Leading from The Center

This course has two in-person weekends: 9/24-26 and 10/22-24. There will also be virtual connects, schedule TBA. This seminar is designed to support existing and emerging leaders who recognize their need for more adaptive leadership skills to effectively respond to rapidly changing environments. We will weave leadership theory and practice in a highly experiential seminar so that participants can actively engage in a leadership lab including deep reflective thinking, rapid prototyping and experimenting with new behaviors and practices. The purpose of the seminar is to evoke personal leadership at more impactful levels and improve organizational performance and personal satisfaction. Participants will examine their own, and others', leadership theories by identifying assumptions about leading, creating a preferred model for individual leadership, and field testing actual shifts in behavior. Participants will engage in a three-part exploration over the course of the seminar: first, we will have an opportunity to examine our own models and those of the leading theorists in the field; second, participants will be asked to articulate and improve their own model; and finally, participants will be asked to activate and test their model and report back on the experience. This course is designed to create an 'action-learning' community in which you will integrate your professional experience, this class, and other graduate course work with a final exploration of leadership concepts, theory, and applied practice. This course is also designed to strengthen your ability to lead, including as a colleague who can support leadership behavior in peers and as one who can promote leadership behavior in supervisors and subordinates. Course permits for non-DYNM students: https://www.sas.upenn.edu/lps/graduate/dynamics/course-permit.