There are universal qualities that make a good leader. But in the military, a more specific skillset is needed—especially when operating in international settings.
International relations master’s degree programs can help you develop the following qualities and gain important skills necessary to stand out from your peers and advance your military career:
Vision and Purpose: If you don’t know where you’re going, you won’t know how to get there. International relations (IR) coursework provides you with the foundational knowledge that will broaden your understanding of global issues to help you align your inner ambition with a clearly defined vision and purpose for your military career. Through theory and history courses, you’ll gain knowledge of concepts, organizations, and policy debates in the field of international relations, which will help you set a course for a fulfilling military path that will best serve you and your country.
Determination: You’ve already proven your determination in the military. Your training will help you take it to the next level by supporting your critical and analytical skills to help you dig into the details to complete the job. Quantitative methods courses will help you sharpen your organizational, critical, and quantitative data analysis skills, allowing you to gain an understanding of statistical concepts and methods of analysis in the IR field.
Self-Assurance: Functioning in a different culture can be a difficult thing to do. That’s especially the case if the sensitive dynamics of conflict and diversity adversely affect your presence on foreign soil. When interacting with any new culture, the more you know, the better off you’ll be, especially in unexpected situations. Courses that strive to teach intercultural communication will help you acquire the ability to speak with confidence and act with certainty under new or unfamiliar circumstances.
Open-Mindedness: If there’s one must-have tool in your international toolbox, it’s an open mind. Without it, the variations of cultural diversity may hinder your ability to form essential relationships and inhibit your ability to do something that all successful leaders need to do: Think out of the box. Professional skills courses will help you appreciate how culturally determined values, beliefs, and worldviews shape behavior at all levels. Furthermore, possessing the ability to maintain an open mind will help you lead your peers to be more culturally tolerant.
Eagerness To Learn: Military members serving abroad frequently encounter unexpected situations—and a willingness to learn from those situations is crucial. This quality supports all the others, since acting upon it will help you infuse your leadership with vision, determination, self-assurance, and open-mindedness. IR coursework supports ambitious learners by providing foundational knowledge and allowing you to build your critical and analytical skills, develop professionally, and widen your field of expertise in international relations.
An international relations graduate program can help to advance your career in the military now and in the future, and it can even help if you decide to accept one of the many private sector international relations jobs that require the kind of education an IR degree provides.
If you are interested in learning more about International Relations graduate programs, check out these resources from Foreign Policy magazine and the Christian Science Monitor.
