Courses

Two Courses in Leading Social Innovation LEAD142

Spring 2022

Social entrepreneurs are motivated by the desire to see the world as it can be, not merely as it is. These courses are about the leadership opportunities and challenges of creating and sustaining creative solutions that address social problems—whether through nonprofit, for-profit, or hybrid models of change. Students learn about the key determinants of social innovation: the complexity of the world’s problems, theoretical frameworks rooted in psychology and business management, community building and ecosystem development, governance and funding models, scalability and growth, and impact measurement techniques. Students learn from and work directly alongside multi-award winning social entrepreneurs and practitioners who are creating systems change in their respective sectors.

These courses will explore these questions by focusing on the practical aspects of social entrepreneurship in promoting social change, drawing on the inspiring stories of top performing social entrepreneurs. Whether you want to be an entrepreneur launching your own start-up or an intrapraneur who can create positive social change within any company or organization, these classes will provide hands-on opportunities for you to build your capacity as a responsible leader and changemaker.

Taught by award-winning social innovation trail blazers Gemma Bulos and Scott Sherman, this seminar course is offered in the Spring.

Lead142-1 – PROJECTS – Students will have the opportunity to learn from and work alongside multi-award winning social entrepreneurs to deliver meaningful projects that will have real-world impact on the programming and operations of existing social impact organizations. Students have the opportunity to hone their consultancy skills by meeting weekly with the social impact leaders, determine the needs of the organization and create deliverables that will be immediately implemented by the organization. Past social impact leaders have included Shark Tank Winners, Forbes 30 Under 30s and White House Fellows. They will share the challenges they have overcome, the strategies they have implemented, and the best practices in launching and scaling a social venture. Collectively, our guest lecturers have impacted over a billion lives.

Lead142-2 – START-UPS – Students with ideas that can change the world will build a social impact start-up from the ground up! They will learn practical tools and skills to identify the root problem of a social issue, design an innovation solution for it, create a business plan, and identify the transformative impact they will have on their beneficiaries, customers and clients. Students will be mentored by award-winning social entrepreneurs and craft a compelling proposal for funding and a pitch deck for competitions and other opportunities. 

Students must submit an application to be approved to take these courses. 
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