Online leadership courses for every age
Leadership can be taught — and it should be taught early. The academy offers online leadership courses for children, youth, and adults: structured programs, real teaching, and certificates from an American leadership academy founded in 2010.
Children
The Young Leader: an 8-level online leadership journey that builds confidence, communication, and character.
Explore The Young LeaderYouth
Teen leadership training for the years that decide direction — self-leadership, communication, and real-world readiness.
Explore Youth CoursesAdults
Leadership courses for working adults — starting with DISLEADERSHIP, the study of why leaders fail and how not to.
Explore Adult CoursesLeadership is a taught skill — not a personality type
Most people meet leadership training for the first time in their thirties, after their habits are already formed. We built the academy on the opposite conviction: leadership is a skill like reading or mathematics — it can be taught, practiced, and measured at every age. That’s why our online leadership courses run from childhood through adulthood, on one connected philosophy, taught under one academy.
Every course is delivered online, structured level by level or module by module, and finishes with an academy certificate — so progress is always visible, for a nine-year-old or a nine-year manager.
Children — The Young Leader
Ages 5–12 · Online · 8 levelsConfidence, communication, and character — built level by level
The Young Leader is an online leadership program for children that treats leadership the way schools treat reading: as a skill with levels. Across eight structured levels, children learn to speak with confidence, take responsibility, work with others, and lead themselves first — through illustrated stories, an Interactive AI Book that reads along with them, and games and quizzes that make every lesson stick.
- ✓Interactive AI Book on every level — read-along narration, simplified text and translation
- ✓One skill focus per level: confidence, friendliness, helping, listening, and more
- ✓A badge and certificate at every level — children see their own progress
- ✓Parent progress reports and safe-by-design accounts, with no unmonitored interaction
The NLA Kit
Thousands of interactive activities, e-books and rhymes, personalised learning journeys and parent resources — the digital library that surrounds every level of The Young Leader.
Explore the KitYouth
Ages 13–18 · Online · For teens
Leadership training for the years that decide direction
The teenage years are where self-leadership is won or lost — study habits, confidence, peer pressure, and first responsibilities. The upper levels of The Young Leader give teens the tools adults usually get twenty years too late: inclusive leadership, team problem solving, and a capstone project where they lead something real.
- ✓Self-leadership first — habits, goals, and personal responsibility
- ✓Communication and confidence for school, applications, and first jobs
- ✓A capstone project: teens lead something, not just learn about leading
- ✓A leadership certificate that stands out on applications
Adults
Working professionals · Online · Certificate coursesPractical leadership education for working professionals
Adult courses at the academy are built for people already in the arena — managers, professionals, and founders who need leadership skills that apply the same week, not theory for someday. Each course is online, structured, and finishes with an academy certificate. And each one connects to the rest of NLA: start with a leadership assessment, deepen with a course, and go further with one-on-one coachingwhen you’re ready.
- ✓Online and structured — built around a working schedule
- ✓Certificate of completion from the National Leadership Academy
- ✓Taught by Dr. Alex Jones — professor, author, certified John Maxwell coach
- ✓A growing course catalog, launched one course at a time
DISLEADERSHIP
The academy’s first adult course begins where most leadership training won’t: with failure. DISLEADERSHIP teaches the habits, blind spots, and decisions that quietly destroy leaders — so you can recognize them in others and eliminate them in yourself. Twenty chapters, a bonus section, and an official certificate.
Join the Founding ClassTwelve institutes, one leadership academy
DISLEADERSHIP is where new students start. Behind it sits the full catalog — specialized institutes that adult courses are built from, each one a distinct leadership discipline taught the NLA way: practical, structured, and certificate-backed.
Institute of Leadership — CLP
Certified Leadership Professional: strategic vision, change, EQ, governance, teams, data-driven decisions, executive presence and resilience.
Institute 02Institute of Coaching — CCP
Certified Coaching Professional: ICF-aligned coaching foundations, GROW and the core frameworks, executive and team coaching, ethics, and coaching culture.
Institute 03Emotional Intelligence — CEIP
Certified Emotional Intelligence Professional: the three EI frameworks, self-awareness, regulation, empathy, social skills, and EI culture.
Institute 04Institute of Change
Transformation, resistance, change communication, and organizational transition.
Institute 05Institute of Motivation — CMP
Certified Motivational Professional: motivation theory, the neuroscience of behavior change, motivational communication, team culture, engagement and retention, KPIs and sustainability.
Institute 06Institute of Sales
Consultative selling, trust, pipeline thinking, persuasion, and relationship management.
Institute 07Public Speaking — CPSP
Certified Public Speaking Professional: executive presence and the GCA model, persuasion and storytelling, the Pyramid Principle, virtual and hybrid delivery, crisis communication and cross-cultural fluency.
Institute 08Institute of Strategy — CSTP
Certified Strategy Professional: PESTEL and Five Forces, the Strategy Diamond, competitive intelligence, BCG and GE-McKinsey portfolio strategy, Balanced Scorecard execution, digital transformation, TSR and governance.
Institute 09Institute of Negotiation — CNP
Certified Negotiation Professional: BATNA and ZOPA, Harvard 7-Element preparation, power and leverage, persuasion, advanced tactics, cross-cultural deal-making, deal structuring and negotiation ethics.
Institute 10Institute of Project Management — CPMP
Certified Project Management Professional: PMBOK 7 principles and performance domains, scope and integration, schedule and cost, quality and resources, risk and procurement, stakeholders, agile and hybrid delivery, strategic governance.
Institute 11Institute of Artificial Intelligence — CAIP
Certified Artificial Intelligence Professional: AI foundations and strategy, machine learning and deep learning, generative AI and LLMs, ethics and responsible AI, AI in operations, data science, and AI leadership.
Institute 12Institute of Human Resources — CHRP
Certified Human Resources Professional: strategic HR and the Ulrich model, talent acquisition and workforce planning, employee relations and labour law, total rewards, performance management, learning and development, HR analytics and HR ethics.
Institute 13Team Building
Trust, collaboration, psychological safety, accountability, and team performance.
Coming soon
A new discipline joins the curriculum — announced when it opens.
Coming soon
A new discipline joins the curriculum — announced when it opens.
Take the whole catalog with one membership
Individual courses are $99.90 each with 1-year access. A membership opens DISLEADERSHIP, every institute and every Young Leader level at once — and starts with a 7-day free trial. Looking for business fundamentals instead? See the Mini MBA.
Take the Leadership Assessment
Find out your leadership style with the Maxwell Method Report before choosing a course or coach — it's the lowest-commitment first step.
Take the AssessmentGo Further with Coaching
Courses teach the framework; coaching applies it to your exact role. Pair any adult course with executive coaching or corporate training.
Explore CoachingSimple by design — five steps from enrollment to certificate
Enroll
Choose the course or level and enroll online in minutes.
Access
Get your learning portal — schedule, materials and lessons in one place.
Learn
Guided lessons and interactive reading with real teaching, not just videos.
Practice & assess
Apply each skill and complete the level or module assessment.
Certificate
Earn your academy certificate — and see the next step in your journey.
All you need is an internet connection and a browser — no special software. See what’s included →
Taught by an educator with 15+ years in leadership
Dr. Alex Jones— university professor, author of three leadership books and a children’s book, certified John Maxwell coach and trainer, and Forbes Coaches Council member — founded the academy in 2010 on one conviction: leadership can be taught at every age. He designs and teaches the academy’s programs personally.
His story →Academy FAQ
Find the right course — for you or your child
Not sure where to begin? Tell us who’s learning and we’ll point you to the right program — or start with a membership and open everything at once.