Course list

Authentic leadership is a cornerstone of effective healthcare leadership, yet research shows that both women and men inherently associate leadership with stereotypically masculine traits like aggression, decisiveness, willingness to engage in conflict, and action orientation.

This course, led by Professor Elizabeth Mannix, progresses through a transformative journey of authentic leadership development. You will discover how to harness your own unique values, perspectives, and experiences as sources of leadership strength rather than obstacles to overcome. The course challenges conventional leadership models by demonstrating how authenticity creates the trust, credibility, and influence essential for driving meaningful change in complex healthcare environments.

You will begin by conducting a deep assessment of both organizational gender dynamics and your own authentic leadership identity, moving beyond surface-level traits to uncover your core leadership essence. The course progresses from self-reflection to practical application, exploring authentic leadership practices and strengthening alignment between beliefs and daily actions. Through guided reflection and purpose-driven exercises, you'll craft a personal leadership purpose statement that serves as a compass for decision making and impact. You'll complete this course with a clearer sense of who you are as a leader and how to lead with intention in today's healthcare environment.

  • Jul 22, 2026
  • Oct 14, 2026
  • Jan 6, 2027
  • Mar 31, 2027
  • Jun 23, 2027

Strategic decision making is a defining skill that elevates exceptional leaders, and every day, healthcare leaders make decisions under pressure — often with limited time and high consequences. This course equips you with practical tools to cut through complexity, focus on what matters most, and make decisions you can stand behind. Professor Sunita Sah will guide you through the nuances of how biases, assumptions, and incomplete information affect judgment and discuss how to counter these challenges using structured decision-making approaches. The course is designed to elevate decision making from reactive problem solving to proactive strategic advantage, pushing the processes to become a source of competitive differentiation and leadership credibility in healthcare organizations.

You will move step by step from diagnosing the decision context to taking purposeful action. The course begins by helping you identify hidden traps and biases that often undermine even the most well-intentioned choices, both individually and across teams. You'll then discover how to frame problems with clarity, apply root-cause analysis techniques, and develop robust solutions tailored to complex healthcare environments.

Finally, you will master strategies for championing your recommendations, driving implementation, and tracking impact to ensure lasting results. By completing this course, you'll be equipped to make confident, well-supported decisions that strengthen your organization's performance and position you as a trusted leader in healthcare.

  • Aug 5, 2026
  • Oct 28, 2026
  • Jan 20, 2027
  • Apr 14, 2027

Influencing outcomes and driving collaboration are essential for healthcare professionals navigating today's complex environments. Negotiation skills play a critical role in aligning teams, advocating for resources, and setting clear boundaries, both within organizations and across broader healthcare networks. Under the expert guidance of Professor Sunita Sah, you will move beyond common negotiation myths and develop a results-driven approach rooted in thorough preparation rather than personality.

Throughout the course, you will clarify your economic, relational, and reputational objectives, create value across multiple negotiation issues, and manage emotions — yours and others' — in high-stakes situations. You'll progress from mastering effective preparation and contextual assessment to strategically determining when and how to make the first offer.

As you advance, you will practice managing complex, multi-issue negotiations, balancing value creation and relationship management within a collaborative, trust-based framework. By completing this course, you'll be equipped with practical negotiation tools and strategies you can immediately apply to achieve stronger outcomes, foster credibility, and maintain lasting professional relationships.

  • Aug 19, 2026
  • Nov 11, 2026
  • Feb 3, 2027
  • Apr 28, 2027

Building strategic networks has become a cornerstone of effective healthcare leadership, directly influencing organizational culture, patient outcomes, and career progression. As the industry faces rapid transformation and increasing complexity, leaders who can intentionally cultivate diverse, high-impact relationships set themselves and their teams apart. Professor Elizabeth Mannix, a renowned expert in organizational behavior, brings unique insights into how networks drive both individual advancement and systemic change, with a special focus on overcoming barriers that often limit women's leadership trajectories.

Throughout this course, you will move beyond traditional notions of networking, adopting a purposeful approach that aligns with your leadership goals. You'll analyze your current network to uncover strengths and areas for growth, conduct a targeted audit to identify key relationships, and develop actionable strategies to expand your influence.

