Developed by the National Command & Staff College

Emerging Leaders

Improve the leadership skills of law enforcement and military personnel — and deliver results with confidence. Emerging Leaders is an ACE-certified foundation of leadership principles, practices, and habits, proven across more than 11 million training hours since 2010.

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The Curriculum · ICLD I–IV

Four courses. One foundation.

Emerging Leaders is built as four progressive courses (ICLD 1–4) — 187 contact hours that move from principles, to practice, to real-world application, to mastery. Take the full college-transferable program, or complete the courses individually.

ICLD 142 Contact Hours

Foundations & Principles

Understand the true definition of policing and align your actions with the organizational mission. Explores leadership and ethics, the dilemmas facing law enforcement, and their impact on public trust and individual careers.

  • Leadership Principles
  • Leadership & Ethics
  • Effective Communication
  • Personal Leadership
  • Active Listening
ICLD 242 Contact Hours

Theories & Practices

Elevate organizational thought and team-building by studying the theories and practices of leaders across sectors who have driven significant change within their organizations.

  • Emotional Intelligence
  • Conflict Management
  • Good to Great
  • Start With the Why
  • Succession Planning
ICLD 347 Contact Hours

Application & Advancement

Concentrate on the human factors of police leadership and how they shape internal culture and external perception — emotional intelligence, self-awareness, and leadership styles from adaptive to servant to tactical.

  • Servant Leadership
  • Adaptive Leadership
  • Toxic Leadership
  • Tactical Leadership
  • Human Factors
ICLD 456 Contact Hours

Competency & Mastery

Based on extensive research and field testing, drawn from Every Officer Is a Leader: Coaching Leadership and Learning in Justice, Public Safety, and Security Organizations.

  • Grounding & Centering
  • Values & Vision
  • Time & Priority Management
  • Building Accountability
  • Coaching Other Leaders
Who It's For

Leadership at every rank.

  • Law enforcement and military personnel building leadership capacity
  • New and aspiring leaders preparing for their first role
  • Corrections and public-safety professionals at any rank
  • Agencies developing a consistent leadership pipeline
  • Anyone who leads within their sphere of influence
Learning Outcomes

Seven outcomes.

01A functional knowledge of your leadership style and strengths.
02An understanding of the foundation and principles of leadership.
03Recognition of your personal potential to enhance leadership capacity.
04A functional knowledge of how to lead organizational change.
05An understanding of the value of teamwork.
06The ability to assess and improve leadership climate and agency culture.
07Practical critical-thinking and value-based decision-making skills.
Enrollment

Two ways to complete it.

Earn college-transferable credit with the full ACE-certified program, or complete the four ICLD courses individually. Agency and enterprise purchases are available with significant discounts.

College Transferable · EL-IAPS

Emerging Leaders — Full Program

$2,400 / participant

The complete 187-hour program with American Council on Education college credit — 6 upper-division semester hours (ACE Course No. 0002). Includes the Emerging Leadership Certification digital badge.

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Individual Courses

ICLD 1–4 — Non-Transfer

$1,600 total · taken separately

Prefer to go course by course without college transfer credit? Complete ICLD 1, 2, 3, and 4 individually at your own pace.

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ACE College Credit Recommendation

In the upper-division baccalaureate category, 6 semester hours in organizational leadership, public safety leadership, or sociology (10/19). Credit type: undergraduate level · ACE Course No. 0002. View the official listing and ACE member universities on the ACE National Registry.

Program Details

The essentials.

Length
187 hrsSelf-paced · 1 year to complete
College Credit
6 ACE HoursUpper-division · Course No. 0002
Tuition
$2,400Or $1,600 as ICLD 1–4
Assessment
80% to PassQuizzes, papers & final exam

One stage of one ecosystem.

Emerging Leaders is the foundation, but leadership doesn't stop here. Every stage connects back into the MAGNUS | ONE ecosystem through coaching, reinforcement, AI, assessments, and measurable progress — so growth continues long after the program ends.

Start building leaders at every rank.

Bring Emerging Leaders to your agency — available for individuals or as an agency and enterprise purchase with significant discounts.

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