Leadership

What is a leader? We often think of a leader as someone who is in charge of people, products, or processes. But what about the person on the team who everyone looks to when the boss is gone or when advice is needed? That person is a leader too. Leaders can have formal power or responsibilities, or they can simply be a person of influence. Regardless of role, research indicates that effective, successful leaders are those with strong character and the ability to lead with courage, humility, and compassion. Fortunately, character is not something we are just “born with.” Character is something that can be developed over time. In this program, you will have the opportunity to explore seven dimensions of leadership that are associated with strong character through case studies and examples. You will also complete self-reflection exercises, assessments, and activities to initiate and continue the work of developing these character dimensions. In addition to developing your leadership character, this certificate provides you with skills needed to enhance your credibility as a leader and consider the power of both perception and experience as you build a culture of service leadership. Ultimately, you will take the first steps on a lifetime journey of developing the character that will enable you to be the best leader you can be. This program includes two years of free access to Symposium! These events feature several days of live, highly participatory virtual Zoom sessions with Cornell faculty and experts to explore the most pressing leadership topics. Symposium events are held several times throughout the year. Once enrolled in your program, you will receive information about upcoming events. Throughout the year, you may participate in as many sessions as you wish. Attending Symposium sessions is not required to successfully complete the certificate program. NOTE: This program includes a copy of Amy Newman's ebook, Building Leadership Character (California: Sage, 2019). You will receive instructions about how to access the ebook when you join the course. If you prefer to purchase a hard copy of the book we suggest you do so before the start of the course. The book is available for purchase online or at other retailers. The courses in this certificate program are required to be completed in the order that they appear.

In today’s business environment, hybrid work models are commonplace and can serve to attract and retain employees. Successful models require a strong group culture to keep organizations running smoothly and productively. For many organizations, hybrid models represent a significant shift in how work gets done. As such, managers and leaders need to rethink what it means to lead in this new environment. Certainly some of the leadership approaches that are used in fully in-person groups or in fully virtual groups still apply, but hybrid models also create a number of unique leadership opportunities and challenges. Key success factors include creating an inclusive hybrid work environment and effective collaboration processes, as well as implementing strategic and deliberate communication norms. In this certificate program, you will examine a variety of hybrid work models and hybrid workgroup scenarios. You’ll have the opportunity to explore the interconnectedness of culture and productivity in hybrid teams and identify best practices for launching a hybrid team. By the end of the program, you will have discovered new ways to confidently manage hybrid teams for high performance. The courses in this certificate program are required to be completed in the order that they appear.

Learn to navigate challenging conversations and manage conflict in the workplace productively.

As a leader in your organization, you always need to be prepared for change. Whether you’re dealing with a planned initiative, volatile industry, or unexpected situation, change is inevitable. In this series, you will identify where you fit in the power hierarchy of your organization and how this plays into your role in organizational decision making. The Change Management certificate program, developed by faculty at Cornell University, will equip you to anticipate where things are moving, implement changes needed, and sustain the momentum of your change management initiatives to advance your agenda. The four core courses and two leadership electives enable you to meet your specific development goals while customizing the program to suit your particular professional outcomes. For the best experience in this program it is recommended to take these courses in the order that they appear. This program includes two years of free access to Symposium! These events feature several days of live, highly participatory virtual Zoom sessions with Cornell faculty and experts to explore the most pressing leadership topics. Symposium events are held several times throughout the year. Once enrolled in your program, you will receive information about upcoming events. Throughout the year, you may participate in as many sessions as you wish. Attending Symposium sessions is not required to successfully complete the certificate program.

