Leadership in 21st Century Organizations
Offered By
Leadership in 21st Century Organizations
Copenhagen Business School
About this Course
4.7
277 ratings
Meet Jim Barton, the new CEO of Santa Monica Aerospace. Jim's job won't be easy: the company's hemorrhaging cash, struggling to regain investors' trust after an accounting scandal, and striving to transform its culture to become a more global competitor. In this course, you’ll travel with Jim as he takes on leadership challenges ranging from strategy execution, to inspiring people, to maintaining an ethical approach. Experts agree that twentieth-century leadership practices are inadequate for the stormy twenty-first-century present. This provocative course equips you with the insights you'll need to rise with the occasion of a rapidly shifting business landscape.
The course is based on a book, Harder Than I Thought: Adventures of a 21st Century Leader, by Robert D. Austin, Richard L. Nolan, and Shannon O'Donnell, published by Harvard Business Review Press. Purchase of the book is optional. If you want more information about the book or wish to buy it, see https://hbr.org/product/harder-than-i-thought-adventures-of-a-twenty-first/an/10332-HBK-ENG or http://www.amazon.com/Harder-Than-Thought-Adventures-Twenty-First/dp/1422162591
After taking the course, you'll be able to:
o Enact your own personal leadership approach, derived from your ongoing evaluation of how Jim Barton has handled his leadership situation, as well as from established leadership concepts and frameworks;
o Avoid leadership actions that might have worked in the past, but are not suited to a newly challenging 21st century world;
o Navigate treacherous new 21st century leadership challenges, such as greater reliance on specialized workers or the need to respond to external scrutiny in an increasingly transparent world (and many more);
o Avoid "slippery slope" ethical failures, and think more clearly about the separation between public and private life for a 21st century leader.
Skills you will gain
Strategic ManagementLeadershipCollaborationCommunications Management
Syllabus - What you will learn from this course
Week
1Course Preview and Intro
Join Jim Barton on a leadership journey...that quickly becomes tougher than expected!
3 videos (Total 12 min), 4 readings
3 videos
Introduction to the Course6m
Introduction to the Dramatized Episodes3m
4 readings
Background Info about SMA and Jim Barton10m
Jeffrey Pfeffer: What Most People Don't Know About Leadership10m
Invitation to a brief questionnaire10m
Link to the "Meet and Greet" Forum10m
Taking on a New Leadership Role
So you've been presented with a new leadership "opportunity"...should you accept it? Should Jim Barton have taken this job? How would YOU decide?
2 videos (Total 10 min), 4 readings, 1 quiz
4 readings
Hiring a new CEO10m
Reading: Making it to the top10m
Questions for reflection and forum discussion10m
Learner suggestions: Questions to ask (or try to find answers to) before accepting a leadership "opportunity"10m
1 practice exercise
Choosing or Becoming a New Leader12m
Week
2Getting Oriented and Assessing Your Team
As a new leader, the first order of business is to survey the landscape, get your bearings, and figure out what's really going on. Perhaps the most crucial part of that is assessing the team you've inherited. Who will be an ally in what you need to accomplish? Who will be an obstacle? Who should stay, and who should go? How will YOU decide?
4 videos (Total 36 min), 6 readings, 2 quizzes
4 videos
Episode 2: Meeting the CFO (Day 3)12m
Episode 3: Touring the SMA Plant (Day 4)9m
Episode 4: Meeting the Head of Engineering (Day 4)13m
6 readings
A New Leader's First 100 Days10m
SMA's Income Statement10m
Reports from a Boeing Factory10m
To-Do list for Today's CEO10m
Reflection and discussion: Assessing Barton's team10m
A Vital Task: Getting Your Team Right10m
2 practice exercises
Assessing the Head of Engineering2m
Getting Started as a New Leader8m
Communication in an Age of Super Transparency
In an age of social media and super hackers, leaders have to worry more than ever about secrets getting out, making hard decisions under scrutiny, and people misinterpreting what the company and its leaders are doing. Thanks primarily to the advance of technology, the organizational activities have never been more transparent. How should a leader take this new 21st century reality into account? Do past communications and PR approaches need to change? How would YOU do it?
6 videos (Total 52 min), 5 readings, 2 quizzes
6 videos
Episode 5: Kohler's Philosophy of Disclosure (Day 8)5m
Episode 6: The Gala (Day 8)9m
Part 1 of Living and Leading in an Era of Super Transparency8m
Part 2 of Living and Leading in an Era of Super Transparency10m
Part 3 of Living and Leading in an Era of Super Transparency16m
5 readings
How Capitalism Can Thrive in a Transparent World10m
Dan Geer: "We are all intelligence officers now"10m
Links to check out for Super Transparency Lecture10m
Reflection and discussion: Advising Barton on transparency10m
Learner recommendations: How to address social media challenges10m
2 practice exercises
Approaches to Communication2m
The Era of Super Transparency8m
Week
3Leading Collaboration
When you're building something as complicated as an airplane, people have to work together. As a leader, it's a part of your job to populate teams, develop relationships, orchestrate process, and set up conducive environments to maximize the effectiveness of collaborative work. How is this done? How would YOU accomplish it?
