Business Badger Badges
Build leadership skills. Enhance your résumé.
Why earn a Business Badger Badge?
Business Badger Badges is a cocurricular leadership program at the Wisconsin School of Business. This customizable program includes workshops, conferences, case competitions, and more. You earn digital badges to display on your LinkedIn profile or résumé to demonstrate expertise in an area of leadership.
Communicate your interpersonal, collaborative, and critical thinking skills to employers.
Gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace.
Connect with students in group activities and grow leadership skills fit for the business world.
Badges
Personal Leadership Styles
This badge helps you explore your leadership, strengths, and interpersonal styles while enhancing your ability to recognize and adapt to different styles of others. It builds off the introduction to leadership theories from the Personal and Professional Foundations of Business (PPFB) course. Badge progress and reflection submissions will all be tracked in the Suitable app. Register your account now.
Learning outcomes
- Gain a high level of self-awareness regarding your leadership abilities
- Learn to coach and develop others
- Articulate a personal leadership style statement
- Attend 3 workshops from the Self-Awareness category
- Attend 3 workshops from the Interpersonal Communication category
Participate in the ALC Leadership Conference in the Fall, or the All Campus Leadership Conference in the Spring.
- Attend a 30-min. Leadership Coaching Session with a Leadership & Engagement staff member to discuss your experiences and how you can showcase them to potential employers (and others).
Use Starfish to schedule this after you’ve completed most of the workshops/events for this badge.
- Choose between a written response or a video submission to respond to a few targeted questions about what you’ve learned from your badge experience.
Group Dynamics
Today’s collaborative work environments need people who can manage teams and be good team members. Gain a deeper understanding of group dynamics and focus on competencies related to collaboration and supporting the learning and development of others. Learn to work well within a team structure, negotiate and manage conflict within a group, and build tools to develop and motivate others.
Learning outcomes
- Learn skills to optimize group work
- Understand that conflict can serve to expose new solutions to complex problems + be able to address and manage conflict appropriately
- Develop tools in motivation, coaching, and providing feedback
- Attend 3 workshops from the Bridge-Building and Collaboration category
- Attend 3 workshops from the Learning and Development of Others category
- Participate in a Case Competition
- Submit a 1-page paper discussing the stages of Tuckman’s model of Group Dynamics that you observed within your case competition group.
Note: The ALC hosts two case competitions each year, but any business-themed case competition will count towards this badge. Simply submit proof of your participation in Suitable.
- Attend a 30-min. Leadership Coaching Session with a Leadership & Engagement staff member to discuss your experiences and how you can showcase them to potential employers (and others).
Use Starfish to schedule this after you’ve completed most of the workshops/events for this badge.
- Choose between a written response or a video submission to respond to a few targeted questions about what you’ve learned from your badge experience.
Inclusive Leadership
Gain an understanding of social justice concepts and the role that diversity and identity play in the enhancement of teams and businesses. Learn to acknowledge various backgrounds/identities and help create inclusive and welcoming environments. The goal of the badge is to empower you to find a way to self-direct your on-going DEI education by selecting your own experience to complete with some helpful guidance from our team.
Learning outcomes
- Build a strong understanding of the social identities you hold and how they impact your viewpoints and experiences
- Develop the capacity to understand various group cultures and acknowledge the impact of negative stereotypes
- Help others recognize the value of diversity within a group
- Contribute to an inclusive environment by working to remove cultural barriers and assumptions
- Attend 3 workshops from the Context and Culture category
- Attend 3 workshops from the Inclusive Engagement category
- We will provide various experiences that will count towards this badge requirement – keep an eye on your email and/or Suitable for these options.
or
- At any point you can attend, participate in, and/or create your own meaningful experience that explores an aspect of diversity. Ask a member of the Leadership & Engagement team for more information about this, and be sure to submit an approval request in Suitable.
- Attend a 30-min. Leadership Coaching Session with a Leadership & Engagement staff member to discuss your experiences and how you can showcase them to potential employers (and others).
Use Starfish to schedule this after you’ve completed most of the workshops/events for this badge.
- Choose between a written response or a video submission to respond to a few targeted questions about what you’ve learned from your badge experience.
Leading for Change
In an ever-evolving business environment, recognizing and harnessing the benefits of change is essential to effective leadership. Content for this badge will equip students with the knowledge and skills to analyze situations on personal and organizational levels to identify opportunities for positive change and develop strategies for implementation. A strong emphasis is placed on identifying and engaging stakeholders in the change process.
