Overview

Class Central Tips

Welcome to the Essence of Leadership course! By the end of this course, you will have a thorough understanding of the foundations for leaders, present or future. You will learn about the basic principles and their applications in different contexts. You will gain exposure to different leadership styles and practices of various leaders, past and present. The course orients you to the conceptual and theoretical considerations on the subject with its practical dimension with examples drawn from different domains of life from the recent developments. You will analyze how leadership is intimately linked to the process of obtaining solutions to potential social problems which is not achievable through individual action. You will examine global leadership traits, local-level leadership, and leadership portrayed in popular films that exhibit the different leadership perspectives and their central role in restoring order to otherwise chaotic situations. This course provides a broad base and conduit to learners wishing to pursue a master’s degree program in Public Policy or related degrees in Business Administration or International Affairs.   This course is designed for learners with some work experience in public or private organizations. The knowledge you gain from this course will help you advance to leadership positions in your careers or move to jobs that require leadership insights which are necessary for most intermediate and advanced job positions.    To succeed in this course, you should have prior experience working in teams, and have a basic understanding of management or leadership. Above all, be interested in these topics.  

Syllabus

Traditional and Modern Leadership

In this module, you will learn the basic definitions, common misconceptions, and focus of traditional and modern leadership studies. You will also learn about the interdisciplinary nature of leadership studies. You will know the basic components of key leadership styles and other styles in the continuum, leading in the VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous) World.

Political, Ethical, and Bureaucratic Leadership

This module focuses on the overview and different contexts of political leadership. You will learn about the evolution of political leadership and the modern-day challenges leaders face and potential solutions to those problems. This module prepares you to take an institutionalist approach and compare political leadership in old and new democracies. You will know the political override of the bureaucracy, people, politics, and public leadership. You will gain a deep understanding of ethical public leadership, ethical value and their importance for public leadership, ethical competencies, and key characteristics of ethical actions. Understanding various leadership attributes and styles will help you analyze political and bureaucratic relationships and evaluate transactional and transformational political leadership in organizations (Herbert Simon’s insights). You will also learn about bureaucratic leadership in the context of the UN systems where you will further examine issues, needs, and challenges they face in a multilateral setting.

Leadership in Specific Contexts of Complexity, Spirituality, and Gender

This module focuses on leadership in specific contexts of complexity, spirituality, and gender. You will learn about complexity leadership and explore the shifts leaders need to deal with complexity, innovation, and change. You will also explore spiritual, authentic, and servant leadership using Al Qaeda as an example of complexity-based organization and leadership. Further, you will learn the significance of gender, the influence of gender stereotypes, and variations in leadership traits, styles, and effectiveness among men and women leaders. You will also learn about leadership networking and its significance and analyze how it differs from conventional networking. Furthermore, you will learn about the context in which leadership ideas develop, when traditional leadership must change, and how these changes may impact the current leadership.

Globally Acclaimed Leaders

Leaders are considered successful if they can transfer chaos (randomness) in a social system into order (integration). This module focuses on the cases of five global leaders who effectively made this process effective. You will learn about the traits leaders use in their leadership activities and analyze the commonalities in their approaches.

Grassroot Leaders

Successful leadership at the macro level can be better achieved when supported actively by community leaders at the micro level. This module focuses on leaders operating at the grassroots level often initiating complementary changes at local levels. You will learn how these leaders’ efforts can be adapted for use in other local contexts and provide evidence for their effectiveness at macro levels as well. You will understand the role of grassroots leaders in bringing about order in a prevailing situation of chaos.

Leaders Portrayed in Films

Films are mostly portrayals of realities with reference to the past, present, and even future. This module focuses on three films with an emphasis on leadership. You will discover how these films illustrate the different perspectives of leadership. You will learn about the main role of leaders in bringing order to a situation of chaos.