (some of which will definitely get you laughing) and gives practical tools you can use right away to get better results.
The course overview includes:
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What makes a great leader
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How to motivate teams and personalise your approach
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Which common mistakes will instantly crush your credibility
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Creating the perfect balance of delegating and monitoring
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Building confidence and skills into your employees
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Key academic theories made practical
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Why being replaceable is a good thing
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And lots lots more!
By becoming great at leadership, not only will you pave the way for future promotion, you’ll also have a better work/life balance, and a much happier team.
This course comes with a 30 day money back guarantee.
Leadership—the art of influencing and developing others to achieve their highest potential—is often identified as the most critical role in an organization. But what is effective leadership and how do you cultivate it? In this course, leadership consultant and global workforce expert Dr. Shirley Davis covers the basics of leading yourself and others. Along the way, she identifies the critical competencies and best practices for effectively leading today and in the future. Learn how to lead across differences and cultivate a more inclusive workplace; establish trust; build relationships up, down, and across the organization; lead change through agility and resilience; have difficult conversations; and more.
Get practical leadership skills you can use every day. This course provides leaders and managers of all levels with an introduction to the basic skills they need to lead their teams to success. Based on theories instructor Chris Croft has acquired over 20 years of teaching, it explores the qualities of a great leader, theories of motivation, leadership styles, and core proficiencies like connecting with your team and effectively delegating work. In closing, Chris provides an optional pledge, which can help you commit to being a better boss.
In this foundational course, you will be challenged to develop as a leader. You will explore the concept of leadership, assess required competencies for today’s leaders, learn more about yourself and how you can make effective and ethical decisions, identify how to build trusting relationships with others, and articulate a practice for growing as a leader.
This course is part of Gies College of Business’ suite of online programs, including the iMBA, iMSA and iMSM. Learn more about admission into these programs and explore how your Coursera work can be leveraged if accepted into a degree program at https://degrees.giesbusiness.illinois.edu/idegrees/.
Do you want to promote diversity and inclusion? This course will empower and equip you to develop inclusive cultures where everyone feels valued and respected. You will learn how highly inclusive leaders from around the world use processes of social influence to interact effectively with individuals from a wide variety of backgrounds. You will deepen your understanding of the benefits of diversity. And, you will explore a wealth of perspectives and practices to help you to reap those benefits.
This course is for current or aspiring leaders in ANY type of workplace, in ANY leadership role – a CEO of a corporation, a head of a department, a manager of a workgroup, a team leader, a chair of a committee, you name it!
Course highlights include studying signature traits of inclusive leadership (based on global research), strengthening self-awareness, developing your communication skills, and improving your ability to help others feel a strong sense of belonging. Course content covers traditional and timely topics — from listening, feedback, and collaboration, to privilege, implicit bias, microaggressions, and micro-affirmations.
The instructor for this course is nationally recognized educator, leader, and public speaker, Dr. Brenda J. Allen (Communication Professor Emerita). Dr. Allen is a retired Chief Diversity Officer who offers highly-rated workshops, consultations, and presentations on topics such as inclusive leadership, racial equity, strategic planning, respect in the workplace, and diversity recruitment/retention practices. She has a proven ability for explaining complex and sensitive topics in non-threatening ways. She clearly explains concepts and offers compelling real-life examples – including her own experiences.
Welcome to the Leadership Skills course! In our increasingly complex world, understanding the practice of leadership is critical. In simpler words, leadership is the practice of influencing people to meet the challenges that will enable them to achieve important individual and organizational goals. This course provides a foundation for leadership practice and aims to take you on a journey of self-discovery. You will also gain insight into building inner stability and developing your leadership skills.
This is a beginner course designed for professionals from diverse work backgrounds. The course helps you lean on your experiences and strengthen your capacity to lead across boundaries, from any political or organizational position, with or without authority. The course will also enable you to learn important leadership skills, clarifying the relationships among key concepts such as definitions of leadership, self-management, authority, power, influence, politics, negotiations, change management, decision-making, and various leadership styles. This knowledge will provide you with a practical and coherent theoretical framework for applying and exercising leadership. Lastly, the course explores the challenge of managing the inevitable personal stresses and dangers of leading a team. The course draws from business management, philosophy, spirituality, history, literature, sports, communications, and psychology.
