At EMLV Business School, all students take part in a comprehensive five-year Soft Skills programme. Its culmination: a 30-hour Leadership Seminar delivered in both French and English to nearly 1,500 French and international students across the school.
The seminar invites future managers to reflect on their experiences, their values, and the kind of leaders they aspire to become.
A Five-Year Journey in Personal and Interpersonal Development
Soft skills are a distinctive feature of EMLV’s Programme Grande École-Master in Management, designed to shape professionals capable of navigating uncertainty, working across disciplines, and leading with empathy.
From the first year to the final stage of the Master’s in Management, students progressively build self-knowledge, emotional intelligence, and communication skills — all recognised by the World Economic Forum as key competencies for the future of work.
The Leadership Seminar represents the final step of this developmental path. Conducted over one week and supported by 48 professional coaches, it provides an in-depth, experiential exploration of what it means to lead ethically and effectively in a complex world.
Learning to Lead: Reflection, Analysis, and Practice
The seminar begins by drawing on prior experiences — academic, professional, associative, or intercultural — allowing students to analyse real situations where they have taken, observed, or been influenced by leadership.
Through practical frameworks and case discussions, participants learn to identify the many forms leadership can take: managerial, transversal, or expert.
At the core of the seminar lies the Leadership Effectiveness Analysis (LEA) model developed by MRG, a reference tool that helps participants examine their leadership styles and behavioural patterns.
By analysing how they act and react in professional settings, students gain practical tools to interpret both their own approach and the leadership of others — colleagues, clients, or managers.
During the Leadership Seminar at EMLV
Understanding Personality and Motivation
To deepen this self-analysis, students revisit the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), one of the world’s most widely used personality frameworks.
The exercise helps them identify their preferences, understand how they interact with different profiles, and recognise what type of leadership resonates most with them.
Building on this, the seminar explores career anchors and motivation factors, helping participants clarify what drives them in the workplace, the kind of organisational culture they seek, and the values they consider non-negotiable.
This holistic approach connects self-knowledge with adaptability — essential in global, diverse, and technology-driven environments.
Diversity and International Perspectives at EMLV
The English-taught sessions of the Leadership Seminar gathered 147 students from EMLV and ESILV, representing 21 nationalities and the multicultural character of the De Vinci Higher Education ecosystem.
Among the EMLV participants, the largest groups were from India, followed by Italy, Morocco, and students from Germany, the United States, Austria, Cambodia, Cameroon, China, Spain, Lithuania, Romania, and Russia.
These diversity-enriched classroom discussions enable students to explore how cultural backgrounds shape perceptions of leadership, communication, and collaboration.
It also reflected one of the school’s key strengths: preparing future managers to operate across multicultural and interdisciplinary contexts.
From Reflection to Expression: “Me as a Leader Tomorrow”
The programme culminates with an individual presentation entitled “Me as a Leader Tomorrow.” Each student delivers a short pitch summarising their leadership vision — not as a theoretical exercise, but as a sincere statement of intent.
Evaluated on public speaking and authenticity, this final exercise emphasises purpose over performance: What impact do I want to have? In what context do I wish to express my leadership? What will remain essential to me, regardless of circumstances?
This year, the reflection was deliberately detached from specific career plans to encourage students to focus on meaning and values rather than job titles—a choice that resonated strongly in today’s uncertain professional landscape.
During the individual presentation entitled “Me as a Leader Tomorrow”.
Forming Leaders for a Changing World
For EMLV, leadership is not a position of authority but a process of self-awareness, understanding, and adaptability.
The seminar embodies the school’s humanistic and hybrid approach: training managers who combine strategic thinking with emotional intelligence, capable of acting responsibly in complex, multicultural contexts.
“Understanding yourself is the foundation of understanding the world you will lead in,” explains Cécile Dupire, Soft Skills and Leadership Programme Coordinator at De Vinci Higher Education.
Interested in a management education that places human development at the heart of leadership?
Learn more about the EMLV Master in Management – Programme Grande École, accredited AACSB, AMBA, and EFMD, and discover how the school trains hybrid, responsible leaders ready to navigate technological and societal transitions.