The curriculum culminates in building a sponsor development plan and assembling your own “Board of Advisors,” empowering you to secure critical support and guidance. By completing this course, you'll be equipped to strategically grow your network, amplify your leadership impact, and drive meaningful change within your healthcare organization.

  • Sep 2, 2026
  • Nov 25, 2026
  • Feb 17, 2027
  • May 12, 2027

Speaking up and challenging entrenched norms in healthcare can feel daunting, yet courageous leadership is more essential than ever in today's complex environment. Rapid changes, persistent inequities, and high-stakes decisions demand leaders who not only advocate for what's right but also inspire others to do the same. Professors Sunita Sah and Elizabeth Mannix bring their renowned expertise to help you confront the emotional and systemic barriers that often stifle honest dialogue, such as the voice-empathy gap and burnout, and show that courage and resilience are skills you can intentionally develop.

You will progress from recognizing barriers to taking bold action, starting with strategies for turning discomfort into constructive insight. As you strengthen your emotional intelligence, you'll discover how to manage difficult conversations, offer candid feedback, and cultivate trust — critical skills for building collaborative teams.

The program culminates in actionable methods for fostering both personal and organizational resilience, empowering you to create a culture where integrity, psychological safety, and meaningful change flourish in healthcare. With these capabilities, you will confidently lead with courage and resilience, ensuring your voice — as well as the voices of those around you — drive lasting, positive impact in your organization.

  • Sep 16, 2026
  • Dec 9, 2026
  • Mar 3, 2027
  • May 26, 2027

Symposium sessions feature two days of live, highly interactive virtual Zoom sessions that will explore today's most pressing topics. The Leadership Symposium offers you a unique opportunity to engage in real-time conversations with peers and experts from the Cornell community and beyond. Using the context of your own experiences, you will take part in reflections and small-group discussions to build on the skills and knowledge you have gained from your courses.

Join us for the next Symposium in which we'll discuss the ways that leaders across industries have continued engaging their teams over the past two years while pivoting in strategic ways. You will support your coursework by applying your knowledge and experiences to relevant topics for leaders. Throughout this Symposium, you will examine different areas of leadership, including the psychology of leadership; women in leadership; and leading in a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous world. By participating in relevant and engaging discussions, you will discover a variety of perspectives and build connections with your fellow participants from various industries.

All sessions are held on Zoom.

Future dates are subject to change. You may participate in as many sessions as you wish. Attending Symposium sessions is not required to successfully complete any certificate program. Once enrolled in your courses, you will receive information about upcoming events. Accessibility accommodations will be available upon request. For future reference, download our Symposium course flyer.

eCornell Online Workshops are live, interactive 3-hour learning experiences led by Cornell faculty experts. These premium short-format sessions focus on AI topics and are designed for busy professionals who want to gain immediately applicable skills and strategic perspectives. Workshops include faculty presentations, breakout discussions, and guided hands-on practice.

The AI Workshops All-Access Pass provides you with unlimited participation for 6 months from your date of purchase. Whether you choose to attend one workshop per month, or several per week, the All-Access Pass will allow you to customize your AI journey and stay on top of the latest AI trends.

Workshops cover a range of cutting-edge AI topics applicable across industries, hosted by Cornell faculty at the forefront of their fields. Whether you are just getting started with AI, seeking to build your AI skillset, or exploring advanced applications of AI, Workshops will provide you with an action-oriented learning experience for immediate application in your career. Sample Workshops include:

  • Work Smarter with AI Agents: Individual and Team Effectiveness
  • Leading AI Transformation: Bigger Than You Imagine, Harder Than You Expect
  • Using AI at Work: Practical Choices and Better Results
  • Search & Discoverability in the Era of AI
  • Don't Just Prompt AI - Govern it
  • AI-Powered Product Manager
  • Leverage AI and Human Connection to Lead through Uncertainty

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How It Works

Frequently Asked Questions

Healthcare is evolving rapidly, and women leaders are increasingly expected to deliver results in complex, high-stakes environments while navigating persistent power structures and gender dynamics. Cornell’s Women in Healthcare Leadership Certificate is designed to help you lead with clarity, credibility, and impact in the midst of that reality.

