Leadership by Design takes you on a journey of past design, present creativity, and future innovation, to instill a new conceptualization of leadership. Three hotspots of design serve as our destination for this exploration: Stockholm, Paris, and Barcelona. The future of successful organizations will depend on individual’s ability to creatively see beyond problems and make effective decisions that encourage innovation. Our journey examines the cutting edge of leadership, where creativity and design inform how leaders create cultures and conditions for success.

Sweden has been a long recognized leader in design, with Ikea as a most recognizable brand. We will find out how organizational leaders encourage innovation, and how design is not a socially or politically neutral activity, but rather creates an aesthetic to enhance community and organization.

In Paris we focus on the history of design across various mediums from landscape and garden to city planning and formal art. How have these environs influenced leaders and leadership through history?

Finally, we make our way to another capital of design, Barcelona. A city bursting with art and culture, Barcelona has an inspiring array of unique design approaches as evidenced by the work of modernist architect and naturalist Antonio Gaudí. Students will have an opportunity to visit and critique his work as well as study the architecture and landscape of this remarkable city.

We will also explore the new field of technology-human interaction design, and the significant implications it holds for effective leadership. Several multi-day exploration periods will be built in to the coursework. During this unstructured time students will have the opportunity to visit and explore many of the other amazing sites in an around the host cities.