ADBM 4001 Strategic Leadership

Positioning organizations and individuals for success amid global financial, economic, technological, and political uncertainty demands principled, visionary leadership as well as imaginative and innovative operational expertise. Successful organizations exhibit three critical competencies: vision, strategy, and execution. Vision charts a direction through the chaos. (Where are we going?) Strategy tells the organization how to achieve the desired results. (How will we get there?). Execution translates strategies into results. (Let's get it done!). This course will develop competencies in each of these critical areas through readings, discussions, case studies, presentations, and more importantly, practice. Vision is taught by studying successful organizations and visionary individuals. The course examines disruptive sources (e.g. rapidly changing markets, new legislation, scandals), the accelerating pace of change that renders past experience and knowledge insufficient, and the need for leaders making decisions about the future to think and behave like innovators. Thomas Edison invented the electric light when electrification was uncommon. (Vision). Vision can only be successful if you turn an idea into a useful product. Steve Jobs was able to turn his idea about a portable phone into a ubiquitous handheld computer. (Strategy). Organizations are only successful if they can implement strategies in a timely and effective manner with the complete buy-in of the organization. The focus is on creating open, optimistic climates that engage employees, develop skills and talents, and promote continuous knowledge sharing, smart work designs, and creative problem-solving.