Officially titled Adaptive Leadership: Practical Strategies for Change, this is the online version of one of Harvard Kennedy School's most popular courses. Its premise is that leadership isn't reserved for those with authority or expertise; it's a practice open to anyone, at any stage of their career. You'll learn to identify the core issue at the heart of a challenge, see it through a wider systems lens, and make targeted changes that drive real progress while building trust and empowering others.
This is an official Harvard Online course, featuring faculty from Harvard Kennedy School and delivered on Harvard Online's learning platform. IPMC International handles your registration, payment and local support, then enrols you on the course. The format is self-guided within a scheduled cohort, and the Certificate of Completion is issued by Harvard Online.
The course builds three connected sets of capabilities:
The Adaptive Leadership framework was developed over more than 40 years by Harvard Kennedy School faculty member Ronald Heifetz. The programme follows and analyses the success stories of five practitioners, all former students of the course, who have applied these principles across policy, crisis response, product management and health care. Learning is delivered across five modules.
Distinguish the technical from the adaptive components of a leadership challenge, identify the adaptive pressures that create new capacities, and analyse the level of stress within a system.
Channel personal purpose into clear, actionable goals, frame problems as gaps to close between reality and aspiration, and recognise your own patterns in how you engage with authority.
Make progress on major challenges from your current position, treat conflict as competing approaches to a shared challenge, and learn to disappoint people at a rate they can tolerate while monitoring progress.
Recognise and evaluate work-avoidance patterns, analyse the roles and resources for generating change within a hierarchy, and reflect on how to exit a role or system well.
Recognise the right moments to exercise leadership, spot new opportunities for change, and reframe setbacks as a chance to gather more data and keep learning.
Ronald Heifetz: Your instructor. Founder of the Center for Public Leadership and the King Hussein bin Talal Senior Lecturer in Public Leadership at Harvard Kennedy School, he is among the world's foremost authorities on the practice and teaching of leadership and advises heads of government, business and non-profit organisations worldwide.
You also hear from industry experts, former students of the course, who bring the framework to life, including Uriel Kejsefman (Senior Product Manager at Duolingo), Mitzi Johnson (former Speaker of the Vermont House of Representatives), Dr Hasan Sheikh (emergency and addiction medicine physician and Provincial Clinical Lead for Substance Use Disorders, Ontario Health), Rebecca Trupin (consultant and facilitator) and Kornvuthi "Korn" Lapprathana (Co-Founder and CEO of TechUp). Affiliations are listed for identification purposes only.
No specific prerequisite knowledge is required. The course suits learners from government, non-profit, health care, business and other sectors who want to exercise leadership more effectively, whatever their level of rank, authority or power. It's ideal for professionals, graduates and organisations who want a globally recognised Harvard Online credential to advance their careers or capabilities.
On successful completion you receive a digital Certificate of Completion from Harvard Online. No letter grades are assigned; participation is evaluated on a complete/incomplete basis. You can add it to your CV and LinkedIn under "Licenses & Certifications" with Harvard Online as the issuing organisation. At the end of the course you can also download a PDF summary of the key concepts to keep as a resource.
The course fee is confirmed on enquiry and put in writing before payment.
Pay IPMC securely by debit/credit card in UAE Dirhams (UAE) or by UPI, card or net banking in Indian Rupees (India).
Yes. The course is delivered by Harvard Online and the Certificate of Completion is issued by Harvard Online.
The edX course Exercising Leadership: Foundational Principles introduces the core ideas, while this course takes them further with case studies and interactive exercises that help you put the principles into practice. The two stand alone but pair well together.
Once the review of coursework is complete and eligibility confirmed, your certificate is delivered by email. You keep access to the course materials for 60 days after the final deadline.
This course is coming soon through IPMC. Register your interest and we'll notify you as soon as Harvard Online confirms the next cohort.
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