To succeed in this course, you should have experience or a basic understanding of working in organizations.
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. High Performance Collaboration: Leadership, Teamwork, and Negotiation focuses on leadership, teamwork, and negotiation. Students will engage in self-assessments to analyze their leadership style, develop team charters to optimize their groups, and develop a game plan for effective negotiation.
Recurring course sessions repeat every 2 weeks on Monday with an enrollment period of 5 days.
Leaders in business and non-profit organizations increasingly work across national borders and in multi-cultural environments. You may work regularly with customers or suppliers abroad, or be part of a globally dispersed cross-functional team, or an expatriate manager on an international assignment. You may be a member of a global online community, or a development aid worker collaborating with an international network of partner organizations. In all of these contexts, your effectiveness as a leader depends on how well you understand and are able to manage individual and collective behaviors in an intercultural context.
In this course – together with a team of Bocconi expert faculty and Bocconi alumni – we’ll explore the theory and practice of international and intercultural leadership and organizational behavior. Social science research has revealed systematic ways in which our behavior differs across cultural contexts – enabling us to more effectively work across borders. Insights from psychology, neuroscience, sociology and anthropology, from communication studies and from management scholarship allow us to understand what shapes individual and group decision making, what enhances or weakens team performance, and how we can build and use our social networks. And the shared practical experience of international leaders allows us to identify concrete steps to enhancing intercultural leadership competence, and to be cognizant of common leadership challenges.
Learning about organizational behavior provides a great opportunity to develop your leadership skills and to reflect on your own behavioral tendencies. How do you usually make important decisions? What motivates you and how do you try motivating others? How successfully do you leverage and integrate diverse skills and views in a team? Do you prefer professional relationships with a close-knit group of trusted colleagues, or with a far-flung network of acquaintances from all walks of life?
If you really want to learn how organizations behave and take decisions and at the same time develop leadership skills, then this is the course for you.
We are looking forward to welcoming you and supporting you on this journey of learning and discovery.
COURSE SYLLABUS
Week 1 – Leadership Acumen. International perspective on leadership, common traps & challenges, and opportunities of intercultural leadership.
Week 2 – Navigating Culture. Impact of cultural differences on organizations, decoding culture, culture classifications and stereotyping, developing intercultural intelligence.
Week 3 – Communication. Communication and its impact on leadership identity and relationships, managing communication to improve decision making, steps for developing your intercultural communication skills.
Week 4 – Motivation. Views on individual motivation, cultural differences in motivation, developing motivation and commitment in teams.
Week 5 – Networking. Patterns of interpersonal relationships in/across organizations, strategically developing social networks and social capital, norms for networking across cultures.
Week 6 – Conflict. Effective / defective conflict management approaches, dealing with ethical dilemmas.
Thanks to the participation of our alumni and of the Bocconi Alumni Association, participants will have practical insights on international leadership.
RECOMMENDED BACKGROUND
All are welcome! Some prior exposure to basic issues of organizational behavior (communication, decision making, motivation, etc.) is useful, but not required.
In this course, you will learn how to build your team, improve teamwork and collaboration, and sustain team performance through continuous learning and improvement. Specifically, you will learn best practices for composing a team and aligning individual and team goals. You will also learn how to establish roles, build structures, and manage decision making so that your team excels. This course will also help you manage critical team processes such as conflict resolution and building trust that have a profound impact on your team’s performance. You will discuss some of the best ways to harness the productive potential of teams while mitigating the risks and traps of teamwork.
In modern organization, most of work is done in teams, yet the results of teamwork are exceptionally mixed. Many teams are poorly designed and structured, fraught with dysfunctional conflict, experience coordination breakdowns and serious motivation challenges. As a result, many teams fail to realize their potential and frequently underperform even individuals working on similar tasks. After completing this course, you will acquire a set of tools and practices that enable you to effectively set up, run, evaluate, and continuously improve your team. Such insights will both make you a more effective team leader but also a standout contributor in team settings.
