MGMT E-4105: Leading with Authenticity and Purpose

Course Overview and Contact Information

Course Overview
Semester and Year: Fall 2021
Day/Times: Wednesdays, 11 am -1 pm ET
Format: Online (live) web conference

Instructor(s) Contact Information

Name: Dr. Ayse Yemiscigil
Office/ Office hours: Virtual office hours – by appointment
Email: [email protected]

TA(s) Contact Information

Name: Rania Mustafa
Office/Office hours: Virtual office hours – by appointment
Email: [email protected]

Course Description and Learning Objectives

This course is designed to cultivate two foundational skills for leader development: authenticity
and purpose. Participants will be working towards three objectives: i) develop self-awareness
and clarify their leadership purpose, ii) build abilities to effectively communicate who they are
and their intended impact as a leader, and iii) use the knowledge acquired throughout the course
to craft a meaningful life and career for themselves and others. This course will equip
participants with the tools and skills that are required to successfully lead individuals,
organizations, communities, and the broader society towards a better future.

The course is divided into three modules:

i) Authenticity: Students will learn about cutting-edge scientific evidence and theory on
authenticity and authentic leadership. By reflecting on their happiness, personal strengths,
and life stories, they will begin to develop self-awareness and authenticity as a leader.

ii) Purpose: Students will go “beyond-the-self” and explore motivations for social impact in
life and at work. By reflecting on and clarifying their leadership purpose, they will
connect what is personally meaningful with what is meaningful for others and the broader
world. They will facilitate conversations to help others clarify their leadership purpose.

iii) Purpose to Action: This module focuses on practical applications. Students will use
insights from behavioral and psychological science to make plans about crafting their
future lives and careers to best align with their true self and purpose. Students will
practice crafting their life story and communicating their leadership purpose to an
audience.

Course - Instructor Page

Learning Outcomes
 Self-awareness, clarity about strengths, stories, and goals
 Insight into personal potential for social impact
 Effective written and oral communication
 Ability to receive and provide feedback
 Ability to motivate people around a shared purpose

Course Materials

 The weekly readings include scientific articles, practitioner or media articles, podcasts
and books that include accessible discussions of scientific evidence. Teaching material is
based on foundational or latest scientific evidence from psychological and behavioral
sciences and organizational and management sciences.

 Please see “Course Outline and Schedule” below for the full reading list. Supplementary
Readings are not used in assignments or evaluations. They are available to those who
would like to read more on the discussion topics for personal development purposes.

 Course materials will be made available on Canvas; students do not need to purchase
additional books and materials. However, they are strongly encouraged to purchase books
that are listed as “Supplementary Material”.

 There are no prerequisites for this course. However, students who have taken classes on
effective writing and presentations will have an advantage in successfully navigating the
course.

Grading

% 25 Class Participation – Students are expected to make substantive contributions during

class discussions (50% of the participation grade) and in Yellowdig – an online
community on Canvas (50% of the participation grade).

% 25 Assignments – Students will be assigned weekly exercises to develop an ability to

synthesize knowledge from scientific and practitioner articles and to reflect on the
course material for the subsequent class.

% 25 Purpose Presentations – Each student will present their story, leadership purpose, and
impact to the class. The narrative of the presentations will be submitted and graded.

% 25 Purpose to Action Plan – Students will make plans for crafting their life and work
based on their learnings from the course. A goal-setting template will be provided.

Course - Instructor Page

 Course Outline and Schedule

Class Date Topic

1 1-Sep Course overview, introductions, and expectations
Module 1: Authenticity
2 8-Sep Who are you? Understanding authenticity and authentic leadership
3 15-Sep What makes you happy? Understanding happiness and meaning
4 22-Sep What are your strengths? Identifying and using character strengths
5 29-Sep What is your story? Understanding life narratives
Module 2: Purpose
6 6-Oct Beyond the self: Prosocial motivation
7 13-Oct Understanding purpose
8 20-Oct Understanding your leadership purpose
9 27-Oct Purpose-based peer-coaching
Module 3: Purpose to Action
10 3-Nov Integrating authenticity and purpose to your life
11 10-Nov Integrating authenticity and purpose to your career and leadership
12 17-Nov Leadership purpose presentations
13 24-Nov No class: Thanksgiving holiday
14 1-Dec Leadership purpose presentations
15 8-Dec Leadership purpose presentations
16 15-Dec Conclusions, final remarks, and commitments

Preparations for Each Class

Students will respond to a survey and complete a pre-class assignment before coming to the
first class.

1. Introductory Lecture: Course overview, introductions, and expectations

In this session, we will discuss the general principles of the course and set expectations and
intentions. Please come prepared to make a brief self-introduction.

2. Who are you? Understanding authenticity

Students will write reflections on the required readings of this week and discuss applications
of the topics to their personal life and leadership.

