Exercising Leadership: Foundational Principles
- Free to audit
- Paid certificate
- Course certificate
- Beginner
Exercising Leadership: Foundational Principles is an introductory Harvard course on leading through adaptive challenges, the kind that families, organisations, communities and societies face in a changing world. It covers how to identify and unbundle complex challenges, the difference between formal and informal authority, how to identify the key perspectives of stakeholders, how to build and renew trust relationships, how to approach conflict, and personal strategies for surviving and thriving amid change. The course asks you to reflect on the leadership challenges you care about most and how to move forward on them, and to find new ways of acting within complex organisational systems.
Harvard rates it introductory with a time commitment of 2 to 3 hours per week; no overall length is stated on the page. It is self-paced and free to audit on edX, with a verified certificate available for $209.
What you’ll learn
- Identify and unbundle complex adaptive challenges
- Distinguish formal from informal authority
- Map the perspectives of key stakeholders
- Build and renew trust relationships
- Approach conflict and sustain yourself through change
Who it’s for
Anyone leading change without formal authority, from team leads to community organisers.
Source: Harvard Online (opens in a new tab) · Verified · Report a change
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