Ethics and Leadership

Course Description
Many would argue that one of the major purposes of a university education is to prepare young adults for leadership in his/her chosen field. Yet few universities explicitly teach the leadership as a relational process that can be learned and put into practice. And professions across the globe suffer from alack of courageous leadership. In this course, we start with the assumption that leadership can be learned and that one of the best ways to learn it is from examining the lives of ordinary people who were able to accomplish the extraordinary. Through the lens of contemporary leadership research, we draw lessons, strategies, and inspiration for becoming leaders in our own domain and context.
One of the most universal cravings of the human spirit is for leadership that is grounded in character, one that reaches beyond success to significance. Many say that our times are defined by a leadership crisis, a void of courageous voices that inspire through the integrity of their lives. Contemporary leadership theorists have sought to define this inner quality that is the bedrock of values-based leadership, refusing to describe it as an amoral activity. Our purpose is to create a bridge between the ability to lead others and moral character. Using an interdisciplinary approach to understand leadership, we will explore the lives, values, and philosophies of eight leaders, examining both successes and failures. This course seeks to hone students’ analytical capabilities, to foster their understanding of key concepts of the leadership literature, to help them develop a set of systematic ideas regarding moral leadership, and to stimulate their capacity for self-awareness as potential leaders and as informed and responsible followers.

Course Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:
–Describe the context of each leader, including the social, political, economic and cultural environment and pressures that shaped the unique situations in which they exercised moral responsibility;
–Compare and contrast leaders related to their contexts, aims, strategies, and outcomes;
 –Interpret the lessons of historical leaders through the lens of leadership theory and research;
–Synthesize the lessons through the leaders and readings to constructing a framework for their own leadership;
–Analyze the role of moral character within the activity of leading others;
–Discover their own values, principles and methods through the human stories of these individuals.