Online leadership and management courses teach you the high-level traits and micro-level tools and strategies of effective 21st-century leadership. Today’s companies and organizations desire and require leaders who know how to play to their team members’ strengths, inspire others to achieve greatness, and build a culture that values communication, authenticity, and community. There are tons of online training options out there, and it can be difficult to sift through the available courses and figure out what’s worth your time and money. To help you narrow down your choices, we’ve reviewed the 10 best online leadership and management courses below.
- Udemy — Think Like a Leader With Brian Tracy — Top Pick
- edX — Becoming a Successful Leader (Inclusive Leadership Training) — Most Affordable
- edX — MicroMasters® Program in Business Leadership — Most Comprehensive
- edX — Agile Leadership Principles and Practices — Best for Project Managers
- Coursera — Building Your Leadership Skills — Best for Introspection and Personal Growth
- Coursera — Inspired Leadership Specialization — Best for Inspiration, Inclusivity, and Positive Change
- Future Learn — Educational Leadership: Working for Good — Best for Education Professionals
- Columbia University Business School — Digital Business Leadership Program — Best for the Digital Sector
- LinkedIn Learning — Coaching Skills for Leaders and Managers — Best for Lunch-Hour Learning
- Emeritus — Leading Organizations and Change — Best for Organizational Change
Our Ranking Criteria
The top online leadership and management courses provide you with a balance of inspiration, introspection and self-knowledge, practical tips and tools, and hands-on, real-world exercises to help you become a more effective leader. We researched more than 20 online leadership and management courses before narrowing down the top 10 to include in this guide. When deciding which programs to include and which to leave out, we used the following criteria.
Basic Ranking Criteria
Before committing to an online course, you should have a sense of the time required to complete the course, whether any prerequisites are required, how flexible the schedule is, and what sort of certificate you can expect to earn upon completion. That’s why for each online leadership and management course covered in this guide, we looked at four basic factors.
Time to complete. You should be able to complete your online leadership and management course relatively quickly to efficiently implement new leadership and management practices into your business or organization. The courses covered in this guide take half an hour to 11 months to complete.
Prerequisites required. Only one of the courses covered in this guide requires you to have completed any prerequisites. This means you can dive straight into any of the courses and immediately start learning. Leadership and management courses are typically geared towards professionals with some leadership or management experience.
Flexible schedule. If you’re a team leader or manager, you’re likely very busy. That’s why we selected part-time courses with flexible schedules to best suit your needs.
Certificate of completion. All of the courses in this guide offer a verified certificate of completion, which is a valuable addition to your resume.
Advanced Ranking Criteria
The basic criteria mentioned above are relevant to nearly all online courses. However, we also looked at some key factors specific to leadership and management. These factors include.
- The course covers a variety of leadership and management skills, from emotional intelligence, communication to project management.
- The instructors are skilled teachers with first-hand experience as team leaders and managers.
- The course’s effectiveness has been proven by graduates successfully up-leveling their leadership roles or improving their career paths within their industry.
- To build a sense of camaraderie and personal connection through the online platform, the course includes interactions (for instance, through online discussion boards) with fellow students.
- The course utilizes hands-on, project-based exercises that help students put leadership strategies into action.
- The course acquaints students with important techniques, vocabulary, and norms within the world of leadership and management.
- The course is highly applicable to the contemporary, 21st-century leadership and management landscape.
10 Best Online Leadership and Management Courses
Udemy
Think Like a Leader With Brian Tracy
Intelligent Award: Top Pick
Udemy’s Think Like a Leader with Brian Tracy course is arguably the most accessible course included in this guide. It’s suitable for current or aspiring leaders in any kind of organization, club, or new business. The course focuses on very actionable daily habits and strategies that, taken as a whole, can transform your leadership capabilities and success. Establishing powerful daily habits and mindset shifts sets the stage for you to inspire, motivate, and lead others. The course is structured around the eight core pillars of effective leadership: Vision, Integrity, Strategic Planning, Project Management, Courage, Communication, Teamwork, and Action, and the relatively low time commitment of about three hours means you can complete all the segments in a day if you wish. You can also return to the course lectures and exercises several times for them to truly sink in. The relatively low time commitment, reasonable price point with a possible discount, and self-paced schedule can suit nearly any student.
