Course Descriptions
Leadership
LDR 7000
Leading with Purpose
3 credits
This experiential course develops leader judgment and responsible influence across internal and external stakeholders. Students strengthen reflective practice, discernment, and results-oriented decision making, integrating relevant theory, professional experience, and credible inputs to guide action.
Through targeted leadership readings, exploratory interviews, structured reflection, and peer coaching, students examine how research insights, organizational information, stakeholder perspectives, and contemporary tools inform practical leadership choices in both profit and not-for-profit settings. Topics include leadership approaches; values and integrity; power and influence; group dynamics and problem solving; decision making under uncertainty; negotiation and conflict; ethical dilemmas; and community building. The course emphasizes translating sound judgment into clear communication, aligned action, and meaningful outcomes.
LDR 7100
Innovation & Change
3 credits
In this course, students apply innovation and change theories to their organizations and to real-world cases across sectors—including business, government, and nonprofit settings—to design strategies that create differentiated value and are difficult to imitate. Innovation is treated as a strategic necessity, and the course emphasizes the leadership required to move innovation from ideas to execution and adoption.
Students develop integrated business models and innovation proposals, including a plan to pilot or test key assumptions and implementation risks. They examine innovation beyond products—business models, operating systems, and customer or stakeholder experience—and can use practical frameworks (e.g., Jobs to Be Done and Doblin’s Ten Types) to sharpen opportunity identification and strategy choices. Throughout the course, students build and defend recommendations using scholarly and organizational evidence and structured peer coaching.
Prerequisite(s): LDR 7000