An organization is only as good as its culture—and building that culture is not only a role for HR, it’s every manager’s and employee’s responsibility. As today’s headlines prove, an inclusive work environment is not just a nice-to-have, it can make or break a company. You can help make your organization a more supportive and engaging place to work by understanding the perceptual, institutional, and psychological processes that impact the ways people interact with each other. Starting with a look at employee engagement, then identifying interventions surrounding unconscious bias and specific diversity, equity, and inclusion strategies, this program is appropriate for anyone committed to going beyond mere compliance to build a truly aware and inclusive work culture. For the best experience in this program it is recommended to take these courses in the order that they appear. This program includes two years of free access to Symposiums! These events feature a week of live, highly participatory virtual Zoom sessions with Cornell faculty and experts to explore today’s most pressing diversity and inclusion topics, including equity, unconscious bias, psychological safety, inclusive leadership, and cross-cultural conversations. Symposium events are held several times throughout the year. Once enrolled in your program, you will receive information about upcoming events. Throughout the year, you may participate in as many Symposium sessions as you wish. Attending Symposium sessions is not required to successfully complete the certificate program.

Develop the essential leadership skills you need to motivate teams, communicate with stakeholders, and achieve top performance as an engineering manager.

This five-course certificate program examines the issues facing women in leadership positions and offers strategies for handling them. Professor Deborah Streeter balances academic research regarding social norms and expectations with practical strategies for operating effectively within the workplace. She discusses how to outmaneuver the "double bind" dilemma, showing strong leadership qualities without being penalized for it. Professor Streeter discusses how women can best negotiate in the workplace, ways to effectively provide both positive and negative feedback and how they can strengthen their emotional intelligence to stand out as a leader among both men and women. This certificate positions women who are in leadership positions to recognize when there is a gender dimension at work and how they can outstrategize gender bias and their own habits to achieve better results. For the best experience in this program it is recommended to take these courses in the order that they appear. This program includes two years of free access to Symposium! These events feature several days of live, highly participatory virtual Zoom sessions with Cornell faculty and experts to explore the most pressing leadership topics. Symposium events are held several times throughout the year. Once enrolled in your program, you will receive information about upcoming events. Throughout the year, you may participate in as many sessions as you wish. Attending Symposium sessions is not required to successfully complete the certificate program. The content of this certificate program is focused on developing and supporting women in leadership. This program is open to students of all sexes and gender identities.

An executive leader’s credibility, authority and ability to keep a team focused and motivated are under constant scrutiny. And rightfully so—it’s the leader’s job to communicate strategy, negotiate skillfully, influence team behaviors, and deliver results. In an executive role, it’s crucial that you have the right blend of soft skills and a strategic mindset to achieve specific performance outcomes at your organization. The Executive Leadership Certificate series provides you with the critical skills to lead your organization to success through a series of six core courses and two electives that give you the flexibility to customize the program to your goals. This program includes two years of free access to Symposium! These events feature several days of live, highly participatory virtual Zoom sessions with Cornell faculty and experts to explore the most pressing leadership topics. Symposium events are held several times throughout the year. Once enrolled in your program, you will receive information about upcoming events. Throughout the year, you may participate in as many sessions as you wish. Attending Symposium sessions is not required to successfully complete the certificate program.

Family businesses represent the dominant form of business ownership worldwide. Leadership in family organizations requires a dynamic mix of courage, candor, and emotional maturity to navigate the often complex relationships that exist among family members, business, and ownership. In this certificate program, you will explore the particular challenges that family-owned businesses face and gain strategies to help you navigate these challenges effectively. You’ll have the opportunity to analyze how family, business, and ownership overlap to identify where confusion or tension may arise among them. You will also address emotional and habitual patterns that govern familial and business relationships and discover how to encourage a shared sense of belonging that can sustain both the family and the business across generations. By the end of this program, you will have new tools and strategies to help lead a thriving family business. For the best experience in this program it is recommended to take these courses in the order that they appear. This certificate includes a year of free access to Symposium! These events feature live, highly participatory virtual Zoom sessions with Cornell faculty and experts to explore today’s most pressing leadership topics. Throughout the year, you may participate in as many sessions as you wish. Attending a Symposium is not required to successfully complete the certificate program.

