Psychology and Neuroscience of Leadership

Organizations fail or succeed because of their leaders. Companies spent a significant amount of resources to identify, hire, and develop exceptional leaders. This course explores whether great leaders are born or made and what their characteristics are. Understanding the psychology of leadership and the neuroscience of how they think and behave can help facilitate the identification, training, and development of high-potential leaders. This course examines classical and contemporary leadership theories, including personality and behavioral views of leadership, leadership and motivation, power and politics, and toxic and narcissistic leadership. Through seminars, group work, leadership activities, assessments, reflection assignments, and a final project, the student will gain the skills, knowledge, and abilities required to become more effective leaders.

This class will be completely online, with class meetings conducted via Zoom and learning activities conducted through Canvas. The faculty will offer alternative assignments if conditions or illness prevent students from accessing our synchronous meetings, which will allow students to earn comparable credit.