Can Leadership be taught? That’s a tough question, right?! Well, we have the answer. ‘yes, it can!’ We learnt a lot about Leadership, from Tracy Maylett, visiting professor from Brigham Young University, Utah and CEO at Decision Wise. This year marks a special anniversary, as it has been exactly ten years since he started teaching as a visiting professor in the MBA program. Tracy Maylett’s teaching style of discussing the theories of Leadership and sharing his personal experiences and insights with us as well as the case studies on how to build emotional intelligence and your own brand, helped us gain a deep understanding of the core of Leadership Principles. During the course we not only got to choose an industry relevant topic and present it to our classmates who had to give their feedback. We also conducted a survey at Pforzheim University, asking our fellow students about their ideal leader and work environment. Besides this, the 360 degree feedback, the Engagement MAGIC training and reading the Engagement MAGIC book, helped us look deep into our personalities, understand our roots and purpose of why we do what we do, and what engages us the most. It enabled us to build a strong foundation of ‘authentic Leadership.’ We learnt so much by doing, by observing, by reflecting and interacting with each other that we certainly feel more aware, motivated and in a position to self-reflect and regulate our thoughts and feelings in the pursuit of being the best versions of ourselves and bringing out the best in everyone around us.
Thanks, Prof. Maylett, for this class which has been a life-changing experience for many of us!

Text and photos: Aditya Yardi, MBA class of  2025