All students begin the course with the first two mandatory units. The remaining elective units will take place in their dedicated intake months. If you're completing a Master's, you'll also do the final Major Project. We're committed to making sure that your learning is set within an ethical framework by embedding UAL’s Principles for Climate, Social and Racial Justice into this online course.
Rethinking Leadership Narratives: Past, Present, Future (30 credit mandatory unit)
What is — and has been — the role of creativity in leadership?
This first mandatory unit explores how ideas about leadership have changed over time, and how creativity has shaped those ideas. You’ll examine key leadership theories, real case studies and major cultural, social and political events from the mid‑twentieth century to today. You’ll also explore issues such as power, inequality and ethics in leadership. By analysing how leadership stories are created and challenged, you’ll build strong critical and creative thinking skills that prepare you for leading in complex, fast-changing environments.
Creative Leadership as Practice (30 credit mandatory unit)
How do you understand yourself as a creative leader?
Explore leadership as a lived, ethical and creative practice. You’ll reflect on your own values, motivations and ambitions, and consider how creativity shapes your vision and the kind of change you want to make. Through practical activities, small leadership interventions and reflective inquiry, you’ll experiment with new ways of leading that embrace curiosity, resilience and empathy. You’ll develop a personal example of creative leadership in action, gaining confidence in expressing your leadership identity and applying creative methods to real‑world challenges.
Creative Leadership for Complex Worlds (30 credit elective unit)
How can we reframe complex challenges to reveal opportunity and possibility?
Learn to understand and work with the complex systems that shape our world - from technology and globalisation to sustainability, inequality and rapid social change. Using design, systems and futures thinking, you’ll explore how to map problems, uncover hidden dynamics and identify opportunities for positive transformation. Drawing on live case studies, you’ll practise applying creative strategies to challenges such as AI, climate impact or urban change, developing the confidence to lead with clarity, imagination and purpose in uncertain environments.
Ethics, Power and Responsibility (30 credit elective unit)
How do identities and lived experiences inform how you practice and facilitate creative leadership?
Explore how power, identity and ethics shape leadership in real‑world contexts. You’ll examine how factors such as gender, race, class, disability and culture influence whose voices are heard and how decisions are made. Through case studies from the creative and cultural industries and beyond, you’ll analyse different ethical leadership approaches - including feminist, intersectional, sustainable and digital leadership. You’ll reflect on your own positionality and learn how creative leaders can support fairness, visibility and positive change across communities, organisations and society.
Creative Leadership for Intercultural Environments (30 credit elective unit)
How do creative leaders build and sustain intercultural and inclusive teams, communities and organisations?
In this unit, you’ll learn to lead confidently across cultures, identities and perspectives. You’ll explore the skills needed to build inclusive, collaborative and diverse teams in a global but often divided world. Through shared peer experiences, practical case studies and real examples, you’ll develop the ability to navigate difference with sensitivity and creativity. You’ll examine how creative leadership can challenge exclusion and support equitable participation. By the end, you’ll prototype new approaches to intercultural leadership and create a cultural playbook for an organisation or sector of your choice.
Creative Leadership in Action (30 credit final MA unit)
How can your creative leadership practice model tangible change?
In this Final Project unit, you’ll bring together everything you’ve learned to design and lead your own creative leadership project. Using a structured design process, you’ll research a real context, identify opportunities for impact, develop ideas, test a prototype and communicate your outcomes to a chosen audience. Either working within or reflecting on a professional, organisational or community setting, you’ll demonstrate your values, creativity and leadership approach. This unit builds your confidence, autonomy and professional skills, preparing you to lead purposeful change in your future career.