Learning goals: Clarify conceptual understanding of authenticity and authentic leadership,

gain knowledge on how people experience authenticity in life and workplace, and identify
contexts and behaviors that enable authentic self-expression in self and others.

Course - Instructor Page

 Required Readings:
 George, B., Sims, P., McLean, A. N., & Mayer, D. (2007). Discovering your
authentic leadership. Harvard Business Review, 85(2), 129.
 Watch the Ted Talk by Herminia Ibarra (2021): https://ideas.ted.com/yes-good-
leaders-are-authentic-leaders-but-heres-what-that-actually-means/

Supplementary Readings:
 Hicks, J. A., Schlegel, R. J., & Newman, G. E. (2019). Introduction to the Special
Issue: Authenticity: Novel Insights into a Valued, Yet Elusive, Concept. Review of
General Psychology, 23(1), 3–7. https://doi.org/10.1177/1089268019829474

3. What makes you happy? Understanding happiness and meaning

Students will write reflections on the required readings of this week and discuss applications
of the topics to their personal life and leadership.

Learning goals: Clarify conceptual understanding of happiness and meaning, gain

knowledge on how people experience happiness and meaning in life and workplace, and the
causes and consequences of happiness and meaning, and clarify personal philosophies about
what ends you are maximizing and when (happiness, meaning, what else?)

Required Readings:
 Smith, E. E. (2013). There is more to life than being happy. The Atlantic.
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/01/theres-more-to-life-than-being-
happy/266805/
 David, S. (2016). 3 Ways to Better Understand Your Emotions
https://hbr.org/2016/11/3-ways-to-better-understand-your-emotions

Supplementary Readings:
 Frankl, V. E. (1985). Man's search for meaning. Simon and Schuster.
 Martela, F. (2020). A Wonderful Life: Insights on Finding a Meaningful Existence.
HarperCollins.

4. What are your strengths? Identifying and using character strengths

Students will complete a survey that will provide personalized feedback to help identify their
top character strengths and submit a reflection exercise before coming to the class.

Learning goals: Clarify conceptual understanding of personality and character strengths, gain
knowledge on what role personality and character strengths play in personal and work-related
outcomes, identify top character strengths and understand contexts and behaviors that enable
strength use for self and others.

Required Readings:

Course - Instructor Page

  Roberts, L. M., Spreitzer, G., Dutton, J., Quinn, R., Heaphy, E., & Barker, B.
(2005). How to play to your strengths. Harvard Business Review, 83(1), 74-80.

Supplementary Readings:
 Peterson, C., & Seligman, M. E. (2004). Character strengths and virtues: A
handbook and classification (Vol. 1). Oxford University Press.
 The Personality Brokers: The Strange History of Myers-Briggs and the Birth of
Personality Testing Merve Emre Doubleday (2018)

5. What is your story? Understanding life narratives

Students will write reflections on the required readings of this week and discuss applications
of the topics to their personal life and leadership.

Learning goals: Clarify conceptual understanding of life narratives and leadership crucibles,
gain familiarity with what life narratives and leadership crucibles look like in practice and
start sharing own leadership crucibles with others and hear from others.

Required Readings:
 Beck. J. (2015). Life’s Stories. The Atlantic.
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/08/life-stories-narrative-
psychology-redemption-mental-health/400796/
 Bennis, W. G. and Thomas, R. J. (2002). Crucibles of Leadership. Harvard Business
Review

Supplementary Readings:
 McAdams, D. P. (2001). The psychology of life stories. Review of General
psychology, 5(2), 100-122.
 Thomas, R. J. (2008). Crucibles of Leadership Development. MIT Sloan
Management Review. https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/crucibles-of-leadership-
development/

6. What Is Your Social Impact? Self-Transcendent Motivations

Students will write reflections on the required readings of this week and discuss applications
of the topics to their personal life and leadership.

Learning goals: Gain knowledge on how people experience self-transcendent motivations in

life and work and raise awareness of the unique ways your daily personal actions may impact
others.

Required Readings:
 Kaufman, S. B. (2018). What Does It Mean to Be Self-Actualized in the 21st
Century? New research links self-actualization to optimal creativity, well-being and
self-transcendence. https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/beautiful-minds/what-does-
it-mean-to-be-self-actualized-in-the-21st-century/

Course - Instructor Page

  Brooks, D. (2019). The Moral Peril of Meritocracy
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/06/opi nion/sunday/moral-revolution-david-
brooks.html

Supplementary Readings:
 Kaufman, S. B. (2020). Transcend: The new science of self-actualization. Tarcher
Perigee.

7. Understanding purpose

Students will write brief reflections on the required readings of this week and on the
applications of the topics to their personal life and leadership.

Learning goals: Clarify conceptual understanding of life purpose and leadership purpose and
gain knowledge on how people experience purpose in life and workplace, and the causes and
consequences of purpose.

