Leadership OpenCourseWare: A Free MIT Graduate Level Leadership Course

Published Feb 04, 2009

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Described as a 'five-day interactive and experiential workshop,' this course comes from the master's degree programs offered through the Sloan School of Management at MIT. The 'Leadership Lab for Corporate Social Innovation' may be a useful class for students getting a Master of Business Administration or other graduate degree that involves organizational leadership.

Leadership Lab for Corporate Social Innovation: Course Specifics

Degree Level Free Audio Video Downloads
Graduate Yes No No Yes

Lectures/Notes Study Materials Tests/Quizzes
Yes Yes No

Leadership Lab for Corporate Social Innovation: Course Description

Dr. Claus Otto Scharmer taught this graduate-level course originally. It teaches students to observe, make sense of their observations and create innovative solutions to local community problems. Six guest faculty and extended visits with nine companies make the class at MIT very interactive. Although OpenCourseWare cannot reproduce that experience, the course materials included can be very valuable in changing the way a learner listens to others, interviews or brings new ideas forth. Beginning with interviews of prominent leaders, the student works to move the process from simply downloading what is said into familiar categories to hearing what is said with a sense of wonder. This approach allows emotions to sense information that may not be getting into the words. In debriefing and reflecting, students make sense of what they learned in light of the emerging future and the best selves of the people interviewed. From this open ground, ideas arise. Students learn to prototype these ideas rapidly, presenting them in rough form quickly so that weaknesses are discovered and corrected quickly.

Included are lecture notes, assignment descriptions, sample projects and extra resources, as well as a long reading list. To take this free course, 'Leadership Lab for Corporate Social Innovation', go to its course page.

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