Entrepreneurial Leadership in Turbulent Times

Course Number 1123

Professor Nancy Koehn
Winter, 29 Sessions
Exam

Career Focus

For MBAs who want to study a range of entrepreneurial leaders who created and managed organizations during moments of great turbulence.

Educational Objectives

To analyze the effectiveness of entrepreneurial leaders who lived and worked during moments of great turbulence; to understand the choices they made, including the strategies they used, the values they lived by and the tradeoffs they made as they built their companies and walked their respective life paths; to consider the lessons these individuals offer for own turbulent moment; and to draw insight and, as appropriate, inspiration from these men and women and the context in which they acted.

Course Content and Organization

This course offers students the opportunity to explore the lives and impact of a range of entrepreneurs during moments of economic, political, and social turbulence. The course covers the individual journeys of these entrepreneurs, changes in the strategy and structure of the organizations they created, and the dynamic environments in which they each lived and worked. The course also investigates the development of consumer culture in the United States and new social identities in the wake of widespread technological and economic change. The course traces the shifting balance of power among business, workers, and other players on the stage of modern capitalism. Throughout the course, students are encouraged to look at both the individual leader, including the choices he or she made, the path he or she traveled, the values and objectives he or she nurtured, and the larger context in which the entrepreneur acted. The course's perspective provides a broad understanding of the long-term impact of entrepreneurial leadership and innovation on U.S. business, society, managers, workers, communities, and government. The course also challenges students to examine their own ideas and ambitions about leadership-their own and that of other individuals who have exercised lasting influence.

The course is divided into the following units:

Winter, 2010