- Price: $199.99, with the possibility of a steep discount
- Time to complete: 3 hours, 4 minutes
- Prerequisites required: No
- Flexible schedule: Yes
- Includes verified certificate of participation: Yes
Who should take this course? The accessible, actionable nature of this course makes it a great option for people who are already in leadership positions as well as people who aspire to leadership positions or are starting a new business.
| What we like | What we don’t like |
| Flexible scheduling. | No live interactions with faculty or fellow students. |
| Top-notch instructor. | |
| Very actionable tips and strategies. |
edX
Becoming a Successful Leader (Inclusive Leadership Training)
Intelligent Award: Most Affordable
EdX’s Becoming a Successful Leader (Inclusive Leadership Training) course is a great deal, you can take the entire course for free and upgrade to the verified track for $49. Whether you choose to audit the course for free or pay for the verified track, you get access to a month’s worth of material that focuses on 21st-century leadership. The course teaches you to embody empowerment, accountability, courage, and humility, key leadership skills linked to inclusive, successful teams. Through a combination of quick quizzes, case studies, hands-on exercises, and real-life success stories, you’ll prepare to create a Personal Leadership Plan that will guide your path forward after the course. Price: Free to audit, or upgrade to the verified track for $49
- Time to complete: Approximately 1 month for 1 to 2 hours per week
- Prerequisites required: No
- Flexible schedule: Yes
- Includes verified certificate of participation: Yes, if you upgrade to the verified track for $49
Who should take this course? This introductory course is great for students who are new to the realm of leadership and management and want to test the waters. Beginners can easily audit the course for free before deciding whether they want to continue with further training.
| What we like | What we don’t like |
| Possible to audit the course for free. | The free audit track provides limited instructor support and no feedback on assignments. |
| Flexible scheduling. | |
| Beginner-friendly. |
edX
MicroMasters® Program in Business Leadership
Intelligent Award: Most Comprehensive
EdX’s MicroMasters® Program in Business Leadership, run by the University of Queensland, Australia, is an intensive, comprehensive, self-paced program spanning 11 months, with approximately eight to 10 hours of work per week. Compared to the other courses included in this guide, EdX’s Business Leadership program requires a steeper time commitment because it is all about deep learning. The MicroMasters® Program consists of five graduate-level courses: Becoming an effective leader, leading the organization, leading high-performing teams, leading in a complex environment, and Business Leadership capstone assessment. Whether you’re an emerging or established organizational leader or manager, this sequence of courses can equip you with the theory and practice needed to take your leadership to the next level.
- Price: $1,347.30
- Time to complete: 11 months at 8 to 10 hours per week
- Prerequisites required: No
- Flexible schedule: Yes
- Includes verified certificate of participation: Yes
Who should take this course? This is the most comprehensive, time-intensive course included in this guide and is best suited to students who can invest a substantial amount of time and money into growing and refining their leadership skills.
| What we like | What we don’t like |
| Flexible scheduling. | The price point is relatively high. |
| Very comprehensive. | Weekly time commitment may be too steep for some students. |
| Combination of theory and practice. | The full program takes nearly a year to complete. |
edX
Agile Leadership Principles and Practices
Intelligent Award: Best for Project Managers
EdX’s Agile Leadership Principles and Practices is all about learning how to maximize the performance of a team in business or any other area. Whereas some other courses included in this guide underscore the key traits of effective leaders, this course centers on two very teachable skills, facilitation, and communication. Agile leadership refers to leadership that redefines and redistributes team roles to leverage the team’s full talent and potential. Like SR, Agile is a brand of leadership, and after completing this course, students can continue to further Agile courses and even pursue training to become an agile certified practitioner (PMI-ACP) or certified scrum master (CSM).
