HarvardX - Exercising Leadership: Foundation Principles

So what is HarvardX?

HarvardX is an online course that is provided by Harvard University. It provides online courses on a wide variety of subjects including, computer science, neuroscience, biochemistry, and law. It also provides programs where people can take multiple courses at once.

When I first heard of the online course, I was surprised yet intrigued. What kind of courses and programs will a famous university like Harvard provide? I sat down and looked at all the courses HarvardX provided and I came across one very interesting course - Exercising Leadership: Foundational Principles.

Why would one ever need to learn about how to exercise leadership?

Of course, I had to read the course syllabus. The things that were going to be taught during the course were: how to solve problems, how to identify and unbundle challenges, and also how to survive and thrive amidst change. I was captivated by what the class offered and decided to enroll.

To sum up my 4 weeks shortly, the course was well worth my time. During the class, I learned so much about what leadership was. It wasn't the title of being the leader that was important. It was what the leader did that was important. How we as leaders should not rashly judge and approach a problem but take the time to actually observe underneath the surface and see what the real underlying problem is. I was told that sometimes facing the problem directly may not be the solution, instead, we may have to approach it by going around the problem. I was able to learn a lot about being a leader.

I have always been an outgoing person and have taken multiple leadership roles in the past. This had me look back and reflect on what kind of leader I had been and the different approaches I had made when addressing a problem with my teammates. I believe this course changed the way I look at and approach problems and gained lots of knowledge and confidence from this course.