LDRS 506 Leadership: Strategy, Innovation and Imagination

This course will explore strategic, innovative, and imaginative ways of leading diverse groups of people. It will give students an understanding of how organizations are able to promote and manage strategy, innovation, and imagination. The course will utilize theories such as chaos theory and change management, tap into tools and ideas from the field of innovation engineering, and challenge students to think imaginatively using perspectives from the liberal arts (i.e. art, drama, theater, history, literature, and music). Finally, the course will explore and discuss the innovation process of turning ideas into practical outcomes.

Credits

Student Learning Outcomes

To understand what is expected in the course and how to be successful in it. To recognize how to be original and effective in utilizing that originality in an organization. To comprehend differing viewpoints on what innovation is and the importance of innovation in an organization
To personally analyze how personal background and experiences influence originality and how to effectively communicate original ideas
To learn the underlying concepts of designing a business
To realize the importance of understanding customers, context, and the business models in a business and how to use the design tools to support that understanding. To learn how to make the brain work as an accelerator for innovative idea generation using stimulus mining and the leveraging of diversity
To learn and use ideation tools to generate ideas for solving a unique problem
To understand a selection process for new ideas and how to test them early for their viability. To use writing tools to learn how to effectively communicate the idea
To experiment with ways to test and/or prototype the validity of an idea for a product, service, or process using the Plan, Do, Study, Act learning cycle. To see the difficulties and importance of creating a culture of innovation in an organization
To perform an assessment of your organization’s innovative culture and analyze the results. To realize the difference between disruption and innovation. To know how to communicate new ideas effectively
To understand the difference between innovators and innovation. To reflect upon organizational silos that create barriers to an innovative culture. To determine how to create and manage effective innovation teams