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Solve a company challenge in this 3-week business leadership academy for high school students at UCLA Anderson.
Rated 4.6 out of 5 for classroom experience by students who took this course in 2026.
Course Description
The market changes, the numbers are uncertain, and your team disagrees about the next move. Work through the evidence and make a recommendation you can explain.
In this course you will explore strategy, finance, and leadership through business cases and simulations. SWOT analysis looks at strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats; competitive analysis puts a company alongside its rivals. Read basic financial statements, compare business models, and examine how an organization creates value.
Leadership workshops bring communication, ethics, teamwork, and conflict resolution into those decisions. Try adapting your approach to different situations, then use feedback and reflection to notice your strengths and where you can improve.
For the team capstone, act as management consultants to an entertainment-industry company facing a significant challenge. Define the problem, study the company and market, and weigh financial and ethical implications. Your final recommendation and presentation bring the analysis together with the work of guiding a team toward a decision.
This three-week full-day high school academy takes place at UCLA Anderson School of Management in Los Angeles, California. The program is developed by UCLA Anderson and offered in partnership with Summer Discovery. The academy is available to residential and commuter students.
What You Will Do
• Analyze business cases and identify the decisions leaders must make
• Use SWOT and competitive analysis to evaluate a company’s position
• Read basic financial statements and connect numbers to strategy
• Compare leadership styles through simulations and team challenges
• Practice ethical decision-making, communication, and conflict resolution
• Develop and present a team consulting recommendation
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, students will be able to:
• Analyze a business challenge using strategic and financial evidence
• Apply communication and ethical reasoning to team decisions
• Support a consulting recommendation with evidence and an explanation of its tradeoffs
You’ll leave with your team’s consulting presentation and a certificate of completion.
Why Business Leadership Skills Matter
Business leadership is the ability to make sound decisions and help others move toward a shared goal. Strategic analysis teaches students to separate symptoms from the underlying problem, while basic financial literacy helps them test whether an idea is realistic.
Leadership also depends on communication, self-awareness, and judgment. Comparing different approaches shows that no single style works in every situation. Students learn to listen, manage disagreement, explain tradeoffs, and adjust how they contribute to a team. Those skills matter in school organizations, group projects, internships, community work, and future study across business and many other fields.
Who Should Attend?
For students who have completed 9th, 10th, 11th, or 12th grade.
If you enjoy solving a problem with a group or wonder how a leader makes a difficult call, this academy lets you try those decisions through cases and simulations. You’ll work with basic financial information, compare viewpoints, and contribute to a team recommendation while reflecting on your own approach.
Students must demonstrate academic achievement with mostly A and/or B grades in their high school courses.
Recommended by More Than 4 out of 5 Students
Based on students surveyed in Summer Discovery’s 2026 UCLA high school program.
Your Summer at UCLA Anderson School of Management
UCLA Anderson’s Foundations in Business Leadership Academy gives students a college-level introduction to business in Los Angeles, where established companies, startups, entertainment firms, and global brands operate side by side. Led by UCLA Anderson, the academy uses business cases, industry perspectives, team decisions, and an entertainment-company capstone to connect leadership principles with the way organizations actually work.
Students build practical skills in analysis, strategy, communication, collaboration, and presentation. Residential life and activities extend the student experience beyond the classroom. Living alongside peers and navigating a new environment help students gain independence while testing how they approach complex choices and group work. They leave with a clearer sense of whether business, management, entrepreneurship, or organizational leadership may be worth pursuing further.
After successfully finishing this course, you will be awarded a certification completion for your accomplishment.
*This is a preview, not what you will receive
UCLA Anderson School of Management
UCLA Anderson School of Management
UCLA Anderson School of Management
UCLA Anderson School of Management