Today’s organizational leaders are one part manager, one part HR professional. This certificate program will teach you how to elevate into a true leader instead of simply a manager. Find out what your leadership style is and how to develop the interpersonal skills needed to take charge. Knowing that will allow you to not only create a high-performing team, but manage it to its fullest potential as well. Learn how to manage your time, make clear, decisive decisions for the betterment of your organization, and how to communicate those decisions to upper management. For the best experience in this program it is recommended to take these courses in the order that they appear. This program includes two years of free access to the Leadership Symposium! These highly interactive virtual events span multiple days and explore today’s most pressing topics. Symposium offers exclusive opportunities to engage in real-time discussions with your eCornell community, applying insights from your courses to real-world scenarios. Through reflections and small-group discussions, you’ll deepen your learning, broaden your perspective, and expand your professional network. Symposium events are held throughout the year, providing ongoing opportunities to stay engaged, gain fresh perspectives, and strengthen your skills. Once enrolled, you’ll receive access to the Symposium networking site and details about upcoming sessions. You can participate in as many as you’d like to make the most of your experience, though attendance is not required to complete your program.

Do you have the presence of a leader? Executive presence is a vital skill in business and life: being able to connect with other people by making your case and communicating genuine emotion, even in the most intimidating circumstances. Whether you’re leading a team meeting or giving a formal presentation to a large group, you can learn to combine your breath, your voice, your body positioning, your passionate belief in what you're saying, and your authentic self so profoundly that people won't be able to look away. In this 15-week certificate program, you'll learn by doing to refine your public speaking skills and build confidence in your own presence. By sharing videos of yourself presenting and receiving constructive feedback from fellow students and experts, you'll practice analyzing your performance, repeating, and refining your work in exercises and acting techniques specially designed by Cornell Theatre Professor David Feldshuh. It's not about achieving perfection. The core skills, analytical tools, and training exercises presented in this program are intended to position you for a lifetime of development. The better you get, the more confident you’ll feel. And it will show. This program includes two years of free access to Symposium! These events feature several days of live, highly participatory virtual Zoom sessions with Cornell faculty and experts to explore the most pressing leadership topics. Symposium events are held several times throughout the year. Once enrolled in your program, you will receive information about upcoming events. Throughout the year, you may participate in as many sessions as you wish. Attending Symposium sessions is not required to successfully complete the certificate program.

The ultimate goal of leadership is to get things done by effectively influencing and leading other people. Possessing this ability is of utmost importance for both your career path and the health of your organization. Throughout this certificate, Professor Allan Filipowicz will provide you with time-tested practical tools and cutting-edge behavioral science findings to ensure influencing and leading others are two of your core competencies. You will walk away with a deep understanding of the psychological mechanisms that drive the behaviors, motivation, and performance of yourself and others in order to maximize your potential to lead.  For the best experience in this program it is recommended to take these courses in the order that they appear. This program includes two years of free access to Symposium! These events feature several days of live, highly participatory virtual Zoom sessions with Cornell faculty and experts to explore the most pressing leadership topics. Symposium events are held several times throughout the year. Once enrolled in your program, you will receive information about upcoming events. Throughout the year, you may participate in as many sessions as you wish. Attending Symposium sessions is not required to successfully complete the certificate program.

In many organizations, men hold more executive positions and board seats than similarly qualified women. Even organizations that bring on women and men at the same rate still demonstrate a gender imbalance at the highest levels of leadership because the power structures and gender dynamics in place often favor and reward the contributions of men over women. In this environment, even the most experienced and capable women struggle against gender bias and established power dynamics on their way to the top. In this certificate, you will learn strategies and techniques to skillfully level the playing field as you work to attain higher levels of leadership. You’ll begin with an evaluation of the gender bias and power dynamics present in your organizations and develop strategies to overcome their limiting effects. Next, you will assess and refine the way you present yourself as an executive. Leaders often have to negotiate on behalf of themselves, their teams, and their institutions, so students will explore ways to prepare for the challenges women face in negotiations and adapt their negotiation style to the context of a given situation. Given that strong professional networks are often required to advance careers to the highest level, you will create a plan to fully develop your own networks while navigating the potential traps of gender and power dynamics. Finally, you will peek behind the boardroom door to identify the key competencies needed for board membership and explore the various - and sometimes unlikely - pathways women follow to the boardroom. This program includes two years of free access to Symposium! These events feature several days of live, highly participatory virtual Zoom sessions with Cornell faculty and experts to explore the most pressing leadership topics. Symposium events are held several times throughout the year. Once enrolled in your program, you will receive information about upcoming events. Throughout the year, you may participate in as many sessions as you wish. Attending Symposium sessions is not required to successfully complete the certificate program. For the best experience in this program it is recommended to take these courses in the order that they appear. The content of this certificate program is focused on developing and supporting women in leadership. This program is open to students of all sexes and gender identities.