Learning outcomes
- Students will be able to identify, align, and pursue goals that are mutually beneficial for various stakeholders involved in a change process
- Students will be able to identify opportunities for positive change and articulate a compelling vision that inspires groups to engage in the change process
- Students will be comfortable developing a clear course of action to implement ideas and proposals for positive change
- Attend 3 ALC workshops from the Ideas into Action category
- Attend 3 ALC workshops from the Connection and Community category
- Participate in our Change Forum and complete a Change Action Plan
A Change Action Plan is a plan you will create for a tangible project. Completion of the project itself is not necessary for this badge, but the Change Forum will walk you through the planning steps so you can use this process in other areas.
- Attend a 30-min. Leadership Coaching Session with a Leadership & Engagement staff member to discuss your experiences and how you can showcase them to potential employers (and others).
Use Starfish to schedule this after you’ve completed most of the workshops/events for this badge.
- Choose between a written response or a video submission to respond to a few targeted questions about what you’ve learned from your badge experience.
Socially Responsible Leadership
Assess the impact of complex decisions from a lens of social responsibility. Learn how business decisions can benefit society by supporting local communities, working toward environmental sustainability, engaging in ethical labor practices, and more.
Learning outcomes
- Employ critical, ethical, and strategic thinking to consider and pursue creative solutions
- Understand how to authentically involve communities impacted by business decisions
- Identify businesses that act in harmony with their stated values
- Attend 3 workshops from the decision-making category
- Attend 3 workshops from the integrity category
- We will provide various experiences that will count towards this badge requirement – keep an eye on your email and/or Suitable for these options.
or
- Complete a company values inventory about a business of your choice.
Refer to suitable for a template to use to research a company of your choice to interpret their level of value congruence and social responsibility.
- Attend a 30-min. Leadership Coaching Session with a Leadership & Engagement staff member to discuss your experiences and how you can showcase them to potential employers (and others).
Use Starfish to schedule this after you’ve completed most of the workshops/events for this badge.
- Choose between a written response or a video submission to respond to a few targeted questions about what you’ve learned from your badge experience.
Leadership at Lambeau
Participate in a three-day immersive leadership retreat at Lambeau Field and earn a special Business Badger Badge. Learn leadership skills that high-functioning organizations need to succeed. The retreat mirrors a similar curriculum taught to professional sports organizations. Hear from various leaders within the Packers organization, participate in small group discussions, and go behind the scenes at Lambeau Field.
Learning outcomes
- Gain self-awareness about your strengths in various transferable leadership skills
- Learn problem-solving and conflict-management skills for working in groups/teams
- Develop the skills to build your own team, articulate a vision, and inspire others
The content is focused on general leadership development skills and not specific to the sports industry.
Fulfill one of the following requirements to participate:
- The completion of at least one Business Badger Badge
- Significant progress towards badge completion, completion/significant progress towards the UW–Madison Leadership Certificate
- Experience as an officer (executive board member) in a student organization
Spring 2025 Dates: May 12-14, 2025
Keep an eye on your email for information about the application process once it opens. Please reach out to leadershipandengagement@wsb.wsic.edu with any questions.
Getting Started
Attend a workshop or event
The Accenture Leadership Center offers workshops and other events throughout the academic year that meet requirements for badges. When you sign in to workshops or other experiences connected to a badge, your progress toward a badge is automatically tracked. So check out our events and sign up for one today.
View your progress in Suitable
Your progress towards achieving a badge is tracked in Suitable. There is no timeline to complete a badge and there is no consequence for not completing a badge. You will also use Suitable to upload your reflection paper and final statement. Once a badge’s requirements are completed, you can download your badge from Suitable and add it to your LinkedIn page or résumé.
Work Toward Your UW–Madison Leadership Certificate
What is the Leadership Certificate?
The Leadership Certificate is a campus-wide credential for students who want to excel in leadership roles both inside and outside the classroom. You are encouraged to “double dip” by incorporating your Business Badger Badge experiences into the Leadership Certificate requirements.
Connect the badges to the certificate
Badge workshops and experiences can count towards the 100 hours of involvement required to earn the Leadership Certificate.
Badge reflection components are modeled after the competency essay requirement of the Leadership Certificate.
Questions?
- Contact the Accenture Leadership Center (ALC) with questions: alc@wsb.wisc.edu or leadershipengagement@wsb.wisc.edu
- The ALC and other student organization offices are located in the Leadership and Involvement Student Lounge: Room 1250, Grainger Hall.