Applying Valuable Principles in an Executive Leadership Role

Last Updated October 24, 2024

The description of “natural born leader” is often applied to those who swiftly rise up the ranks of leadership to the C-suite, overlooking that this “rise” is usually propelled by career-long leadership development. For Ellen Bower, leadership development was her first job after completing her bachelor’s in cellular and molecular biology.

“Throughout my collegiate experience I was an active member of Phi Mu Fraternity, which led me to my first post-graduate career,” Bower explains. “Following graduation, I spent two years traveling the country as a Leadership Consultant with the Fraternity teaching young collegiates about leadership development.”

With this experience in leadership development and her undergraduate degree in the sciences, Ellen decided to merge “my passion for medicine, science, and leadership” and “jumped into a role in Healthcare Administration. It was a great fit for me, and I was able to grow in various healthcare leadership roles.”

Looking for Leadership Fit

A “natural born leader” knows that to keep growing you have to keep going in your leadership development and education. Ellen just needed to find the “fit” she was looking for. 

“I spent several years looking at various master’s programs, and content and fit were very important to me,” she says “I was looking for something that was more well-rounded than the traditional MBA or MHA that most of my peers possessed. While the skills gained in those programs [are] important, I wanted something that would add different tools to my toolbox and set me apart as a growing leader.”

Ellen found her fit in Michigan State University’s online Master of Science in Management, Strategy and Leadership (MSMSL), stating the program “intrigued me from the beginning. It seemed to be a merger for me of all the areas that I was passionate about and brought a different perspective on the traditional business school experience.”

Once she was in the program, Ellen found the experience “far exceeded my expectations. Not only was I learning valuable business content that I could apply in real time to my career, but it brought me together with individuals from so many different industries that it helped me realize that the approach to any business topic is in the eye of the beholder. The vantage point in which you approach a business negotiation, a strategy meeting, or human resources content can vary widely based on your past experiences but also your industry. The MSMSL has opened doors for me professionally, but it has also opened my eyes to lead differently than I did before obtaining my degree.”

Stepping Up Into the C-Suite

After completing her Master of Science in Management, Strategy and Leadership degree in 2017, Ellen was “ready for the next professional step.” Little did she know that the next professional step would also be a personal one for her family and herself.

Ellen and her husband, who holds “two graduate degrees and was patient and supportive through the whole process” as she completed her graduate program, began looking together for opportunities for professional growth where they could challenge and cheer on one another.  This led Ellen, her husband and their young son to relocate from Southern Illinois to Tampa, Florida in March 2018. Her husband pursued a new role and Ellen found her opportunity at Women’s Care Florida.

In June of 2020, Ellen became the Chief Operating Officer of Women’s Care Florida, with Alistair Madle, CEO of Women’s Care Florida, recognizing her as the embodiment of “our core values of accountability, excellence and quality” in the press release announcement.     

In taking on this leadership position, Ellen can see the “multitude of ways that my MSMSL program helped prepare me for my role as COO.”

“The program itself gave me valuable tools…and keys to being a better leader,” she explains. “I negotiate multiple contracts daily and the skills I learned I use every day in my new role, and I am often complemented by peers on my approach and success. This is a direct reflection from real life applicable skills I learned in the MSMSL program.”

For this reason, Ellen says her “favorite class and principle that stands out to me was the course work we did around negotiations.”

As a female in the often male-dominated executive ranks, “I often felt less powerful walking into these discussions and like the person across the table held the winning hand,” she explains. “The class gave me real-life, practical skills in negotiation that I use daily in my career. It gave me confidence to enter into negotiations with poise and purpose.”

With the experience and knowledge she has gained, Ellen is equipped and empowered to manage these situations utilizing the principles of effective of management.

“The collaborative nature of the C-suite is most effective when you have sharp skills around effective management,” she explains. “In several of our management classes we learned valuable principles for managing a team, whether that is a team of direct reports or managing within a team of peers.”

Now that those peers are fellow C-suite executives, Ellen feels adequately prepared to engage them with a “confidence in my knowledge, to walk into a room of seasoned financial and business executives and hold my own.”

Positioning Yourself for Success

From Ellen’s vantage point, this is exactly what the Master of Science in Management, Strategy and Leadership can help you to do, noting how the knowledge and tools she has gained have “helped me accelerate my career and position myself successfully for promotions.”

“Having a business degree from the Broad School sets you apart from your peers; it is a well-respected school and it assisted with networking and support,” she says. “It is a valuable network of peers.”

To those professionals who are looking to further develop themselves as leaders and are considering MSU’s M.S. in Management, Strategy and Leadership program, Ellen has these words:

“I would tell them to not think twice. They will not regret their time in the program and…it will give them an experience they can walk away from feeling not only proud but [also] that they have unmatched applicable skills to market. The perspective on business that they will gain with so many individuals from different industries will be so valuable to their success, no matter the industry they work in.”

Just as important as the perspective gained from the MSU MSMSL program is the perspective you bring into it. For Ellen, that meant looking at success from the perspective of her smallest “cheerleader” but biggest fan, her son, who was only two years old when she started the journey towards her graduate degree.

“I want to be a role model to him that you can do anything you put your mind to,” she says. “The world is his for the taking if he is willing to work hard and put his mind to it.”

Start positioning yourself for success as a leader with a Master of Science in Management, Strategy and Leadership from MSU.