The goal of this course is to help participants gain a better understanding of the foundations of leadership and be more effective in leadership roles. This entails developing knowledge and skills to analyze key issues in motivation, influence, decision-making, interpersonal relations, team dynamics, and organizational change. Analysis of real-life case studies will demonstrate that effective leadership involves four critical processes: setting direction, aligning people behind it, setting and maintaining values, and growth of self and others. These leadership tasks require self-awareness and self-manage­ment skills, therefore this course will provide participants with an opportunity to reflect on their “leadership story” (i.e., their personal development journey), evaluate their leadership development needs and goals, and create a personal development action plan.

In addition to the leadership fundamentals, the course will address the global and cross-cultural dimensions of leadership. Despite rising anti-globalization sentiments in many parts of the world, at no time in history has the contact between individuals and organizations from different countries been greater. The increase in global competition has spurred an unprecedented surge in cross-border alliances, mergers, and acquisitions. Managers travel around broader regions while their jobs remain headquartered in one place. Global virtual teams are created to address important strategic challenges. As companies are moving to more agile and flexible ways of working in a post-Covid world, part of the workforce is remote or hybrid, which brings its own leadership challenges. As a result, the demands on leaders have increased exponentially.

Another focus of this course is on contemporary leadership issues and emerging new trends in leadership. We will explore how leaders can help their organizations remain resilient in times of crisis and navigate through periods of turbulence and disruption, such as the global Covid-19 pandemic, the impacts of accelerated climate change, and rising geopolitical tensions. Leading with foresight and integrity in a VUCA world – an environ­ment characterized by uncertainty, volatility, and unpredictability – is fraught with difficulties and ethical dilemmas. Therefore, another goal of this course is to explore how to lead and make decisions under conditions of uncertainty, turbulence and crisis.

The course is thus organized around four major themes:

1. Fundamentals of leadership and leadership development (Sessions 1-2)
2. Leading and developing self (Sessions 3)
3. Contemporary leadership issues and emerging new trends in leadership (Sessions 4-6)
4. Global and cross-cultural dimensions of leadership (Sessions 7-8)

Important: Students who attended or are planning to attend the Becoming a Global Leader or Managing People, Teams and Organizations Across Cultures elective courses (in the winter semester) with Prof. Stahl are not eligible for this course.

The course grade will be computed as a weighted average of three elements:
a) Participation (30%)
b) Group project: “21st Century Leadership” (30%)
c) Reflection paper: Your personal development journey and “leadership story” (40%)

While evaluation is a necessary feature of this and any other course, it is not expected that participants will populate both tails of a normal distribution.