Foundations of Leadership
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Foundations of Leadership
This course is part of Leading Technical Organizations Specialization
Instructors: Alton Harris
3,703 already enrolled
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21 reviews
Recommended experience
21 reviews
Recommended experience
What you'll learn
Explore critical thinking models and apply them to assess senior leader characteristics for effective decision-making and leadership.
Analyze leadership traits using feedback from peers and evaluate technical, human, and conceptual skills in leadership.
Learn how to apply ethical decision-making frameworks, and evaluate task vs. relationship orientations in leadership practices.
Cover leadership theories like Path-Goal, Leader-Member Exchange, and Transformational Leadership to enhance team dynamics and motivation.
Skills you'll gain
Details to know
12 assignments
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There are 6 modules in this course
The course "Foundations of Leadership" explores foundational leadership principles to help you develop the skills and traits necessary for senior technical leadership roles. Through engaging modules, you’ll analyze leadership approaches, including traits and skills-based theories, ethical practices, and modern leadership styles like transformational, servant, and adaptive leadership. You’ll gain critical thinking skills using Paul and Elder’s model, assess your leadership strengths, and learn to navigate ethical dilemmas effectively.
What sets this course apart is its focus on practical, self-reflective learning. By bridging theory and practice, you’ll evaluate your leadership characteristics, compare them with peer feedback, and apply leadership theories to real-world challenges. You’ll also explore diverse leadership models, from Path-Goal Theory to Authentic Leadership, tailored to enhance your ability to lead in complex, dynamic environments. By the end, you’ll have a comprehensive understanding of leadership theories, styles, and critical thinking techniques to drive team performance and foster organizational growth.
This course provides a comprehensive exploration of essential leadership theories and styles, focusing on senior leader traits, critical thinking, and various approaches to leadership, including ethical, behavioral, and transformational. You will develop a solid foundation in both traditional and contemporary leadership models to effectively guide and inspire teams.
What's included
1 video3 readings
1 video•Total 1 minute
- Course Overview•1 minute
3 readings•Total 20 minutes
- Course Outline•5 minutes
- Instructor Biography: Dr. Alton Harris •5 minutes
- Instructor Biography: Dr. Bart Michelson •10 minutes
This module focuses on developing key senior leader traits and critical thinking skills essential for effective leadership. You will learn to apply the Paul and Elder’s critical thinking model, assess your leadership characteristics, and analyze the experiences of senior technical leaders to enhance your leadership approach.
What's included
2 videos5 readings3 assignments1 plugin
2 videos•Total 24 minutes
- Senior Leader Characteristics •16 minutes
- Critical Thinking •8 minutes
5 readings•Total 420 minutes
- Readings References•180 minutes
- Supplemental Readings•10 minutes
- Readings References•180 minutes
- Supplemental Readings•10 minutes
- Self-Reflective Reading: Values in Action Character Strengths•40 minutes
3 assignments•Total 90 minutes
- Senior Leader Characteristics •15 minutes
- Critical Thinking •15 minutes
- Senior Leader Characteristics & Critical Thinking•60 minutes
1 plugin•Total 6 minutes
- Video: Using the Tools of Critical Thinking for Effective Decision Making•6 minutes
This module explores how to define and perceive leadership, helping you analyze the gap between your self-assessment and feedback from five peers on your leadership traits. Additionally, you will examine measures of technical, human, and conceptual leadership skills to refine your leadership effectiveness.
What's included
3 videos6 readings2 assignments
3 videos•Total 30 minutes
- Leadership Theory and Practice Overview•13 minutes
- Trait Approach•8 minutes
- Skills Approach•9 minutes
6 readings•Total 260 minutes
- Reading References•100 minutes
- Self-Reflective Reading: Traits & Skills Approach•40 minutes
- Self-Reflective Reading: Leadership Traits & Skills of Bill Nelson•60 minutes
- Leadership Assessment: Conceptualizing Leadership•20 minutes
- Leadership Assessment: Leadership Traits•20 minutes
- Leadership Assessment: Skills Inventory•20 minutes
2 assignments•Total 75 minutes
- Introduction to Trait and Skills Approach to Leadership•15 minutes
- Trait & Skills Approach to Leadership•60 minutes
This module examines preferred ethical styles for addressing ethical dilemmas and evaluates task versus relationship orientations in leadership. You will also explore how the SLII Model informs your understanding and interpretation of your leadership style at the mid-term point.
