SYLLABUS – Leadership and Self-Development
Course Number .......................... PMGT601
Semester .................................... Summer 2014
Instructor: .................................. Amy Skillman and Tom Walker
Welcome to our Course!
This course promises to help you define your own leadership style from cognitive, behavioral,
and emotional perspectives. You will integrate conceptual knowledge and self-awareness
within the context of ethical action, social responsibility, and the entrepreneurial spirit of
creative thinking and collaboration.
While the course occurs over the full semester, many of the skills and knowledge will be
developed through first-hand experience over five days, while serving as crew on a 46-foot
sailboat on the Chesapeake Bay. You do not need to have previous sailing experience, although
it is helpful.
Main Course Topics
The goal of this course is to help students understand that leadership needs to drive towards
empowering people to sustain the identity of their community on their own terms. Leadership
development, in general, begins with self-awareness and the ability to articulate an answer to
the question: “Who am I, what skills do I bring to the team and how do others perceive me?
What are my preferences in working with others and what are my personal improvement
goals?” Students should be considering these questions as a primary step toward empowering
others. Through the process of learning sailing, students will develop an awareness of their
own leadership style, their strengths and challenges, their ability to thrive in an unknown and
sometimes surprising environment, as well as their ability to create a sense of community and
work successfully as a member of that community.
Learning Objectives
At the conclusion of this course, you will be able to do the following:
1. Critique yourself as a leader including your strengths and personal improvement goals
2. Assess leadership theory as it relates to the cultural contexts and values that impact leadership
styles and actions
3. Develop the skills to conceive and lead a transformative community-based conversation that has the
potential to create positive change
4. Demonstrate your commitment to a “partnership” stance of leadership that empowers a community
to advocate for its highest aspirations
5. Take responsibility for various crew/team positions on a sailing vessel with a modicum of confidence
Syllabus
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Course Format
This course will occur in two components. In the first six weeks we will meet online through Webex and
the course discussion board. In the last week, we will charter a sailboat and spend five days sailing the
northern waters of the Chesapeake Bay. An additional fee will be charged for this course. See the
online fee schedule for details. Course activities include:
 6 Discussion Board Postings
 2 short papers
 2 leadership self-assessments
 1 facilitated discussion
 5 live WebEx meetings
 9 assigned readings
Required Readings
All readings are available through the Goucher bookstore or on-line.
Required Textbooks:
1. Community: The Structure of Belonging by Peter Block. (ISBN – 978-1-60509-277)
2. The Portable Hannah Arendt edited by Peter Beahr. (ISBN 13 - 978-0142437568)
3. First You Have to Row a Little Boat: Reflections on Life and Living by Richard Bode. (ISBN – 0-44667003-0)
Recommended Text books:
1. Sailing for Dummies by J.J. and Peter Isler.
2. Strengths Based Leadership: Great Leaders, Teams, and Why People Follow by Tom Rath and Barry
Conchie. (ISBN-10: 1595620257; ISBN-13: 978-1595620255)
Resource Websites:
1. http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_50.htm
Selected Texts:
Each student will select one of the following texts to read and prepare a report that explores questions
about leadership within the text. See the course website for your specific assigned text. Sample tests
might include:
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemmingway
Last Night at the Lobster by Stewart O'Nan
Seaworthy: A Swordboat Captain Returns to the Sea by Linda Greenlaw
Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome
The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The River and I by John G. Neihardt
Red Sky in Mourning: A True Story of Love, Loss and Survival At Sea by Tami Oldham Ashcraft
Grading
Course Elements
Participation (WebEx and on board)
Discussion Board Posts (6 postings plus feedback, 5% each)
Leadership Statement
Action Statement
Facilitated Conversation on-board
Percentage of Grade
20%
30%
15%
15%
20%
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TOTAL 100%
Grade Scale
A
AB+
B
BC+
C
CF
93 or more points
90 - 92 points
87 - 89 points
83 - 86 points
80 - 82 points
77 - 79 points
73 - 76 points
70 - 72 points
69 points and below
Course Policies
Communication:
 Faculty will be available at their Goucher email address and will respond to queries within 24-48
hours.
 Course participants are responsible for maintaining continuous involvement with faculty, fellow
students and student groups. In particular, participation in all online discussions is required. Ongoing
communication allows you to gain deeper insights into the content, activities and assignments in the
course. Please give notice of any obstacle that prevents this.
 You are encouraged to ask questions whenever information needs clarifying.
 For questions pertaining to your assignments: send an email directly to the instructor (please do not
post personal questions on the discussion board).
 For questions about assignments that may be interesting and helpful to other class members: please
use the discussion board.
 For problems with technical aspects of the website: contact [email protected] (you may copy
the instructor).
 Because this course occurs on a sailboat, students will be required to sign a waiver stating they
understand there is an additional risk and they absolve Goucher College and its staff and faculty of
all responsibility.
 This course will accept up to 10 students divided between two boats. Students will share a cabin for
four nights with another student.
Missed Work:
You are responsible for material covered in the course. It is your sole responsibility to obtain any
materials missed.
Late Policy:
For proper graduate student learning to occur, pacing of content mastery is critical. Therefore,
assignments are to be completed on time. If extreme circumstances prevent an assignment to be
completed in a timely fashion, please notify me before the assignment is due so a new date can be
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negotiated. Only follow-ups completed by the due date can be redone. Late assignments without such
notification will be docked.
Academic Integrity:
All final work products are to be the independent work of each student and stored in the electronic
portfolio. Suspected violations of the Honor Code will be referred to the Academic Honor Board. For a
full description of the code and what constitutes a violation of the code, refer to the Goucher Handbook
or online at www.goucher.edu/x1292.xml.
Disability Support:
http://www.goucher.edu/academics/academic-support/disability-support-services