Instructor: Robert Allio

Leadership is not a science. It is a craft honed through practice and study. In this course, students forge their own models of leadership. They review the classic models of leadership delineated through literature and philosophy and examine a range of contemporary models. Students then develop individual plans for becoming more effective leaders. The course explores how leadership and strategy intersect and how leaders engage followers to create impact.

Upon completion of this course, students should be able to:

• Develop a model for leadership based on principles of theory and practice revealed through literature, history, philosophy, and politics.
• Learn how strategy provides the linkage between an organization’s values and vision.
• Study how leaders strengthen their relationship with followers by unifying them around shared purpose.
• Establish a leadership identity that reconciles personal and organizational ethics.

Instructors: Barbara Tannenbaum and Nancy Newman

Engineers that impact industry don’t just have good ideas. They have the ability to sell them. In this course, students develop the communications skills to do just that. This course provides students with theory, practice opportunities and individualized coaching to help them enhance their oral and written communication skills. Students focus on persuasive communication, including verbal and nonverbal communication, and the relationship between a presenter’s goal and the goals/perspectives of his or her audience. Students also learn how to create compelling business presentations using data visualization to garner people’s attention and stimulate action. This course also uses the practice of writing as a means to think, learn and reflect, developing a greater awareness of one’s self and others.

Upon completion of this course, students should be able to:

• Communicate effectively through oral presentation.
• Formulate strategy in a multi-faceted environment of social, political, economic, and legal entities and forces.
• Complete strategic and financial analysis required to support corporate goals.
• Perform short and long term investment evaluations.

Instructor: Donald Stanford

This course takes a broad look at the factors that contribute to successful technology leadership in today’s fast paced and ever evolving environment. Students will use examples and case studies from a wide range of industries to learn about, and gain practical experience in, the issues that ultimately determine the success (or failure) of highly technical undertakings. The alignment of marketing, technology and project execution is examined in both its best case and worst case implementation as students learn from both successful and failed endeavors. Through the lens of organizational effectiveness, value creation, addressing market needs and meeting customer expectations, students will discuss and examine best practices used to engage the array of stakeholders that are crucial to positive outcomes. Via the same framework, students will also study some of the cultures and practices that foster continuous innovation and effectively leverage technology trends and trajectories.

Upon completion of this course, students should be able to:

• Understand changing technology trends and develop responsive leadership skills to effectively mitigate adversity in an ever evolving environment, while leveraging knowledge of development and innovation models that are applied across the business landscape.
• Apply leadership skills to align and mobilize organizational support for technology innovation opportunities with a clear execution plan.
• Develop understanding of the effectiveness of joint ventures, collaborations and outsourcing.
• Create and prioritize ideation processes to effectively address market needs.
• Consider stakeholder input in an innovation culture and understand the voice of customers in value creation models.

Instructor: Amber Carpenter 

Companies are generating 10-1000 times more data every 12 months as the Internet of Things (IoT) explodes. Leaders have a strong desire to derive more and more value from it—machine learning is the tool used to monetize this gold mine of data. In this course students work to understand the big data ecosystem, use cases, business case methodology and ethical implications of digital transformation and big data initiatives. Topics addressed include Identifying and leveraging source data throughout your organization and third parties to help you solve tough business problems; identifying and carefully distinguishing challenges particular to data science and other related computational methods of analysis such as machine learning and artificial intelligence, including which methodology would be best used to solve a specific business problem and the relevant resources to do such analysis; and identifying opportunities to avoid data bias and pursue big data projects in an ethical and legally responsible manner. The goal is to lead and articulate the return on investment of a big data initiative and monetize the efforts of the project internally and externally.

Upon completion of this course, students should be able to:

• Understand the complex nature of big data and data science methodologies
• Understand where data lives internally and externally across an organization and the potential value of each data set.
• Apply the learnings to assemble and solve big data problems within their own organization from business case creation including return on investment and /monetization to resourcing and driving adoption
• Identify, mediate and question potential data bias and ethical implications of big data projects

Instructor: Paul Walsh

The business strategy “shelf life” is decreasing as new technologies and externalities (e.g., data privacy) create a strong case for change.  The students begin with an introduction to the lingua franca of commercial and financial activity. They will learn to merge the finance language with a deep understanding of business strategy. The case studies will provide practical examples of industry analysis which help formulate available strategic options. These options will be explored through the lens of an incumbent industry participant and a new entrant. We will explore concepts around the innovator’s dilemma and digital transformations for incumbent companies. Advancing their understanding of business strategy further, they learn to leverage this knowledge to master concepts like “no regrets” strategies and the potential optionality of new strategic choices.

