PERSONAL LEADERSHIP IN PUBLIC HEALTH

The goal of the course is to provide students with an overview of some of the fundamental principles and practice of leadership as it applies to a career in public health, with a specific concentration on personal leadership development.  Students will focus on four critical competencies of personal leadership: 1) self-awareness, 2) power, 3) leading through others, and 4) negotiating effectively (Figure below).  Students will also critically examine traditional notions of leadership, exploring concepts of ‘who gets to lead?’, the inequities that result and the diversity of effective leadership roles and styles.  With this understanding, students will develop and improve their ability 1) to lead individuals and teams in a wide range of settings, including research centers and domestic as well as international public health organizations, 2) to perform more effectively as both team members and individual contributors to organizations and communities; 3) to promote their own leadership plan and credo.

Given its weight, it is important to stress that developing a leadership credo means more than coming up with a snappy one liner or finding just the right quote to capture your leadership style.  It is an opportunity to develop an authentic leadership stance – a set of beliefs and/or values that you stand for as a leader and that you expect from others who you will lead, whether as the head of an organization or a member of a team, to support and eventually allow them to follow you.  Your role is to move individuals towards success in meeting specific goals and overcoming certain challenges.  Developing your credo will enable you to verbalize how you will achieve this through an authentic presentation of yourself. This course aims at ensuring you are comfortable, capable and confident in the authenticity of You as a leader.