Required Readings:

 Craig, N., & Snook, S. (2014). From purpose to impact. Harvard Business
Review, 92(5), 104-111

Supplementary Readings:

 Craig, N. (2018). Leading from Purpose: Clarity and Confidence to Act When It
Matters Most. Hachette Books
 Kashdan, T. B., & McKnight, P. E. (2009). Origins of purpose in life: Refining
our understanding of a life well lived. Psihologijske Teme, 18(2), 303–313.

8. Understanding your purpose

Students will be assigned an extended reflection exercise before this class and discuss their
responses to this exercise in small groups, guided by the teaching team. The aim is to clarify
students’ leadership purpose.

9. Purpose-based peer-coaching

Students will receive and provide social support to gain further insights into their leadership
purpose and impact, and on how to craft their stories.

10. Integrating Authenticity and Purpose to Your Life

Learning goals: Familiarize with insights from psychological and behavioral sciences to
adopt strategies for designing a fulfilling life that integrates authenticity and purpose.

Required Readings:

Course - Instructor Page

  Schippers, M. C., & Ziegler, N. (2019). Life Crafting as a Way to Find Purpose and
Meaning in Life. Frontiers in Psychology, 10.
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02778
 Whillans, A. V. (2019). Time for Happiness. Harvard Business Review.
https://hbr.org/2019/01/time-for-happiness

Supplementary Readings:
 Whillans, A. 2020. Time Smart: How to Reclaim Your Time and Live a Happier Life.
 Dolan P. 2014. Happiness by Design: Change What You Do, Not How You Think

11. Integrating Authenticity and Purpose to Your Career and Leadership

Learning goals: Familiarize with insights from organizational and behavioral sciences to
adopt strategies for designing a fulfilling work that integrates authenticity and purpose.

Required Readings:
 Smith, I. Kouchaki, M. (2020). Craft a Career That Reflects Your Character. Harvard
Business Review. https://hbr.org/2020/03/craft-a-career-that-reflects-your-character
 Listen to the HBR podcast by Prof. Nicholas Pearce (2019):
https://hbr.org/ideacast/2019/04/why-people-and-companies-need-purpose

Supplementary Readings:
 Wrzesniewski, A., Lobuglio, N., Dutton, J. E., & Berg, J. M. (2013). Job Crafting and
Cultivating Positive Meaning and Identity in Work. Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

12. Leadership Purpose: Presentations

Students will present their leadership purpose.

13. No Class – Thanksgiving Holiday

14. Leadership Purpose: Presentations

Students will present their leadership purpose.

15. Leadership Purpose: Presentations

Students will present their leadership purpose.

16. Conclusions, final remarks, and commitments

Expectations and Policies

Course - Instructor Page

Attendance
 Students are required to attend all class sessions, stay for the duration of the session,
complete all assigned readings and assignments by the due date, and come prepared ready
to participate. Permissions for absence may be granted on a case-by-case basis – please
contact the instructor if you anticipate any extenuating circumstances that could affect
your class participation. Permissions for absence do not imply that students will
automatically receive participation points for the class.

 Students will engage in self-reflection individually and in groups throughout the course.
Being present for oneself and others is extremely important. Therefore, students are
expected to carefully plan and design the environment that they are connecting from to
enable presence. This includes always keeping video on, avoiding multi-tasking, and
minimizing other distractions in the environment. Not adhering to these principles will
affect the participation grade.

Accommodation Requests
Harvard Extension School is committed to providing an inclusive, accessible academic
community for students with disabilities and chronic health conditions. The Accessibility
Services Office (ASO)
(https://extension.harvard.edu/for-students/support-and-services/accessibility-services/)
offers accommodations and supports to students with documented disabilities. If you have a
need for accommodations or adjustments, contact Accessibility Services directly via email at
[email protected] or by phone at 617-998-9640.

Academic Integrity
You are responsible for understanding Harvard Extension School policies on academic
integrity (https://extension.harvard.edu/for-students/student-policies-conduct/academic-
integrity/) and how to use sources responsibly. Stated most broadly, academic integrity
means that all course work submitted, whether a draft or a final version of a paper, project,
take-home exam, online exam, computer program, oral presentation, or lab report, must be
your own words and ideas, or the sources must be clearly acknowledged. The potential
outcomes for violations of academic integrity are serious and ordinarily include all of the
following: required withdrawal (RQ), which means a failing grade in the course (with no
refund), the suspension of registration privileges, and a notation on your transcript.

Using sources responsibly

(https://extension.harvard.edu/for-students/support-and-services/using-sources-effectively-
and-responsibly/) is an essential part of your Harvard education. We provide additional
information about our expectations regarding academic integrity on our website. We invite
you to review that information and to check your understanding of academic citation rules by
completing two free online 15-minute tutorials that are also available on our site. (The
tutorials are anonymous open-learning tools.)

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