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On Campus
Session Date-Application DeadlineProgram Fee$10,900Faculty ChairProgram Director
This session currently has a waitlist. Please contact the program director for additional information.
Session Date-Application DeadlineProgram Fee$11,500Faculty ChairProgram DirectorSession Date-Application DeadlineProgram Fee$11,500Faculty ChairProgram DirectorProgram Fee: The program fee includes tuition, housing, curricular materials and most meals.
Executive Certificate: This program is a core program in the Public Leadership concentration. This program can also be used as a third program for any concentration in the Executive Certificate series.
Executive Core Qualifications (ECQs): This program aligns with one or more Executive Core Qualifications.
Program Overview
In today’s chaotic, partisan world, leaders often feel so much pressure to choose what to do that they don’t give enough thought to why they’re doing it. As a result, they make critical decisions based on little more than gut instinct.
Effective leadership begins with identifying and managing the assumptions and values that drive decisions. It requires not only examining personal beliefs, but also determining how to reconcile competing commitments and loyalties in your organization or community.
Leadership for the 21st Century: Chaos, Conflict, and Courage, a one-week on-campus program from Harvard Kennedy School Executive Education, provides a foundation for this innovative approach. Through sessions in the classroom and in small groups, and through individual reflection, you will get critical insights into understanding the relationship between leadership and authority. You will learn better ways to exercise influence and manage the individual and institutional dynamics of change. And you will be equipped to re-enter your environment refreshed, with new tools and practices to guide your approach to leadership.
PROGRAM CURRICULUM
Leadership for the 21st Century: Chaos, Conflict, and Courage is an on-campus executive program developed by Harvard Kennedy School faculty and led by Faculty Chair Tim O’Brien. In this unique program, you will face some of the same challenges that make leadership—and being a leader—so demanding in the public sphere. These challenges form the basis of peer-group consultations throughout the week.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
In Leadership for the 21st Century: Chaos, Conflict, and Courage, you will explore how to:
- Exercise leadership without authority
- Analyze and manage the dynamics that impede progress
- Unlock individual and group creativity
- Translate purpose and commitment into effectiveness
- Find your voice
- Thrive in a leadership role
Application Information
Leadership for the 21st Century: Chaos, Conflict, and Courage is intended for senior executives in government, corporate, and nonprofit organizations from professionally and geographically diverse backgrounds.
Applicants who will benefit from this program include:
- Senior public officials at the national, state, and local levels
- Corporate executives, including vice presidents, directors, and C-level officers
- Nonprofit and NGO leaders
Immerse yourself with a cohort of fellow leaders on Harvard’s historic campus. View the draft program schedule. Note that module titles, speakers, and sequence may change.
WHAT PARTICIPANTS ARE SAYING
“This program was the best training I have ever experienced, pushing me to my limits in a learning environment second to none. I left Harvard a different person.”
Marvin Sims, Equity Coordinator, Mounds View Public Schools
Hear from the Faculty Chair
Professor Tim O'Brien, Faculty Chair, discusses the curriculum and impact of Leadership for the 21st Century.
Faculty & Research

Timothy O'Brien

Farayi Chipungu

Hugh O'Doherty

Shari Tishman
Hear from Participants
Participants from the Leadership for the 21st Century program discuss their experience at Harvard at what they took away from the program.