The Performance Leadership Certificate is ideal for managers who want to develop and hone their leadership skills, but want the flexibility to select courses that best align with their professional goals and desired outcomes at work.  This certificate program will help you develop credibility as a leader and build confidence in your own leadership style as you become more attuned to the behavioral dynamics of others.  Designed for maximum flexibility, the Performance Leadership Certificate program offers you a selection of courses in the following areas: Leading Your Team, Gaining the Advantage, Strategy, and Negotiations. You’ll become a better coach, a better listener and communicator, and most importantly, an inspiring leader who can move the team and the organization forward. For the best experience in this program it is recommended to take these courses in the order that they appear. This program includes two years of free access to Symposium! These events feature several days of live, highly participatory virtual Zoom sessions with Cornell faculty and experts to explore the most pressing leadership topics. Symposium events are held several times throughout the year. Once enrolled in your program, you will receive information about upcoming events. Throughout the year, you may participate in as many sessions as you wish. Attending Symposium sessions is not required to successfully complete the certificate program.

Have you ever known a very intelligent person who made a very bad decision? Critical problem solving is both a discipline and a skill; one that even very smart people can benefit from learning. Careful thought around decisions can help your teams and organizations thrive. And in today’s age of automation, it’s never been a more essential mindset to develop at every level of a company. In this certificate program, you will practice a disciplined, systematic approach to problem solving. You will learn how to deeply analyze a problem, assess possible solutions and associated risks, and hone your strategic decision-making skills by following a methodology based on tested actions and sound approaches. Whether you’re interested in preparing for a management role or already lead an execution function, you’ll come away better equipped to confidently tackle any decision large or small, make a compelling business case, and apply influence in your organization in a way that creates the optimal conditions for success. The courses in this certificate program are required to be completed in the order that they appear. This program includes two years of free access to Symposium! These events feature several days of live, highly participatory virtual Zoom sessions with Cornell faculty and experts to explore the most pressing leadership topics. Symposium events are held several times throughout the year. Once enrolled in your program, you will receive information about upcoming events. Throughout the year, you may participate in as many sessions as you wish. Attending Symposium sessions is not required to successfully complete the certificate program.

Learning how to negotiate effectively is an important skill to have in business and in life. By becoming a better negotiator, you are more likely to make the deal you want, get a better job offer, and create further value. This certificate program will help you improve your negotiation abilities by introducing you to relevant tools and terminology, as well as practical negotiation tactics. Throughout the courses, you will have a chance to review and analyze real-world case studies, engage in live, active negotiation exercises with a peer in your class, and learn how to combine different negotiation techniques for the best results. Ultimately, you’ll come away better prepared to achieve your desired outcomes in any business situation — a skill that will pay off lifelong. This program requires 2 live negotiation sessions per course with a partner from your class. You will be asked to submit information on your time zone within 24 hours after each course starts so that you are matched with a negotiating partner in time to complete the required negotiating assignments. Please be prepared to coordinate your schedule with an assigned partner. Specific instructions will be provided in the course. 

There are a multitude of strategies, books, and resources that are meant to help you improve your leadership skills. But if you work in the public sector, do these strategies apply to you? What is different about leading in a public organization? In this certificate program, Seth Harris, former U.S. Deputy Secretary of Labor, will help you explore these questions. You will assess your own leadership skills as well as examine your own organization to determine its unique characteristics. You will also examine your employees and teams to better understand what motivates them to work in the public sector. With a better understanding of both your organization and your people, you’ll have the opportunity to use several leadership models and goal-setting approaches that can help you determine which leadership strategies and behaviors will be most effective in your organization. The courses in this certificate program are required to be completed in the order that they appear. This program includes two years of free access to Symposium! These events feature several days of live, highly participatory virtual Zoom sessions with Cornell faculty and experts to explore the most pressing leadership topics. Symposium events are held several times throughout the year. Once enrolled in your program, you will receive information about upcoming events. Throughout the year, you may participate in as many sessions as you wish. Attending Symposium sessions is not required to successfully complete the certificate program.

