Innovation Leadership

In the 21st Century, there are millions of innovators, but few authentic innovation leaders are able to inspire and guide innovators and their teams to create breakthrough products with their innovative ideas.

In this original course, Innovation Leadership, former Medtronic Chair & CEO Professor Bill George, shows you how to become an innovation leader. The essential elements of knowing yourself and your unique leadership gifts, your motivations, and the purpose of your leadership will be covered by Professor George, along with personal stories of exceptional innovation leaders, concepts, exercises, tools and practical tips to help you become an exceptional innovation leader.

Innovation Leadership is organized into three modules, each including videos of Professor Bill George describing essential elements of innovation leaders, illustrating them with personal examples from innovation leaders, readings from Discover Your True North, illustrative charts, exercises, reflection essays, and discussion topics.

Module I: Your Personal Journey to Innovation Leadership. The course begins with the introduction before moving into:

1. Your Leadership Journey
2. Losing Your Way
3. Crucibles of Leadership
4. Self-Awareness

Stories of leaders included in this module include Wendy Kopp, founder of Teach For America; Howard Schultz, founder of Starbucks; Ian Chan, founder of U.S. Genomics; Mike Baker of Arthrocare; Daniel Vasella, MD, former Chair & CEO of Novartis; Pedro Algorta of “Alive,” survivor of Andes Mountains crash; and Steve Jobs of Apple.

Module II: Developing as an Innovation Leader. In this module you will go through essential elements of developing as an innovation leader:

1. Transformation from Innovator to Innovation Leadership: the “I to We” Journey
2. Innovating with Values
3. Finding your innovation “Sweet Spot”
4. Building Support Teams
5. Integrated Life

The stories of innovation leaders include Nelson Mandala, president of South Africa; Disney CEO Bob Iger; Narayana Murthy, founder of Infosys; IBM CEO Sam Palmisano; Warren Buffett, founder of Berkshire Hathaway; Kevin Sharer of Amgen; Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook; Facebook president Sheryl Sandberg; eBay CEO John Donahoe.

Module III: Innovation Leaders in Organizations. The concluding module focuses on:

1. Innovating with Purpose
2. Empowering Innovators
3. Your Style as Innovation Leader
4. Innovating for Global Impact
5. How Innovators Create Shared Value

This module features remarkable innovation leaders: Merck CEOs Ken Frazier and Roy Vagelos; Xerox’s Anne Mulcahy and Ford’s Alan Mulally; Medtronic CEO Omar Ishrak; Unilever CEO Paul Polman; Alibaba founder Jack Ma.

To successfully complete this course, as a verified learner , (certificate awarded upon completion of the course), you are required to:

• Review all course information documents
• Review all video e lectures
• Participate in all class discussions
• Complete all quizzes successfully
• Complete and submit individual peer activity
• After completing and submitting individual peer activity; learners will be required to complete a peer review of at least 4 submissions
• The passing grade for the course is 60 or higher

Grading Policy

• Quizzes (40%)
• 4 Quizzes (lowest quiz score will be dropped)
• Peer Evaluation Activity (60%)

Required Materials ( Verified Learners ): Book and Field-book can be Purchased Online

1. Textbook: George, B. (2015). Discover your true north (Expanded and Updated edition. ed.). Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley.
2. Field-book: George, B., Craig, N., and Snook, S. (2015). The discover your true north fieldbook: A personal guide to finding your authentic leadership (Revised and updated.. ed.).

The combined cost of purchasing the two books is less than 50 US dollars. This was factored in the cost of the course (49 US dollars). The cost of the course plus books is under 100 US dollars. (Book and Field-book can be Purchased Online)