Programs / The Leadership Academy
Rising Leaders Development Course
RLDC 101 - Preparing to Lead
A foundational, interactive course for entry-level professionals that instills the mental skills and people skills needed in the workplace. It creates promotable team players in a professional setting.
25 peers
(1) 2-day in-person workshop
(5) small-team virtual leadership labs
Enrollment
Company Cohorts
Companies can create their own cohorts of up to 25 teammates in order to drive shared language, maximize communication, and build resilience and camaraderie. Once committed, it’s as easy as:
- Conduct a Standards Meeting
- Select the Personnel
- Determine Start Date
We’ll take it from there…it’s that easy.
Open Enrollment
Join a cohort of 25 peers and improve your promotability in the workplace!
Upcoming Courses
Who it's for
- Individuals seeking to advance into leadership
- College students preparing for entry into the workforce
- Company onboarding
- Company rewards or intern programs
The Challenge
Employers expect new workforce entrants to meet certain standards. Similarly, new hires have an expectation of their new employer. Both expectations are fair, but there are major gaps.
The National Association of Colleges and Employers surveyed 20,000+ students; new graduates rated their competencies differently than employers with leadership capabilities as the most extreme gap. These gaps highlight a disconnect of expectations that must be bridged through intentional training and development.
Left unaddressed, the costs are significant. More than half of hiring managers reported being involved in terminating a recent graduate in 2024, and the reasons they gave were rarely about knowledge – it was about failing to meet fundamental standards. Similarly, employee engagement is at its lowest point in a decade, and more than half of workers are unclear on what is expected of them.
The Objective
Mentally arm young professionals (soon entering or new to the workforce) with the tools to navigate forward with internal certainty in uncertain environments.
The Foundation
The program is built on the Leadership Traits and Principles of the U.S. Marine Corps – the benchmark standard for every Marine. Competence gets one promoted, but character keeps them moving forward.
The Experience
Six weeks. It opens with a two-day in-person workshop for the full cohort of up to 25, where all five modules are taught. Five weekly virtual labs follow, in small groups of up to five, where the material gets applied to real situations rather than reviewed. The workshop forges the insight; the labs make it stick.
(1) 2-day in-person workshop, full cohort of up to 25.
(5) weekly virtual meetings, small groups of up to 5.
Optional 1:1 guidance after the course ends.
The Course
Five modules are taught across the 2-day workshop and carried forward through leadership labs. Students learn what it means to control what they can, take responsibility, and find the value in being a victor rather than a victim. The content establishes the mental parameters that create resilience to change, then turns to how we show up for and interact with others. It starts with “me” and it ends with “we.”
Module 1 · Professional Presence
How you “show up” and are viewed in the room.
Module 2 · Owning the Outcome
The mindset: responsibility over excuses.
Module 3 · Overcoming Friction
Being resilient when conditions aren’t ideal.
Module 4 · Communicating to Connect
Developing the skills that build real working relationships.
Module 5 · Preparing for Promotion
Developing the intangibles that make you promotable.
The Outcome
People with the tools to navigate friction and uncertainty on purpose rather than by luck, a standard they can articulate, and the foundation to lead others later.
Sources. NACE (National Association of Colleges and Employers), 2024 Student Survey and Job Outlook 2025. Intelligent.com hiring-manager survey, December 2024 (n=1,000), published January 2025. Gallup, U.S. employee engagement, 2025.
Executive Summary
The one-page version of this course, built to forward to whoever signs off.
Next step
Seats open by cohort. Dates and pricing on request.