Have you ever had a great idea for an interactive product but you didn’t know how to build it? If you have some programming knowledge and a desire to build devices, this hands-on certificate program will give you the applied foundation you need to take the next step. Throughout this program, you will engage in several project builds using both Arduino and Raspberry Pi. After being guided through the foundations of electronics and computing to develop simple devices that respond to user input, you’ll progress to creating complete devices that have complex functions, including networked communications that connect one device to another. As you build these interactive devices, you will also gain an understanding of how human users and devices can exchange information in a smooth, natural way. Whether you’re involved in engineering, robotics, computer science, or product development, you’ll come away from this program prepared to design more effective and sophisticated interaction between products and end users. This program leverages open-source libraries and requires the purchase of a kit of electronic components and microcontrollers at a cost of around $600. Once you enroll in the program, you will be sent an email that provides the specific details on where to purchase the kit. To be successful in the courses, you should have familiarity with programming, be technically savvy, and have an understanding of key computer science principles. To avoid delays in starting your first course, please register at least two weeks before your intended start date and provide a valid shipping address during registration. This will ensure the timely delivery of your kit and a smooth start to your learning experience. While course and certificate fees are refundable, the kit fee is not refundable once shipped. The courses in this certificate program are required to be completed in the order that they appear.

In today’s digitally connected global environment, many organizations opt to operate virtually with a remote or partially remote workforce. This certificate program is designed to improve your ability to effectively manage a remote or virtual team. Through the five courses, you will examine the unique opportunities and challenges that come with remote work and explore strategies to enhance your ability to lead your team to success. You will begin the program by exploring strategies for establishing trust, engagement, and commitment: key cultural elements that can help teams meet their goals and can prevent remedial action. Then, you will examine methods for encouraging constructive conflict, building accountability, and fostering effective decision-making in a culture where employees are not together in a physical location. By the end of the program, you will be prepared to successfully lead multicultural virtual teams and manage common challenges that can arise in a remote environment. The courses in this certificate program are required to be completed in the order that they appear. This program includes two years of free access to Symposium! These events feature several days of live, highly participatory virtual Zoom sessions with Cornell faculty and experts to explore the most pressing leadership topics. Symposium events are held several times throughout the year. Once enrolled in your program, you will receive information about upcoming events. Throughout the year, you may participate in as many sessions as you wish. Attending Symposium sessions is not required to successfully complete the certificate program.

The ability to effectively manage your emotions is one of the most critical determinants of success in personal relationships as well as at any level of an organization. Emotions not only help us understand ourselves and our social relationships with others, but they also help us respond to stimuli in our environment efficiently, change our behavior, and develop relationships with others. Likewise, failure to understand emotions can often get in the way of achieving important personal and professional goals. In this certificate program, you will build an emotional lexicon to help you identify emotions, explore how emotions impact your cognition and decision making, and implement a series of strategies that can assist in the regulation of emotions. You’ll practice identifying emotions in others and reflect on how emotions affect your daily life and professional interactions. To help you develop as a leader, you will create a personal plan for taking control of your own emotions. Throughout the program, you will have the opportunity to strengthen your own emotional skills as well as your ability to handle challenges in work and in life successfully.

In business and in life, one of the most crucial skills you can develop is the art of persuasion. When communicating your ideas to others, practicing how to craft a succinct and persuasive message can allow you to push projects forward, gain buy-in from stakeholders, and advance in your career. In this certificate program, you will investigate a variety of approaches to communicate effectively with different audiences. By assessing the needs of your audience and implementing this audience analysis along with some key techniques and strategies, you will be better positioned to craft the ideal message and delivery for your persuasion goals. Whether you are preparing a presentation for a group of decision makers or speaking informally to a few colleagues, you can use the recommended best practices in this program to achieve better results.  