- Price: Free; add a verified certificate for $199
- Time to complete: 4 weeks at 2 to 3 hours per week
- Prerequisites required: No
- Flexible schedule: Yes
- Includes verified certificate of participation: Yes, with a $199 fee
Who should take this course? This is a great course for current or future project managers who want to learn the principles of Agile leadership for free relatively quickly.
| What we like | What we don’t like |
| Flexible scheduling. | High surcharge for a verified certificate. |
| Includes bonus videos on key topics. | Geared towards advanced students. |
| A possible stepping stone to further Agile training. |
Coursera
Building Your Leadership Skills
Intelligent Award: Best for Introspection and Personal Growth
Coursera’s Building Your Leadership Skills course emphasizes self-awareness and self-confidence as the foundation upon which great leadership is built. The course centers on a brand of leadership called “Savoir-Relier” (SR), which is based on trust and sense. SR relies heavily on introspection and personal growth, as well as relational skills and conversation. This course is the first of four in Inspirational Leadership: Leading with Sense Specialization, and is taught by a veteran professor and business leader who has written extensively about the power of SR. Students can elect to take this course or to complete the whole specialization. Compared to other courses included in this guide, this one focuses most strongly on leadership at the individual level, self-awareness, intuition, confidence, and trust.
- Price: $79 per month; financial aid available
- Time to complete: Approximately 15 hours
- Prerequisites required: No
- Flexible schedule: Yes
- Includes verified certificate of participation: Yes
Who should take this course? This is a great course for current or future leaders who want to invest in themselves by turning inward. At 15 hours, the course requires a decent time commitment, so it’s best for students who are committed to doing extensive self-inquiry. If you’ve heard of SR and want to learn more, this course is a great option.
| What we like | What we don’t like |
| Flexible scheduling. | The time commitment may be too steep for some students. |
| Beginner-friendly. | |
| Possible to take only this course or to complete the whole specialization. |
Coursera
Inspired Leadership Specialization
Intelligent Award: Best for Inspiration, Inclusivity, and Positive Change
The Inspired Leadership Specialization on Coursera is a bundle of five courses: Inspiring Leadership through Emotional Intelligence; Women in Leadership: Inspiring Positive Change, Conversations That Inspire: Coaching Learning, Leadership and Change; Leading Positive Change through Appreciative Inquiry; and Be a Leader, Develop a Leader. More so than any of the other courses featured in this guide, this course focuses on inclusive leadership and positive transformation. The course takes a holistic, mind-body approach to leadership and aims to help students build better relationships and take positive approaches to coach others to achieve their greatest potential. After completing this specialization, 50% of participants started a new career, and 18% got a pay increase or promotion.
- Price: 7-day free trial; $39 per month
- Time to complete: 8 months at 2 hours per week
- Prequisites required: No
- Flexible schedule: Yes
- Includes verified certificate of participation: Yes
Who should take this course? This course suits students who want to move through an extensive curriculum at a relaxed pace. The course is geared towards intermediate students of leadership and management.
| What we like | What we don’t like |
| Takes a mind-body approach. | The slower you take the courses, the more you pay for access. |
| Great for intermediate students. | |
| A bundle of courses as opposed to one course. |
Future Learn
Educational Leadership: Working for Good
Intelligent Award: Best for Education Professionals
Future Learn’s Educational Leadership: Working for Good is perfectly suited to educators and education professionals who want to learn to think differently about educational leadership. Whereas other courses included in this guide tout their hands-on and practical leadership solutions, this course specifically says it is not about quick fixes but rather about cultivating deeper, more critical thinking and developing your intellectual capacity. Students will explore different models of educational leadership, changes to the 21st-century landscape, comparisons between national and international school leadership, and how educational policies and systems impact leadership.