Upon completion of this course, students should be able to:

• Formulate strategy in a multi-faceted environment of social, political, economic, and legal entities and forces.
• Complete strategic and financial analysis required to support corporate goals.
• Perform short and long term investment evaluations.

Instructor: Steven Sloman

This course introduces students to elements of social and cognitive psychology related to business, leadership and entrepreneurship. This course is based on empirical scientific research on how people behave and make decisions. Students review two major perspectives on judgment and decision-making that distinguish among riskless, risky and uncertain contexts for making decisions. Students examine trust and power, the two great, interrelated challenges of interpersonal behavior, and consider these challenges as social dilemmas that do not have simple, “one-approach-fits-all-situations” solutions. Delicate issues of “mind-reading” (e.g., empathy, perspective-taking) and uncertainty management are considered. Students understand that the psychology of creativity lies at the core of innovation, competitiveness, and sustainability, while the psychology of happiness raises issues about broader interpretations of the bottom line, utility and productivity.

Upon completion of this course, students should be able to:

• Learn to frame problems of judgment and decision-making depending on context.
• Consider the two great (and interrelated) challenges of interpersonal behavior — trust and power — especially how they affect decision-making.
• Apply current research on creativity and happiness to leadership challenges.

Instructor: Banu Ozkazanc-Pan

If you’re a business professional in today’s globalized economy, then the world is your oyster. It offers unprecedented pools of technical know-how that companies can tap into and embrace. This course develops an understanding of the global dynamics (political, social, and financial) that influence entrepreneurial enterprises in different regions of the world and how contemporary technological change – such as advances in data analytics, sensing, automation and cognitive computing – has changed the nature of cross-border learning and innovation. Throughout the course, students examine how processes at the firm level interact with societal institutions, governmental policies and other ostensibly non-market forces.

Upon completion of this course, students should be able to:

• Identify and articulate key considerations when comparing entrepreneurial ecosystems
• Critically and strategically evaluate major global opportunities and identify and communicate their implications for entrepreneurial action
• Identify and evaluate potential strategies to leverage global resources (financial, human and physical) to strategic advantage
• Develop frameworks to use in thinking about ways to solve global problems and establish entrepreneurial opportunity

Instructor: Rod Beresford

The Critical Challenge Project (CCP) is central to the ScM in Technology Leadership. The project identifies a critical technology challenge for an organization, drawing from the student’s own work experience. Under the direction of a faculty member, the student analyzes this critical challenge from multiple perspectives and develops a comprehensive plan for addressing it. The CCP draws upon the knowledge and skills gained by the student from each course, with particular emphasis on integrating technology, policy, and human factor aspects, considering ethical implications, and developing innovative, transformative, and viable solutions. The CCP is expected to be relevant to the student in terms of background, interests, current job, and future aspirations. Also, it should have practical applicability to the field of technology and take into account multiple stakeholders, such as customers, developers, policymakers, and government and industry executives.

Upon completion of this course, students should be able to:

• Tackle a technology problem facing your industry
• Position yourself for leadership in your industry
• Build a network of advisors for your long term career aspirations

Technology leaders must acquire an understanding of international business practices and global technologies. We’ve addressed this need through an innovative and structured global immersion opportunity designed for working professionals.

Upon completion of this course, students should be able to:

• Experience dramatically different culture
• Understand how to conduct business in a new country
• Evaluate lessons learned from this new culture

Instructor: Robin Rose

The professional development component of the ScM in Technology Leadership is a critical piece of the student experience and spans the length of the program. In both residential and online settings, students will engage in discussions, reflections, lectures, simulations and experiential activities focused on their professional development as leaders. Students will be consistently challenged to apply the leadership theory and practice they are exploring in the program to their work environment. They will also have opportunities to establish professional development goals and receive support from peers and faculty relative to those aspirations.

As a result of participating in several different workshops and activities, students will:

• Increase their self-awareness of their leadership style and their strengths and weaknesses.
• Develop an ability to create and implement a professional development plan.
• Develop their skills in coaching and supporting the professional development of their peers and employees regardless of race, culture, gender, age, creed or ability.
• Enhance their skills at managing difficult conversations.
• Increase their understanding of how they function in a group, how groups function and how they can effectively lead groups to become high performing teams.
• Display professionalism and ownership of professional growth and learning.

This element of the program is not graded.