In today’s volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) world, leaders must adapt and rise to the challenges created by ever-changing circumstances. In this certificate program, you will develop the internal strengths and strategic skills needed to lead with agility. You will also work to improve your ability to influence both within your organization and externally to accomplish your vision. By the end of this series, you will have gained a new level of confidence to better impact your team and organization. For the best experience in this program it is recommended to take these courses in the order that they appear. This program includes two years of free access to Symposium! These events feature several days of live, highly participatory virtual Zoom sessions with Cornell faculty and experts to explore the most pressing leadership topics. Symposium events are held several times throughout the year. Once enrolled in your program, you will receive information about upcoming events. Throughout the year, you may participate in as many sessions as you wish. Attending Symposium sessions is not required to successfully complete the certificate program.

Are you looking to build skills that foster effective communication, collaboration, and connection in the workplace? Do you want to better navigate conflicts and engage constructively across differences in style, background, and perspective? Are you motivated to learn alongside others who share your passion for creating sustainable change in professional settings? This certificate program offers an in-depth exploration of impactful leadership through four key development areas: human connection, identity, intentional communication, and collaborative change. Research highlights the factors that influence workplace connection and collaboration, ranging from communication skills and diverse lived experiences to organizational norms. Through interactive online activities and live virtual sessions, you will delve into the dynamics of interpersonal connection and disconnection, sharpening your skills in dialogue and mutual understanding. Building on this foundation, you’ll expand your focus to team and institutional dynamics, gaining practical tools for driving collaborative change. The courses in this certificate program are required to be completed in the order that they appear. This program includes two years of free access to Leadership Symposium! These highly interactive virtual events span multiple days and explore today’s most pressing topics. Symposium offers exclusive opportunities to engage in real-time discussions with your eCornell community, applying insights from your courses to real-world scenarios. Through reflections and small-group discussions, you will deepen your learning, broaden your perspective, and expand your professional network. Symposium events are held throughout the year, providing ongoing opportunities to stay engaged, gain fresh perspectives, and strengthen your skills. Once enrolled, you will receive access to the Symposium networking site and details about upcoming sessions. You can participate in as many as you’d like to make the most of your experience, though attendance is not required to complete your program.

Tired of the same old approach to leadership training? Here’s a new take. In an era obsessed with pursuing tomorrow’s innovation, it’s easy to forget how valuable history is and the lessons we can take from the past. When people think of classical antiquity and ancient Rome, they tend to think of art, philosophy, and language, but this era is also rich with timeless leadership lessons. Leveraging these lessons can make you a happier, stronger leader and set you apart in today’s business world. In this certificate program, you will explore the leadership skills inspired by ancient Roman leaders and discover how to apply these best practices to your work. First, you will identify how humor can be used in the workplace to win or gain influence, focusing on the social dynamics of your peers, superiors, and subordinates. In reviewing stories translated from ancient Roman philosophy, you will draw parallels between ancient and modern scenarios and broaden your perspective of leadership as a whole. You will participate in hands-on activities focused on developing your leadership skills aligned with four key virtues: critical thinking, fairness, bravery, and self-control. Before completing the certificate, you will develop an action plan to support your happiness as a leader and cope with difficult decisions at work. You will come away with a fresh perspective on interpersonal leadership and new tools to support your professional development in your current role and beyond. For the best experience in this program it is recommended to take these courses in the order that they appear.

Entrepreneurship isn’t just for start-ups; it has become an essential cultural value for any successful organization. This certificate program will help you transform your organizational culture by developing entrepreneurial skills in your workforce that will help your people solve problems from a new perspective, formulate new business models, and cultivate a growth mindset. Throughout the courses, you’ll develop as a leader and intrapreneur by utilizing powerful critical thinking, systems thinking, and change management techniques that will ultimately help your established organization gain the same velocity, agility, and ability to innovate that often gives startups a distinct (and sometimes disruptive) competitive advantage. The courses in this certificate program are required to be completed in the order that they appear. This program includes two years of free access to Symposium! These events feature several days of live, highly participatory virtual Zoom sessions with Cornell faculty and experts to explore the most pressing leadership topics. Symposium events are held several times throughout the year. Once enrolled in your program, you will receive information about upcoming events. Throughout the year, you may participate in as many sessions as you wish. Attending Symposium sessions is not required to successfully complete the certificate program.