In this certificate program, authored by faculty from the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business, you will build a practical leadership toolkit you can apply immediately to clarify your leadership values and purpose. You’ll discover how to improve decision making under pressure by strengthening problem framing and reducing bias, negotiate more effectively for resources and boundaries, expand strategic networks that increase visibility and opportunity, and develop the courage and resilience to speak up and drive change.

Learning is reinforced through structured, work-relevant projects and facilitated peer engagement, ensuring insights translate directly into action within your organization.

If you’re ready to strengthen your leadership clarity, increase your influence in high-stakes decisions and negotiations, and lead with greater resilience in complex healthcare environments, you should choose Cornell's Women in Healthcare Leadership Certificate.

Many online programs rely on self-paced content with limited human interaction, which can make it hard to turn new ideas into lasting leadership habits. Cornell’s Women in Healthcare Leadership Certificate is built around a more human, practice-oriented model: a small-cohort learning experience with expert facilitation, structured peer discussion, and applied projects that connect directly to your workplace.

You won’t just read about leadership; you’ll practice it by building tangible outputs such as a leadership purpose statement, bias-aware decision plans with implementation metrics, negotiation preparation and relationship strategies, a network audit with a sponsor development plan, and a resilience plan that strengthens psychological safety.

Cornell’s Women in Healthcare Leadership Certificate is also distinctive in how directly it addresses barriers that disproportionately affect women leaders in healthcare, including common workplace biases, speaking-up dynamics, and the relationship-building realities that influence advancement.

Plus, by enrolling in the Women in Healthcare Leadership Certificate, you get two years of access to Leadership Symposium featuring live, highly participatory virtual Zoom sessions that explore today’s most pressing topics, giving you a unique opportunity to engage in real-time conversations with peers and experts from the Cornell community and beyond.

Enrolling in this certificate also provides you with a 6-month All-Access Pass to eCornell's live online AI Workshops, interactive sessions led by world-class Cornell faculty that combine Ivy League insight with practical applications for busy professionals. Each 3-hour Workshop features structured instruction, guided practice, and real tools to build competitive AI capabilities, plus the opportunity to connect with a global cohort of growth-oriented peers. While AI Workshops are not required, they enhance certificate programs through:

  • Integrating AI perspectives across most curricula
  • Responding to emerging AI developments and trends
  • Offering direct engagement with Cornell faculty at the forefront of AI research

Cornell’s Women in Healthcare Leadership Certificate is designed for professionals who are ready to increase their leadership impact in healthcare settings, especially when the work involves complexity, cross-functional coordination, and high-stakes decisions.

The Women in Healthcare Leadership Certificate is a strong fit if you are:

  • A clinician moving into leadership responsibilities and looking for structured tools for decision making, influence, and difficult conversations
  • A healthcare administrator seeking to lead change, strengthen credibility, and navigate organizational dynamics
  • A professional in a healthcare-adjacent field, such as pharma, healthcare IT, consulting, or HR, who partners closely with clinical and operational teams

Throughout Cornell’s Women in Healthcare Leadership Certificate program, the content is focused on developing and supporting women in healthcare leadership, and the program is open to students of all sexes and gender identities.

Your work in Cornell’s Women in Healthcare Leadership Certificate centers on multi-part, workplace-relevant projects that build real leadership outputs you can use right away.

In the Women in Healthcare Leadership Certificate, you will complete projects such as:

  • An authentic leadership self-assessment and action plan grounded in core values, ending in a concise leadership purpose statement
  • A structured decision-making project that maps context and stakeholders, identifies common decision traps and biases, frames a neutral problem statement, performs root-cause analysis, and produces an implementation plan with metrics to monitor impact
  • A negotiation project that clarifies economic, relational, and reputational goals, defines your BATNA and walk-away points, plans trade-offs for multi-issue negotiations, and builds strategies to manage emotions and maintain long-term professional relationships
  • A strategic networking project that audits your operational, personal, and strategic networks, identifies connectors and dormant ties, and results in a sponsor development plan and a personal board of advisors
  • A resilience and courageous leadership project that uses tools to decide when and how to speak up, builds a courage scaffold to manage fear, and outlines practices that strengthen psychological safety and reduce burnout on your team

Throughout Cornell’s Women in Healthcare Leadership Certificate, you will apply the concepts to situations that matter in your current role while receiving facilitator guidance and peer insight through discussions.

