LDR 418: Sound Learning for Leadership

Despite over a hundred years of scientific study, we still lack a good answer to the problem of how to teach and learn leadership. Peel away our modern penchant for scientific theory, practical skills, and psychological assessments, and we find that teaching and learning leadership is essentially a problem of human moral development-of becoming morally mature and possessing the virtues of character requisite to the responsibilities and challenges of leadership. This three-credit one-semester course takes an eclectic approach drawing on the experience and wisdom of the best classical and modern "thinkers and doers" of leadership. The emphasis is formative: to broaden and deepen students' understanding of the practical and moral complexities of leadership and to help students begin to cultivate in a serious way the virtues of character and moral maturity that will make them worthy of leadership. The format is more like a developmental seminar than a traditional academic class: materials, class discussion, assignments and evaluation are all designed for students to make a close, critical, and personal study of leadership culminating in a personal leadership philosophy. The class is required for the Military Leadership minor but is open to all students with an interest in leadership, virtues, and character development. The class is also cross-listed with BUS 418: Readings in Leadership, Power, and Responsibility and may be counted toward the Military Leadership minor or as a Business elective.