In today's fast-paced work environment, effective communication and strong relationships are crucial for success. You need practical strategies to navigate workplace challenges and foster positive interactions. This certificate program equips you with essential tools to enhance your communication skills, manage emotions, and resolve conflicts effectively. Through four targeted courses, you will master techniques for providing and receiving feedback that builds trust, confidently advocating for yourself, and staying composed in difficult situations. You’ll discover how to transform conflicts into positive outcomes and build meaningful connections within your organization. You’ll also enhance your role by developing skills such as crafting clear, persuasive messages and understanding an organization's dynamics. Upon completing this program, you will be empowered to tackle workplace challenges with confidence, leading to better outcomes for yourself, your team, and your organization. You'll be prepared to build trust, maintain composure under pressure, and effectively advocate for meaningful change.

Exploring your personal take on the ethics of business and fostering standards for your organization can improve decision making, fortify team culture, and enable you to avoid potential issues and dysfunctions in various business settings. This certificate program will give you the tools to apply the ethics of business to your organization. Throughout the program, you will break down the role ethics play in society and decision making. By using ethical reasoning, you will be able to anticipate issues that arise in business settings and create plans for avoiding them. You will then determine how to recognize psychological factors in yourself and others that interfere with making good ethical decisions and apply strategies to mitigate them. The program will culminate in the discussion of research-based blockers that negatively affect work culture ethics at the personal and organizational levels. You will examine responsive strategies for the most common social and organizational factors that exacerbate the human tendency to overlook or misapply ethical analysis. By the end of the program, you’ll be prepared to foster the development of a responsible organizational culture and address potential legal and ethical issues, supporting your team in today’s complex and ever-changing business landscape. For the best experience in this program it is recommended to take these courses in the order that they appear.

Want to gain a competitive advantage for your business? This certificate program will help you address today’s most pressing strategic business questions and design a strategy for your own organization. Using game theory to enhance your view of the marketplace, you will examine change, disruption, and uncertainty in your industry, and devise strategies to respond to these variables effectively. As part of this strategy, you’ll have the opportunity to assess possible internal roadblocks to overcome and create a plan to surmount them. Evaluating a series of approaches including M&A, strategic alliances, and organic growth, you will also identify potential synergies to boost your organization’s value creation and profitability and develop the necessary skills to optimize the web of relationships that drive your business. Finally, you will explore ways to leverage the power of digital platforms to grow your organization, through in-house development or advantageous interactions with outside platforms. Throughout the program, you’ll engage with many detailed real-world examples and practical exercises that will help you see the world differently and ultimately develop savvier strategies to create sustained business success. For the best experience in this program it is recommended to take these courses in the order that they appear. This program includes two years of free access to Symposium! These events feature several days of live, highly participatory virtual Zoom sessions with Cornell faculty and experts to explore the most pressing leadership topics. Symposium events are held several times throughout the year. Once enrolled in your program, you will receive information about upcoming events. Throughout the year, you may participate in as many sessions as you wish. Attending Symposium sessions is not required to successfully complete the certificate program.

In today’s accelerated world, data and digital technology are disrupting every industry and creating new opportunities for business transformation.  This certificate program will help you develop the digital leadership skills and mindset needed to thrive in this rapidly evolving digital landscape. You’ll start by gaining a foundation in a number of technological advances and then learn to identify and implement new opportunities to drive competitive advantage through innovation and technology. From there, you’ll be able to choose the focus area most relevant to you, including agile leadership, systems thinking, blockchain, data analytics, or security and privacy.* Ultimately, you’ll come away better prepared to lead digital transformation initiatives to success in your organization or start-up. The courses in this certificate program are required to be completed in the order that they appear. *All elective courses are 2 weeks, 3-5 hours of effort per week, except Systems Security, which is 3 weeks, 5-8 hours of effort per week. This program includes two years of free access to Symposium! These events feature several days of live, highly participatory virtual Zoom sessions with Cornell faculty and experts to explore the most pressing leadership topics. Symposium events are held several times throughout the year. Once enrolled in your program, you will receive information about upcoming events. Throughout the year, you may participate in as many sessions as you wish. Attending Symposium sessions is not required to successfully complete the certificate program.