Cornell’s Women in Healthcare Leadership Certificate helps you build credibility and influence as a leader by strengthening how you decide, communicate, negotiate, and build the relationships that open doors.

After completing the Women in Healthcare Leadership Certificate, you will be prepared to:

  • Explore authentic leadership by clarifying core values and creating a clear leadership purpose statement
  • Strengthen decision-making capabilities through structured approaches that reduce bias, analyze complex problems, and implement effective solutions
  • Grow strategic negotiation and relationship-building skills
  • Build courage and resilience to lead confidently in high-stakes healthcare environments while fostering trust and meaningful organizational change

Across eCornell certificate programs, learners consistently report long-term benefits such as expanded leadership opportunities, career growth, and greater professional credibility from applying new skills to real workplace challenges and showcasing a Cornell credential. While individual outcomes vary, the program’s combination of expert facilitation, applied projects, and peer learning is specifically designed to translate learning into visible impact at work.

In addition, because eCornell represents the pinnacle of premium online professional education, participants in eCornell's programs often experience long-term career transformation such as promotions to more senior roles, salary increases, improved networking opportunities, and successful career transitions.

Cornell’s Women in Healthcare Leadership Certificate, which consists of 5 short courses, is designed to be completed in 3 months. Each course runs for 2 weeks, with a typical weekly time commitment of 3 to 5 hours.

Designed for working professionals, most learning activities are asynchronous, meaning you can complete readings, videos, and project work on your own schedule within each course’s deadlines.

To keep the experience interactive and supportive, you will also participate in facilitated discussions and have opportunities for live online sessions. This structure gives you flexibility, but you are still learning with a cohort and getting guidance rather than working alone.

You do not require a specific background to succeed in Cornell's Women in Healthcare Leadership Certificate. The program is designed for a range of professionals across the healthcare ecosystem, including those in clinical, administrative, policy, and business roles.

You will succeed if you bring real workplace situations you want to improve and are ready to reflect, write, and participate in facilitated discussions. The certificate is commonly taken by clinicians moving into leadership, healthcare administrators, and healthcare-adjacent professionals in areas such as healthcare IT, consulting, HR, and pharma.

Leadership in healthcare often involves moments when staying silent feels safer, even when speaking up would protect patients, teams, or values. Cornell’s Women in Healthcare Leadership Certificate gives you practical tools to recognize the forces that shape voice and credibility and to respond with intention.

You will learn to spot and reduce decision biases that can distort judgment, including common cognitive traps and the ways bias can show up in team dynamics. You’ll also examine workplace patterns that disproportionately affect women leaders, such as having to repeatedly re-establish competence, feeling pressure to balance warmth and competence, and hesitation to negotiate due to insinuation anxiety.

Most importantly, you will practice methods for courageous, professional action: using a structured tool to decide when and how to push back, planning for difficult conversations, and designing team practices that strengthen psychological safety and reduce burnout so more people can speak up and contribute.

Negotiation is a core leadership skill in healthcare, from securing resources and staffing to setting boundaries and aligning cross-functional stakeholders. Cornell’s Women in Healthcare Leadership Certificate approaches negotiation as a practical, repeatable skill that improves through structure, preparation, and deliberate practice.

You will learn how to build a clear negotiation strategy by defining your goals, identifying your alternatives and walk-away point, and making intentional decisions about when to lead with an offer. You’ll also develop the ability to navigate multi-issue negotiations by knowing when to claim value, when to create value, and how to protect relationships while advancing outcomes.

To support performance under pressure, you will strengthen techniques for managing emotion, maintaining clarity in real time, and building trust even in high-stakes conversations. These skills are reinforced in Cornell’s Women in Healthcare Leadership Certificate program through applied negotiation exercises and realistic simulations designed to mirror healthcare leadership scenarios.

“I would found an institution where any person could find instruction in any study.”
{Anytime, anywhere.}
Ezra Cornell
Founder of Cornell University