{"id":1847,"date":"2019-01-23T07:04:44","date_gmt":"2019-01-23T12:04:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/si-mba\/?p=1847"},"modified":"2019-01-20T15:05:00","modified_gmt":"2019-01-20T20:05:00","slug":"leadership-a-module-two-course-a-seminar-series-and-some-preconceived-notions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/si-mba\/2019\/01\/23\/leadership-a-module-two-course-a-seminar-series-and-some-preconceived-notions\/","title":{"rendered":"Leadership: A Module Two Course, a Seminar-Series, and Some Preconceived Notions"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post was written by Danielle Davis ’19<\/em><\/p>\n

Leadership has always been a topic that intrigued me; its definition different for each person that encounters it. In module two we had a formal course titled Leading for Sustainable Innovation with <\/em>Kenneth De Roeck, Ph.D. as well as a seminar series that stretches across all 4 modules with Joe Fusco, accomplished business leader and The Sustainable Innovation MBA Program Director.<\/p>\n

\"\"Leading with Kenneth was a formal 2-credit course with two exams, some reflection papers, hundreds of slides and a daily-Stromae<\/a> video. The material, although intuitive, proved to be difficult to memorize. We discussed leaders in the field of organizational leadership, their theories and some student testimonials that fleshed out the concepts learned in class considerably.<\/p>\n

The seminar series with Joe is an ongoing two-hour session with Joe, reviewing higher-level concepts with real-life examples from an expert in the field. My desire to learn more about leadership stems from a curiosity to figure people out, find out what motivates them, and learn how to help them become the most productive member of a team that they can be. To me, it was and still is about leading by example, and as an introvert I thought at times doing so silently would suffice.<\/p>\n

MBA 302.04: Leading for Sustainable Innovation with Kenneth<\/strong><\/p>\n

Initially the concepts presented in class seemed intuitively foreign \u2013 does that even make any sense?!<\/em> Until stepping into this course, leadership has been woven into various summer jobs and internships, my previous job in the \u201caccount leadership\u201d department at an advertising agency, and throughout various sports endeavors. Until this moment, though, I had yet to see leadership concepts formatted in a PowerPoint or scribbled on a whiteboard. It felt counterintuitive initially. My preconceived notions about leadership were that it was a skill learned through experience, and that\u2019s how you made personal improvements. I was skeptical that this was something that could be learned through a text book. Going in, I was more so thinking this would be equivalent to reading a self-help book. I was excited to see how it would go nonetheless.<\/p>\n

\"\"Leading for Sustainable Innovation ended up being one of my favorite classes. Seeing a familiar concept fleshed out, explained in depth, proved (through student testimonials, personal reflections and long-standing industry theories) to then understand it on a deeper level and be able to apply it in the world around me. It was great. There were several few high-level takeaways from this course, but I keep the following flashcard(s) in my backpack while the others have made their way into the recycling bin.<\/p>\n

The 7 qualities of an effective\/exemplary leader as told by Kenneth and his collection of theorists:<\/p>\n