Any organization can create a new product, service, or technology, but without a structured plan, the chances of a low return on investment are high. In this series of courses, you will learn how to develop an innovation strategy that aligns with your organization’s goals. Throughout the program, you will complete a series of activities that allow you to create and iterate on various aspects of a successful strategy, including identifying an executive champion and other supportive stakeholders as well as developing an overall vision, SMART goals, and a budget. You will practice using the innovation competencies of lean startup, makerspace, and design thinking to aid you in the customer discovery process. You will also learn how to use tools such as hackathons, design sprints, and centers of excellence to embrace the imagination of all your stakeholders. You will identify potential risks to successful implementation of your strategy and create mitigation plans. As you learn, you will create a presentation document called the innovation placemat that you can use to pitch to stakeholders in your own organization to make your innovation strategy a reality. The courses in this certificate program are required to be completed in the order that they appear.

This five-course certificate provides sales managers with the skills needed to build an actionable roadmap for driving sales growth. Learn how to conduct micro-market analysis to find hidden and unique opportunities, discover strategies to streamline your go-to-market process to increase face time with the highest-priority clients, and focus your value proposition for higher conversion rates. Based on the book Sales Growth: Five Proven Strategies from the World’s Sales Leaders, authored by experts at McKinsey & Company, the courses translate insights from 150 sales leaders into clear and practical guidelines for action. These tools and strategies provide a foundation in key frontline sales concepts to drive real growth in your company. For the best experience in this program it is recommended to take these courses in the order that they appear.

The role of today’s HR manager demands broad responsibilities that include organizational leadership and strategic thinking. As the profession evolves, HR departments are being called upon to make bigger-picture decisions and to execute well-defined HR strategies that align with larger organizational strategies. As an HR manager, can you articulate your company’s business goals and strategy? Do you know how best to align your human resource tools and expertise—from recruitment, to talent management, to engagement—to support this strategy? Upon completion of this online certificate program, you should be able to speak and understand the language of your business leaders with ease. This certificate consists of six two-week courses. This advanced HR management certificate program provides a broad organizational perspective, laying the foundation for you to identify, develop, and measure HR initiatives critical to your firm’s bottom-line success. For the best experience in this program it is recommended to take these courses in the order that they appear. This program includes two full years of free access to the HR and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion Symposium! These highly interactive virtual events span multiple days and explore today’s most pressing topics. Symposium offers exclusive opportunities to engage in real-time discussions with your eCornell community, applying insights from your courses to real-world scenarios. Through reflections and small-group discussions, you’ll deepen your learning, broaden your perspective, and expand your professional network. Symposium events are held throughout the year, providing ongoing opportunities to stay engaged, gain fresh perspectives, and strengthen your skills. Once enrolled, you’ll receive access to the Symposium networking site and details about upcoming sessions. You can participate in as many as you’d like to make the most of your experience, though attendance is not required to complete your program.

Whether you’re in software engineering, web development, or IT, professionals in the technology industry are uniquely suited to be strong leaders through their mastery of analysis and problem-solving skills. Yet many lack formal management training in the soft skills necessary to help tech teams and organizations reach their highest potential. In this certificate program, you’ll have the opportunity to analyze your own leadership attributes and decision-making styles as a technology leader; strengthen essential communication, motivation, and influencing skills; and ultimately prepare for future growth and success in the management of technical and project teams. For the best experience in this program it is recommended to take these courses in the order that they appear. This program includes two years of free access to Symposium! These events feature several days of live, highly participatory virtual Zoom sessions with Cornell faculty and experts to explore the most pressing leadership topics. Symposium events are held several times throughout the year. Once enrolled in your program, you will receive information about upcoming events. Throughout the year, you may participate in as many sessions as you wish. Attending Symposium sessions is not required to successfully complete the certificate program.

Build a culture that positions your team and organization to deliver customer service excellence, every time.