Leadership Labs

When you graduate from Stanford, you face a world that expects you to demonstrate more than talent and knowledge in your chosen field. Increasingly, navigating in our complex, interdependent world requires the ability to communicate effectively, collaborate and team, as well as influence others. Whether you have studied engineering, medicine, education, social sciences or other fields, you may find yourself in positions where your ability to “know” and manage yourself, navigate uncomfortable situations and deal with conflict is just as important as your subject matter expertise and analytical skills. 

The Leadership Labs are a series of modules with experiential simulations, designed to cultivate the skills critical to navigating complex, interdependent teams and organizations. This course provides you with a rare opportunity to discover your strengths and challenges as an emerging leader. You will spend the majority of the class time in a dedicated 6-7-person squad led by a Fellow who is a Leadership Labs graduate. Your squad will provide a feedback rich learning laboratory where you will role play cases and group exercises.

This curriculum was developed and taught at the Graduate School of Business. The cases give you an opportunity to step inside a business environment for real time skill development with your squad.

Recent graduates of the Labs said:

• “I really liked the case studies, simulations and group work. I really bonded with my multi-disciplinary squad mates.”
• “As a result of the labs, I’m more aware of understanding other’s motivations and interests. That’s helping me get better at listening and negotiating.”
• “I have introduced strategies for improving my relationship with my advisor.”
• “Leadership qualities can be learned. I don’t have to have a specific personality to be an influential leader. That’s a relief.”

The Labs:

• Developing Self-Awareness
• Maximizing Team Effectiveness
• Personal & Social Competence
• Leveraging Team Diversity
• Conflict Management
• Power and Influence

Objectives

At the end of the day, we want you to be a successful graduate student, colleague, team member, manager, and leader of the organizations to which you belong.  By participating in the Leadership Labs course, you will:

• Apply knowledge and skills of communication, motivation, conflict management, team dynamics, and influence to real life situations
• Increase personal awareness and understanding of personality traits and observable behavioral characteristics. Better understand your own ability to influence those around you and also how you are influenced.
• Gain more intentionality in the choices you make within organizational settings and be in a better position to evaluate potential outcomes
• Apply behavioral analysis and feedback to aid others in their quest for better self-awareness and self-management—and in the process improve your own
• Synthesize the elements important in creating an innovative, feedback-rich culture of learning.

Beyond these formal objectives, this course gives you a better sense of the difference between intention and perception, how much your behavior signals who you are to the outside world, and ultimately how much positive impact you can have on the folks and organizations around you.