Women in Leadership: Inspiring Positive Change

Course Overview

This course aims to inspire and empower women and men across the world to engage in purposeful career development and take on leadership for important causes---to lead change with more conviction and confidence---and improve our workplaces and communities for all. By offering more complex understandings of issues related to professional women and work, the course will help you increase self-knowledge about your own values and vision, as well as enhance your capabilities as a leader, manager, and team contributor. We will examine the opportunities, challenges, trade-offs, and organizational dynamics experienced by women in work organizations, as well as reflect on and practice effective individual behaviors. The course aims at answering questions such as: What are the valued attributes and behaviors of women in the workplace? How does the gendered nature of organizations impact women? What derails our career advancement and what propels us upward? What are your leadership goals and aspirations? How can you best integrate your multiple family and work life commitments? How do you define career success? What can organizations do to provide women with opportunities to excel? What opportunities could our global economy harness by advancing women to leadership? How can the full talents of the workforce be tapped into and developed? The course is about leadership and inspiring change, but at its core it is meant to inspire and empower women and men across the world to engage in purposeful career development and take on leadership for important causes, to lead change with more conviction and confidence, and improve our workplaces and communities for all. Your involvement in the course activities is essential to help you learn these concepts and develop the necessary skills to implement them. If you watch the videos and read the required articles you will be introduced to some intriguing ideas. If you do the personal reflective exercises and complete the final project you will convert those ideas into relevant experiences to enhance your life and work. Going beyond your personal relevance, your potential learning will expand to understanding and working with others more effectively through either the Discussion Forums in the course or through face-to-face discussions (some of you are taking the course in groups). Each week, we will post reminders, changes, and other relevant announcements.