The basic purpose of this course is to help you understand leadership and, thus, make you a more effective leader. Participation in this course will encourage you to become a leader more frequently. In other words, the course should help you control just a bit more of your destiny.
Leadership is an activity that everyone participates in on a regular basis.
The exact boundaries of leadership are fuzzy and arbitrary. A broad definition of leadership is the process of influencing other people's behavior. Power and influence exist on a continuum from force, such as used by military and police, to unrecognized and subtle persuasion, used by many including advertisers. The differences, if any, between power and influence used by leaders and others will be examined in the class. For example, subtle but important differences exist between leaders and managers.