As a manager, you have the power to make or break your employees’ experience at work. This course was designed to show you how to sharpen your leadership skills, define a vision for your team, and ultimately transcend from a manager to an inspirational leader. Instructor Chris Croft has spent 20+ years teaching leadership skills to professionals of all stripes. Here, he draws from his experiences as he shares over two dozen practical steps you can take to inspire and motivate your team. Get practical strategies for delegating and motivating, communication, dealing with difficult people, and planning the future of your business. Along the way, Chris shares examples from multiple industries that illustrate how these concepts function in the real world.
Market Outlook and Salary Potential
Leadership skills are not just a personal asset; they’re a professional necessity in today’s competitive job market. Here’s why investing in leadership training can pay off:
- Increased Earning Potential: According to recent data, managers and leaders with advanced training can earn up to 30% more than their peers without formal leadership education.
- Career Growth: Employers prioritize individuals with proven leadership skills for promotions and high-impact roles.
- Global Opportunities: With the rise of remote work, leadership skills are increasingly valued across diverse markets and industries worldwide.
In sectors such as technology, healthcare, and finance, leadership roles often command salaries exceeding $100,000 annually. By mastering leadership principles, you position yourself for sustained career growth and impact.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
A great leadership course offers actionable insights, real-world applications, and opportunities to practice key skills like communication, decision-making, and team building. Look for courses that include expert instructors and high-quality feedback.
Some courses are industry-specific (e.g., healthcare leadership), while others offer universal leadership principles applicable across all sectors. Choose one that aligns with your career goals.
Absolutely. Entrepreneurs often wear multiple hats, and leadership courses can help them effectively manage teams, strategize, and foster innovation within their ventures.
Leading platforms like Coursera, LinkedIn Learning, and Udemy consistently deliver highly rated leadership courses, making them reliable options for learners.
Evaluate your ability to lead and motivate teams, implement learned strategies, and achieve professional goals. Seeking feedback from peers and team members can also help gauge your growth.
Conclusion
Investing in leadership training is one of the most impactful steps you can take for your career. These courses are tailored to help you build confidence, make strategic decisions, and inspire teams to achieve their best. Explore our top 10 leadership courses and find the perfect match for your professional goals.
Methodology: How We Determine Course Relevance
At ClassRanker, we aim to help users find the most relevant and high-quality courses quickly. To achieve this, we use a relevance-based ranking system inspired by the Bayesian Average method, which takes into account both course ratings and the number of reviews. This ensures that courses with a good mix of high ratings and solid review counts are ranked higher, while newer courses or those with fewer reviews are still given a fair chance.
Relevance-Based Sorting
Courses on ClassRanker are by default sorted by relevance, which takes into account:
- Course Rating: The average rating of each course (on a scale of 1 to 5).
- Review Count: The number of reviews the course has received.
We calculate the relevance of each course by balancing its rating with the number of reviews it has. Courses with higher ratings and more reviews naturally rank higher. However, we also ensure that courses with fewer reviews are not unfairly ranked just because of their high score.
Dynamic Baseline Values
The ranking system is driven by dynamic values that are recalculated regularly:
- Baseline Rating: The average rating of all courses in the database. This helps normalize the rankings.
- Baseline Review Count: The average number of reviews across all courses, which helps balance the weight between courses with many reviews and those with fewer reviews.
This approach ensures that as the database grows, the rankings remain fair and reflect the overall course quality and popularity.
Why This Matters
By sorting courses based on relevance, we ensure that the most useful, well-reviewed courses are prioritized, making it easier for you to discover the best content available. Our system is transparent and adapts over time, so new courses and ratings are always taken into account.
This methodology helps ClassRanker deliver relevant, high-quality course recommendations to meet your learning needs.
Course ratings and rankings are updated daily based on real student reviews and completion rates. The information shown here was last updated on February 16, 2025.