76-355 Leadership, Dialogue, and Change
9 units, Carnegie Mellon University
This course offers an alternative to the great man theory of leadershipin which success is built on charisma, power, status, or institutional authority. The contemporary model of adaptive leadership, however, depends on an ability to draw a divided community into a dialogue that reframes the problem and may even call on us to reinterpret our values. We will see this in action, comparing the methods of Martin Luther King to the radical community organizing of Saul Alinsky, and in the influential of AfricanAmerican cultural critiques of Cornel West and bell hooks, and in the work of students calling for change on campuses. All this work poses a question how does dialogue work in the rhetoric of making a difference So in the second half, we put theory into practice, organizing a CMU Community Think Tank on a campus issue, in this case on student empowerment will learn strategies for analyzing a problem, framing, issues, giving rhetorical presence to those problems and creating counterpublics that put new ideas into circulation. The class collects data across diverse, often competing perspectives, to create a Briefing Book, that will guide your live Round Table problemsolving dialogues, and then document, write and publish your Findings www.cmu.eduthinktank. Aa a portfolio project it will demonstrate your ability to support problemsolving dialogues across difference in a community or organization.
Prerequisites: 76-101 or 76-102 or (76-106 and 76-107) or (76-107 and 76-108) or (76-106 and 76-108)
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