- Price: Free for five weeks; upgrade for $79; unlimited access for one year for $279.99
- omplete: 3 weeks (4 hours per week)
- Prerequisites required: No
- Flexible schedule: Yes
- Includes verified certificate of participation: Yes, with a $79 upgrade or $279.99 yearly access
Who should take this course? This course is well suited to aspiring and current leaders in education, such as teachers, principals, university administrators, corporate educators, and even government officials. It can be completed for free in less than a month, so it’s good for busy professionals.
| What we like | What we don’t like |
| Flexible scheduling. | Students might want more actionable strategies than this course provides. |
| Tailored to the education sector. | |
| Emphasizes critical thinking. |
Columbia University Business School
Digital Business Leadership Program
Intelligent Award: Best for the Digital Sector
Columbia Business School’s Digital Business Leadership Program is an intensive, comprehensive, dynamic sequence of courses geared specifically towards leaders in the digital business space. Like EdX’s MicroMasters® Program in Business Leadership, Columbia’s Business Leadership Program spans six months and contains multiple modules. Compared to other courses included in this guide, Columbia’s program requires participants to have a minimum of 10 years of work experience and prefers students to have extensive international exposure and experience. On average, participants have 20 years of work experience. The program incorporates online modules, live online sessions, and an in-person learning experience in New York City.
- Price: $32,000
- Time to complete: 6 months
- Prerequisites required: Yes; minimum of 10 years of work experience
- Flexible schedule: Yes and no; some recordings and discussions are live
- Includes verified certificate of participation: Yes
Who should take this course? This course is intense, expensive, and requires a substantial time commitment. It is designed for established business leaders who want to accelerate their performance and transform the digital space.
| What we like | What we don’t like |
| Very comprehensive. | High price point. |
| Taught by top business professionals and professors. | Somewhat inflexible scheduling. |
| Dynamic design with a combination of online, live online, and live in-person modules. | Not suited to beginners. |
LinkedIn Learning
Coaching Skills for Leaders and Managers
Intelligent Award: Best for Lunch-Hour Learning
LinkedIn Learning’s Coaching Skills for Leaders and Managers is a quick 34-minute course that can be completed during your lunch hour. It walks through the distinction between coaching, leading, and managing, and offers actionable tips and strategies for coaching in the business world. Students learn different coaching frameworks, how to set goals and give feedback as a coach, and how to work within the GROW coaching model. The course is divided into short, less than five minute segments, and each module ends with a quick quiz. This is the shortest course included in this guide.
- Price: 1-month free trial or $32
- Time to complete: 34 minutes
- Prerequisites required: No
- Flexible schedule: Yes
- Includes verified certificate of participation: Yes
Who should take this course? This course is excellent for busy managers and business leaders who want to spend less than an hour learning actionable coaching strategies they can immediately test out with their team.
| What we like | What we don’t like |
| Very short and actionable. | The limited scope of course due to length. |
| Can be completed for free. | Best suited to experienced business leaders or managers. |
| Strategies can be implemented immediately. |
Emeritus
Leading Organizations and Change
Intelligent Award: Best for Organizational Change
MIT Sloan School of Management faculty member Professor John van Maanen teaches this intensive course on Leading Organizations and Change. Some of the courses in this guide feature only video lectures and short assignments, but Emeritus’s Leading Organizations and Change course contains a mix of 65 video lectures, 7 assignments, 6 discussions, 4 case studies, 3 live teaching sessions, and 1 capstone simulation, making it very dynamic. Students learn MIT’s Four Capabilities Leadership Model and work through modules about perspectives on organizations, power and influence in organizations, organization networks, and a simulation developed by Harvard that puts all the teachings into practice.