What's included
3 videos6 readings3 assignments3 plugins
3 videos•Total 34 minutes
- Behavioral Approach•11 minutes
- Situational Approach•11 minutes
- Ethical Leadership•12 minutes
6 readings•Total 310 minutes
- Reading References•90 minutes
- Reading References•90 minutes
- Self-Reflective Reading: Leadership Approaches - A Task-Oriented vs. Relationship-Oriented Leader•40 minutes
- Leadership Assessments: Leadership Behavior •20 minutes
- Leadership Assessments: Ethical Leadership Style•50 minutes
- Leadership Assessments: Ethical Leadership Style•20 minutes
3 assignments•Total 90 minutes
- Behavioral and Situational Approach•15 minutes
- Ethical Leadership Insights and Challenge•15 minutes
- Behavioral & Situational Approaches to Leadership & Ethical Leadership•60 minutes
3 plugins•Total 24 minutes
- Video: Apple CEO Tim Cook on Ethical Leadership•3 minutes
- Video: Ethical Leadership by Notre Dame Deloitte Center for Ethical Leadership•5 minutes
- Video: [Q&A] What are the ethical and practical challenges of ChatGPT? •16 minutes
This module delves into the directive, supportive, participative, and achievement-oriented leadership behaviors, assessing their impact on team dynamics. Additionally, you'll analyze the quality of leader-member relationships from a leadership perspective and explore your preferences for transformational versus transactional leadership styles.
What's included
3 videos6 readings2 assignments
3 videos•Total 34 minutes
- Path-Goal Theory•12 minutes
- Leader-Member Exchange Theory •12 minutes
- Transformational Leadership•9 minutes
6 readings•Total 270 minutes
- Reading References•110 minutes
- Self-Reflective Reading: Leadership Patterns – Understanding How to Influence Followers•40 minutes
- Self-Reflective Reading: Leadership Ethics, Behaviors, and Ability to Transform People – The Case of Elon Musk•60 minutes
- Leadership Assessments: Path-Goal Leadership•20 minutes
- Leadership Assessments: LMX-7•20 minutes
- Leadership Assessments: Transformational Leadership Inventory•20 minutes
2 assignments•Total 75 minutes
- Core Leadership Theories: Path-Goal, LMX, and Transformational•15 minutes
- Path-Goal Theory, Leader-Member Exchange Theory & Transformational Leadership•60 minutes
This module explores various dimensions of authentic leadership, evaluates servant leadership behaviors, and assesses the strengths and weaknesses of adaptive leadership. You will gain insights into how these leadership styles can be effectively applied in different organizational contexts.
What's included
3 videos4 readings2 assignments
3 videos•Total 34 minutes
- Authentic Leadership•12 minutes
- Servant Leadership•13 minutes
- Adaptive Leadership•8 minutes
4 readings•Total 183 minutes
- Reading References•120 minutes
- Leadership Assessments: Authentic Leadership•20 minutes
- Leadership Assessments: Servant Leadership•3 minutes
- Leadership Assessments: Adaptive Leadership•40 minutes
2 assignments•Total 75 minutes
- Authentic, Servant and Adaptive Leadership•15 minutes
- Authentic, Servant, and Adaptive Leadership•60 minutes
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Reviewed on Mar 24, 2026
I really learned a lot from this course ,it was very informative.
Reviewed on Sep 2, 2025
Hello I would like to thank for doing this course, I learnt alot of things in this course
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