The course is organized around four major themes:

1. Fundamentals of leadership and leadership development: Leading people, teams and organizations; developing self and others (Sessions 1-4)

2. 21st century leadership: Emerging new trends and contemporary issues in leadership (Session 5)

3. Global leadership: The international and cross-cultural dimensions of leadership (Sessions 6-7)

4. (Ir)Responsible leadership: The bright side and the dark side of leadership (Sessions 8-9)

Knowledge and Understanding

· First-hand accounts of the challenges facing global corporations and leaders.

· Guidelines on managing people, teams and organizations in global contexts.

· Better understanding of the ethical dilemmas facing global managers and strategies for dealing with those dilemmas.

· Knowledge in culture theory and better understanding of how culture affects corporate strategy, organizational structure, and management practice.

· Understanding of the career issues facing global managers and how they can be addressed.

· Understanding of which attributes are important for global leadership success.

Cognitive and Subject Specific Skills:

· Knowledge to manage effectively in cross-cultural and global organizational environments.

· People management best practices and tools for managing organizational culture.

· An awareness of the pervasive and hidden influence that culture has on organizational behavior, and increased sensitivity to important cultural differences.

· The capacity to detect and analyze cultural differences in communication patterns, negoti­ation styles, and leadership behavior.

· The capacity to develop and implement high quality solutions in a global context.

General Skills:

· The ability to apply management know-how and skills to real-world leadership challenges.

· The ability to analyze cases dealing with global management and cross-cultural issues and to apply the learning to practical business situations.

· Experience working in multicultural teams and better team work skills.

· Greater intercultural sensitivity and empathy.

· Better implementation skills and the ability to balance global and local demands.

NOTE: Participants are expected to attend all of the classes and to notify me by e-mail if an emergency or force majeure means they cannot attend. Missing classes or habitual lateness will be noted as evidence of low course commitment and affect the grade for participation. Also, please note that there are four mandatory classes that participants must attend (no exceptions!):

Session 1 (course introduction)

Session 3 (instructions for individual project and reflection paper)

Session 4 (personal develop­ment plan)

Session 5 (group presentations)

The course is organized around nine 4-hour classroom sessions. Each session addresses a particular leadership challenge (e.g., leading a diverse team) or illustrating a particular leadership principle (e.g., influencing without using authority). Participants will be provided with a set of leadership concepts, analytical frame­works, and practical tools that will help them develop their capa­city to influence and manage people and groups effectively. Our modus operandi will be dialog, and the teaching approach varied, with a mix of lecture input, group discussion, case analysis, videos, and assessments. Effective leadership requires self-awareness, so self-diagnostic tools will also be made available. Some classes will follow a learning group or L-Group format involving an input by the instructor, leading to a short period of roundtable discussion. In addition, a one day cultural immersion experience or service learning project will provide participants with an opportunity to apply some of the learnings.

The course grade will be computed as a weighted average of four elements:

a) Participation (30%)

b) Individual project: Cultural immersion experience or service learning project (30%)

c) Reflection paper: My “Leadership Story” (20%)

d) Group project: Presentation on one contemporary leadership concept, issue or trend (20%)

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.

Important:

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