- Price: $1,200
- Time to complete: 2 months at 2 to 4 hours per week
- Prerequisites required: No
- Flexible schedule: Yes, for the most part
- Includes verified certificate of participation: Yes
Who should take this course? This course is great for professionals that have the time and money to devote to learning best practices for steering an organization through change.
| What we like | What we don’t like |
| Great design and execution. | High price point. |
| Taught by a top organizational leadership professor. | Some inflexible scheduling. |
| Dynamic course structure. |
Online Leadership and Management Course Comparison Chart
| Course | Price | Features |
| Udemy — Think Like a Leader with Brian Tracy — Top Pick | $199, with a possible steep discount | ✓ No prerequisites required
✓ Flexible schedule ✓ Includes verified certificate of participation |
| edX — Becoming a Successful Leader (Inclusive Leadership Training) — Most Affordable | Free, or add a verified certificate for $49 | ✓ No prerequisites required
✓ Flexible schedule ✓ Includes verified certificate of participation (with $49 fee) |
| edX — MicroMasters® Program in Business Leadership — Most Comprehensive | $1347.30 | X No prerequisites required
✓ Flexible schedule ✓ Includes verified certificate of participation |
| edX — Agile Leadership Principles and Practices — Best for Project Managers | Free; add a verified certificate for $199 | ✓ No prerequisites required
✓ Flexible schedule ✓ Includes verified certificate of participation (with $199 fee) |
| Coursera — Building Your Leadership Skills — Best for Introspection and Personal Growth | 7-day full-access free trial; $79 per month | ✓ No prerequisites required
✓ Flexible schedule ✓ Includes verified certificate of participation |
| Coursera — Inspired Leadership Specialization — Best for Inspiration, Inclusivity, and Positive Change | Seven-day full-access free trial; $39 per month | ✓ No prerequisites required
✓ Flexible schedule ✓ Includes verified certificate of participation |
| Future Learn — Educational Leadership: Working for Good — Best for Education Professionals | Free for 5 weeks; upgrade for $79; full-year access for $279.99 | ✓ No prerequisites required
✓ Flexible schedule ✓ Includes verified certificate of participation |
| Columbia University Business School — Digital Business Leadership Program — Best for the Digital Sector | $32,000 | X No prerequisites required
X Flexible schedule ✓ Includes verified certificate of participation |
| LinkedIn Learning — Coaching Skills for Leaders and Managers — Best for Lunch-Hour Learning | One-month free trial, or $32 | ✓ No prerequisites required
✓ Flexible schedule ✓ Includes verified certificate of participation |
| Emeritus — Leading Organizations and Change — Best for Organizational Change | $1200 | ✓ No prerequisites required
✓ Flexible schedule ✓ Includes verified certificate of participation |
Tips for Succeeding in an Online Leadership and Management Course
1. Consider the cost
How much do online leadership and management classes cost?
Online leadership and management course costs vary widely. You can expect to spend from $0 to $32,000 for a comprehensive course run by an elite business and/or management school. Most fee-based courses offer you the option of making payments in installments as opposed to upfront in one lump sum. Furthermore, some courses charge by the month for course access, so the sooner you complete the course, the sooner you can stop paying the monthly fee. If you do not want or need a verified certificate after your course, then you can audit many courses for free.
Will my employer pay for me to take the course?
Employers often reimburse or help to subsidize the cost of professional development courses and programs for their employees. This is worth speaking to your boss or HR department about, especially if you are in a position of leadership or are managing a team. There is a good chance your employer will view the course as a worthwhile investment that will benefit the whole company.
2. Get your tech squared away
The online leadership and management courses featured in this guide do not require any fancy software or programs. You can engage with all the course materials through your web browser. Your computer will need to be able to support streaming video, so you’ll want to make sure you have a fast, reliable wifi connection and at minimum, an i5-level processor and 8 GB of RAM.
3. Use the right study resources
Many courses included in this guide are geared towards established leaders and managers. If you’re looking for beginner-friendly learning resources to engage with before or during your leadership and management course(s), here are a few good places to start: Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis and Annie McKee’s book Primal Leadership: Unleashing the Power of Emotional Intelligence, Jim Collins’ book Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap … and Others Don’t, and Steven R. Covey’s book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change.