6 videos (Total 37 min), 7 readings, 3 quizzes
6 videos
Introduction to the topic of leading collaboration3m
Leading Collaboration at IDEO8m
Leading Collaboration at Mass Animation9m
Collaborative Leadership5m
Episode 7: Old Friends (Day 13)9m
7 readings
Video of IDEO's collaboration, "The Deep Dive"10m
Reflection10m
Mass Animation10m
Reflection and discussion: Collaboration at IDEO and Mass Animation10m
What is "Collaborative Leadership"?10m
Introduction to Dramatized Episode #710m
Reflection and discussion: Advising Barton on collaboration10m
3 practice exercises
Determining the right context for collaboration2m
Diagnosis2m
Collaborative Leadership8m
Motivating and Inspiring
A leader must be able to move other people -- potentially in directions those others do not wish to go. A very important part of a leader's role, then, is to motivate people -- to somehow provide the impulse to move others in a particular direction. Indeed, a leader often needs to get people moving together, in a similar direction. But there are different ways of doing this. Incentives, for example, operate differently than inspiration, and the two might not work equally well in a particular circumstance. How should the 21st century leader motivate people? What would YOU do?
5 videos (Total 52 min), 5 readings, 2 quizzes
5 videos
Episode 8: The Merit Pay System (Day 24)17m
Motivating, Inspiring, and Other Ways Leaders Get People Moving in a Particular Direction: Introduction7m
Motivating and Inspiring etc.: Economic models and their problems14m
Motivating and Inspiring etc.: What are the alternatives to incentives?11m
5 readings
Introduction to Episode #810m
Motivation in Literature 110m
Motivation in Literature 210m
Readings and Video10m
Reflection and discussion: Motivating people10m
2 practice exercises
What do you think?2m
Motivating, Inspiring, and Leadership10m
Week
4Effective Governance
A leader operates within a framework that outlines her or his responsibilities, range of authority, and access to resources -- we call such frameworks "governance." Governance empowers a leader but also looks over her or his shoulder. A precondition for effectiveness as a leader is having a foundation of sound governance. And although it can be rather tricky, leaders sometimes have to try to make changes to the governance framework within which they work. If you're a CEO and you decide you have an ineffective board of directors -- to whom you report -- what would YOU do?
7 videos (Total 36 min), 5 readings, 1 quiz
7 videos
Episode 9: Barton's First Board Meeting Day 31)11m
Episode 10: Sleeping with the Press (Day 31)5m
Episode 11: "A Sensitive Matter" (Day 45)1m
Episode 12: "Reconfiguring the Board of Directors" (Day 45)11m
Episode 13: The Reconfiguration Process (Day 93)2m
Episode 14: Reconfiguration Accomplished (Day 135)2m
5 readings
What does a board of directors do?10m
Introduction to Episodes 9 and 1010m
Reflection10m
What makes for an effective board of directors?10m
Reflection and discussion: Creating a better Board of Directors10m
1 practice exercise
Effective Governance8m
Leading Change
Convincing people to change their ways might be THE hardest job a leader has to do. And if getting people to change is hard, getting groups -- who work together in the old ways and reinforce each other's sense of "the way it's always been" -- is even harder. But if you're going to transform a company, you're going to have to change things, in a big way. How would YOU go about it?
3 videos (Total 7 min), 2 readings, 2 quizzes
3 videos
Episode 15: Talking Shop (Day 48 and Day 118)3m
Episode 16: Design Delay (Day 68)2m
2 readings
Leading change in organizations10m
Reflection and discussion: Assessing Barton's performance10m
2 practice exercises
Assessing Barton as a Change Leader2m
Leading Change4m
4.7
83%
Top Reviews
By J•Oct 20th 2017
It's a very comprehensive course. I enjoyed the combination of theory with case study and scenario. I had a lot of fun discovering the new trends in the 21st century's leadership.
By GP•Apr 25th 2016
A very comprehensive Leadership development program. Course content is very relevant, detailed and updated. I personally had good learning from the program. Excellent instructors.
Instructors
Robert Austin
Professor, Management of Creativity and InnovationDepartment of Management, Politics, and Philosophy
Shannon Hessel
Assistant Professor of Art, Leadership and EntrepreneurshipDepartment of Management, Politics, and Philosophy
About Copenhagen Business School
Centrally located in Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, Copenhagen Business School (CBS) is one of the largest business schools in Europe with close to 23,000 students. CBS offers world-class research-based degree programs at undergraduate, graduate, and PhD levels as well as executive and other post experience programs.
Frequently Asked Questions
When will I have access to the lectures and assignments?
Once you enroll for a Certificate, you’ll have access to all videos, quizzes, and programming assignments (if applicable). Peer review assignments can only be submitted and reviewed once your session has begun. If you choose to explore the course without purchasing, you may not be able to access certain assignments.
What will I get if I purchase the Certificate?
When you purchase a Certificate you get access to all course materials, including graded assignments. Upon completing the course, your electronic Certificate will be added to your Accomplishments page - from there, you can print your Certificate or add it to your LinkedIn profile. If you only want to read and view the course content, you can audit the course for free.
What is the refund policy?
Is financial aid available?
More questions? Visit the Learner Help Center.
Coursera provides universal access to the world’s best education,
partnering with top universities and organizations to offer courses online.
© 2018 Coursera Inc. All rights reserved.
