Think Like a Leader

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Think Like a Leader

This course is part of Strengthen Your Business Savvy Specialization

Instructor: Harvard Business Review

2,493 already enrolled

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3 modules

Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.

16 reviews

Intermediate level

Some related experience required

1 week to complete

at 10 hours a week

Flexible schedule

Learn at your own pace

3 modules

Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.

16 reviews

Intermediate level

Some related experience required

1 week to complete

at 10 hours a week

Flexible schedule

Learn at your own pace

What you'll learn

Evaluate business models and organizational strategies to determine how companies create, capture, and deliver value in competitive markets
Assess organizational financial health by interpreting key financial statements and connecting financial performance to business success factors
Apply systematic decision-making processes to overcome cognitive biases and improve individual and group decision quality
Design data-driven decision frameworks to lead effective group decisions in organizational contexts

Skills you'll gain

Details to know

Shareable certificate

Add to your LinkedIn profile

See how employees at top companies are mastering in-demand skills

Learn more about Coursera for Business

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Build your subject-matter expertise

This course is part of the Strengthen Your Business Savvy Specialization

When you enroll in this course, you'll also be enrolled in this Specialization.

Learn new concepts from industry experts
Gain a foundational understanding of a subject or tool
Develop job-relevant skills with hands-on projects
Earn a shareable career certificate

There are 3 modules in this course

Successful leaders help their organizations create value, earn profits and outperform rivals. That requires having an enterprise mindset—thinking critically about how your organization operates and how it can improve. To do that, you need to understand business fundamentals so you can contribute to key discussions, make smart choices, and achieve goals.

In this course, you'll learn how to evaluate and support your company’s financial health, business model, and competitive strategy. You'll find out how to make good business decisions—and avoid decision-making pitfalls—by using a smart, structured process. You'll learn how to lead effective group decisions and how to improve decisions with data. As you build these skills, you’ll develop your ability to think, act, and speak like a leader.

How can you best help your organization thrive? By developing your business acumen—knowledge of how organizations operate, create value, and gain competitive advantage. Take your career to the next level by learning business and finance basics, and developing an enterprise mindset.

What's included

13 videos30 readings1 assignment

13 videos Total 38 minutes

Know About Business to Grow in Business 3 minutes
Level Up at Work: Understand Your Organization’s Big Picture 3 minutes
Building Blocks of Business Success 3 minutes
Add Value with Complements 3 minutes
Why Gross Profit Matters 2 minutes
The Income Statement: Tracking Profit and Loss 4 minutes
What Can You Find on a Balance Sheet? 3 minutes
What to Know About Cash Flow 3 minutes
A Tale of Two Business Models 4 minutes
Creating a Winning Business Model 3 minutes
What a Change in Business Model Can Do 3 minutes
Strategy: A Plan to Create Value 3 minutes
How a Change in Strategy Saved Best Buy 3 minutes

30 readings Total 300 minutes

Why You Need Business Acumen 10 minutes
What is business acumen? 10 minutes
Four questions to build your business acumen 10 minutes
How business acumen benefits you 10 minutes
Learn What Makes Organizations Thrive 10 minutes
Four building blocks of business success 10 minutes
Satisfy customer needs better than the competition 10 minutes
Generate a healthy cash flow 10 minutes
Maximize return on invested capital 10 minutes
Drive profitable growth 10 minutes
Responsible growth 10 minutes
Financial health basics 10 minutes
Why assess your organization’s health? 10 minutes
The income statement 10 minutes
The balance sheet 10 minutes
The cash flow statement 10 minutes
Use your insights 10 minutes
Build Your Financial Skills 10 minutes
Business Model Basics 10 minutes
What’s a business model? 10 minutes
Key questions to understand your business model 10 minutes
What makes a good business model? 10 minutes
Business models versus business strategies 10 minutes
Know Your Organization’s Strategy 10 minutes
What’s a business strategy? 10 minutes
Why you should know about strategy 10 minutes
Strategy creates value 10 minutes
Strategy based on customers 10 minutes
Strategy based on employees 10 minutes
Strategy based on suppliers 10 minutes

1 assignment Total 30 minutes

Sharpening Your Business Acumen Assessment 30 minutes

Smart decisions are a key to business success. Boost your decision-making skills by learning how to avoid common pitfalls and use an effective process to spark innovative thinking. Discover strategies to get the most out of group decisions and apply data to answer important questions and evaluate your options.

What's included

10 videos28 readings1 assignment

10 videos Total 25 minutes

Cultural Diversity Leads to Better Decision Making 3 minutes
Diagnostic Thinking 3 minutes
The Hidden Traps in Decision Making 2 minutes
Flawed Decision Making and How to Avoid It 3 minutes
Different Perspectives Lead to Better Decisions 2 minutes
Challenge a Hypothesis to Make a Better Decision 3 minutes
Make Good Team Decisions 3 minutes
Help Your Team Learn from Decisions 2 minutes
The Three A's of Data 3 minutes
When to Use Data to Make Decisions 2 minutes

28 readings Total 280 minutes

Make Better Decisions 10 minutes
What influences decisions? 10 minutes
Human nature 10 minutes
Complex situations 10 minutes
Cultural expectations 10 minutes
Navigate ethical dilemmas 10 minutes
Cultivate critical thinking 10 minutes
Overcome Decision-Making Traps 10 minutes
How mental shortcuts affect decisions 10 minutes
Barriers to good decisions 10 minutes
Counteract cognitive biases 10 minutes
Four Steps to Effective Decisions 10 minutes
Structure your decision-making approach 10 minutes
Start with questions 10 minutes
Consider the options 10 minutes
Carry out the decision 10 minutes
Reflect and iterate 10 minutes
Manage Group Decision Making 10 minutes
Advantages of group decisions 10 minutes
Clarify decision-making roles 10 minutes
Avoid too much group harmony 10 minutes
Manage strong opinions 10 minutes
Frame decisions as learning opportunities 10 minutes
Use Data to Guide Decisions 10 minutes
How data improves decisions 10 minutes
What decisions benefit from data? 10 minutes
Questions to ask when using data 10 minutes
Blend data and intuition 10 minutes

1 assignment Total 30 minutes

Decision Making Assessment 30 minutes

What's included

2 assignments

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Instructor

Harvard Business Review

16 Courses 10,810 learners

Offered by

Harvard Business Review

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To access the course materials, assignments and to earn a Certificate, you will need to purchase the Certificate experience when you enroll in a course. You can try a Free Trial instead, or apply for Financial Aid. The course may offer 'Full Course, No Certificate' instead. This option lets you see all course materials, submit required assessments, and get a final grade. This also means that you will not be able to purchase a Certificate experience.

When you enroll in the course, you get access to all of the courses in the Specialization, and you earn a certificate when you complete the work. Your electronic Certificate will be added to your Accomplishments page - from there, you can print your Certificate or add it to your LinkedIn profile.

Yes. In select learning programs, you can apply for financial aid or a scholarship if you can’t afford the enrollment fee. If fin aid or scholarship is available for your learning program selection, you’ll find a link to apply on the description page.