Career Outlook for Leadership and Management Professionals
The skills you learn in an online leadership and management course are transferable to many domains, whether or not you’re an established leader or manager. Depending on your area of expertise, these courses might prepare you for a career or promotion in a school setting, a start-up, an established company or organization, or your own business. Leaders are needed in every industry. Below are additional jobs related to leadership and management:
Project management specialist
Project management specialists ensure teams complete projects accurately and on time by overseeing tasks and motivating team members. Project managers must be organized and capable of balancing multiple projects — approximately 60% of project managers are assigned to two to five cases and 26% regularly juggle six or more. Some businesses choose to hire project managers with technical expertise to promote better communication with staff they oversee, but business experience and project management or Agile certifications are also in high demand. The median salary for project management specialists is $94,500 annually.
Sales manager
Sales managers lead their employer’s sales teams. Though a sales manager’s duties vary based on the type and size of the organization that hired them, their job typically involves goal setting, data analysis, recruitment and training, sales projections, strategic planning, and more. Sales managers usually work in either business-to-business (B2B) or business-to-consumer (B2C) sales. Sales managers earn a median annual salary of $127,490 per year, which is usually the sum of their base salary (75%) and commission (25%).
Social and community service manager
Social and community service managers manage the employees and programs of nonprofit or government organizations that support public welfare and serve individuals who experience challenges, such as homelessness, aging, mental illness, addiction, and disability. Job growth in this field is 12%, which is significantly higher than the national average. Experts attribute most of this growth to the additional services the aging Baby Boomer generation requires. The annual salary for social and community service managers is $74,000.
Medical and health services manager
Individuals with careers in medical and health services management merge business and health care priorities to ensure hospitals and care facilities function as smoothly as possible. They plan, direct, and coordinate medical and health services — sometimes in a single department or medical practice and sometimes for an entire facility. In addition, medical and health services managers must adapt quickly to new technologies and ever-changing health care laws and regulations. The median salary for health services managers is $101,340 annually.
Educational requirements for careers in leadership and management
Unless an individual is pursuing a field like human resources management or health care administration, where a master’s degree is generally required, a bachelor’s degree is generally the minimum standard for a career in leadership and management. For professionals pursuing leadership roles in disciplines like project management and sales, advancement into supervisory positions is not uncommon with only a bachelor’s degree and appropriate certifications. Nonetheless, it’s always advantageous to pursue additional certifications when seeking a promotion or leadership role, as doing so demonstrates a willingness to pursue continued growth and learning and a dedication to staying up to date with the most recent resources and ideas in one’s field.
Frequently Asked Questions About Online Leadership and Management Courses?
Are there free online leadership and management courses?
There are some free leadership and management courses available online, some of which are featured in this guide. One thing to bear in mind is many platforms offer an “audit” version of their courses for free, but require you to pay a one-time or monthly fee if you wish to benefit from all the features of the course, such as instructor feedback, unlimited access to course materials, and a verified certificate of completion. It is typically the case that the deeper, more extensive, and more dynamic the course material and structure, the more the course will cost.
How long is the average online leadership and management course?
Online leadership and management courses can be as short as 30 minutes and as long as 11 months. Most courses run for approximately 1 to 2 months, with 2 to 3 hours of work per week.
What is a Leadership and Management course?
A course in leadership and management aims to teach you the habits of mind and practical tools and strategies to become an effective leader or manager. Some courses are geared towards a specific industry, such as education or tech, and others are broader and can be applied to many different domains. Some courses focus more on introspection, self-awareness, and becoming an “internal” leader before learning to lead others. On the other hand, some courses are less about turning inward and more about utilizing tried and true processes to inspire, build cohesion and play to team members’ strengths. It may be true that some people are “born leaders,” but it’s also true that leadership and management techniques can be taught. That’s what online leadership and management courses aim to do.