MBA Course Spotlight: Leading for Impact | Social Innovation and Leadership Series

Organizations are the world’s most powerful actors. As such, leaders have enormous potential to make an impact. Most leaders want to have a positive impact of some kind, but doing so effectively is not easy. It requires keen awareness of two things – how to have an impact through organizations and what kind of impact one wants to have. First, leaders need to understand key levers for generating positive outcomes through organizational structures and relationships. Second, plotting a coherent course requires an understanding of distinct types of impact that one might have as well as insight into one’s their own personal strengths, values, and objectives. Alignment with one’s own values enables people to plot a course that is both meaningful to themselves and maximally consequential to others.

In this MGMT 594 class, students will explore each of these two topics in depth and will analyze major levers for making an impact, and then examine how each is used to generate distinct types of impact. Students will gain appreciation for how these paths differ and for what factors lead each to be effective. They will also come to more deeply understand themselves, their unique strengths, and their preferred ways of having an impact. By the end of the class, students will be equipped with the necessary analytical and self-reflection tools to begin to chart their own desired course as leaders. The class should leave participants more capable in their careers and more energized about their futures.