Topic outline

  • Course description

    Imagine a group of students like yourself interested in self-development and personal growth wanting to form a discussion forum in order to develop themselves and refine their personal leadership in a fruitful and thought-provoking environment. If this image feels compelling to you, then this is the course for you!

    In this course we take a deep-dive into personal leadership by learning from each other and through important themes that are prevalent in everyday life albeit difficult to pin down with the tools of academic discourse. The personal - felt and experienced - dimensions in for example risks, successes, setbacks, organizing, and personal relationships are made tangible during the evolution of this course. Good leadership does not only require general knowledge about leadership but some measure of wisdom, empathy and appreciation. This is the stuff of nurtured personal relationships, which are vital to successful leadership. This ‘difficult to describe’ character of personal leadership is the heartland of this course.

    The core reading in this course consists of Steve Jobs biography (Isaacson 2011), which we will use to learn from and from where we shall tangent-off into relevant directions. Additional material (e.g. book chapters, Youtube-video clips) that support the learning objectives of the course are focused on building an appreciation for personal relationships. In this course we first and foremost ask ‘what can we learn from this’ instead of ‘what is best or true about leadership.’ 

    This is an advanced course in personal leadership primarily directed to late Masters students who are familiar with the constructivist approach to leadership, and have preferably already studied TU-E3010 Leading as Practice (LaP). Prior leadership experience in any walk of life is recommended but not obligatory. If you have not studied LaP but nonetheless want to take this course, please email peter.kentta@aalto.fi for further information.

    This is a Pass/Fail course based on three essays and online lecture/discussion participation. A Pass from this course requires that all three essays are passed, to lead a discussion session, and active participation during 80% of all online discussions (participation in 13/16 discussions). There are two online lectures/discussions each week for the duration of the course. Each student will at least once present a part of the course book and reflect and open up key learning points and the significance of the readings for them.

    Being an advanced course, much responsibility is given to the students who participate in the course. Students like yourself will lead most of the discussion sessions. As said, the point is to learn from each other and from the process of ‘reflecting together’ about significant themes. This requires commitment and a ‘can do’ attitude from all participants, to make each session a fruitful one.  


    Learning objectives

    In this course you will learn to:

    1. Develop, strengthen and refine your personal leadership style, thinking and philosophy

    2. Listen, engage with and to appreciate even fundamental differences between people

    3. Understand and manage different kinds of personal difficulties and hurdles that are germane to modern day work-life

    Teacher: Peter Kenttä, peter.kentta@aalto.fi