NEWS
Global Leadership Practice 2024 held in partnership with Georgia Tech
August 26, 2024
The Global Education Section at the Center for Entrepreneurship Education recently concluded its intensive course, ‘Global Leadership Practice ENT.L457 (LAW.X425).’ This course, offered for the seventh time this year, was organized in partnership with the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) in Atlanta, USA. The course ran from June 11th to June 28th, with the first four of its eleven sessions held online and the remainder conducted in-person. This course, now in its seventh year, was led by Stacey Doremus, Director of the Leadership Education and Development Program at Georgia Tech. This year, twelve students from diverse backgrounds participated, engaging in dynamic group discussions and cross-cultural exchanges.
The “Global Leadership Practice” course is designed to help students recognize their own values, as well as those of others, in a global context. Through workshops, case studies, discussions, and self-analysis, students learn the essential elements of leadership needed to achieve their goals in a multicultural environment. This course is also a required elective for the advanced level of the Global Scientists and Engineers Course.
A Truly International Classroom
The course drew students from various countries: six from Japan, two from Sweden, and one each from Indonesia, Singapore, China, and Panama. The teaching assistants hailed from India, the Philippines, and Cyprus, while the instructor was American, and the guest speaker was a Tokyo Tech graduate from Vietnam. The Japanese students, many of whom had study abroad experience or aspirations, actively participated in group work and discussions, contributing to a rich exchange of perspectives.
Students with Prof. Doremus from Georgia Tech (second row, thrid from right) and TAs (teaching assistants)
Interactive Learning and Active Participation
Building on the leadership courses taught at Georgia Tech, the curriculum of this course has evolved through feedback from past students. As is common in American educational models, students were expected to prepare thoroughly and engage actively in class discussions. Even before the course began, participants read two leadership-related books and submitted essays on leadership and teamwork. An online orientation and a detailed manual outlining the course’s eleven sessions were provided to ensure students could engage fully from the start.
(Left) First meeting via online (orientation)
(Right) In-person lecture
All classes were conducted in English. During the online sessions, a platform called “Pear Deck” was used to encourage student participation, allowing everyone to share their thoughts and responses to the instructor’s questions. The students also shared music popular in their home countries during breaks, fostering a sense of cultural exchange. Before transitioning to in-person classes, students used the online tool “Miro” to conduct self-analysis exercises, selecting values they deemed important from about one hundred values, which helped deepen mutual understanding across cultural backgrounds.
Group work sharing own values via the online tool Miro
Learning from Teamwork in a Multicultural Setting
The in-person sessions focused on teamwork, emphasizing the importance of leveraging individual strengths to achieve common goals. Students learned to collaborate in cross-cultural and interdisciplinary environments, a key skill in solving complex problems. In the ‘Use What You Have’ session, students were challenged to create innovative systems to address global issues using readily available materials, such as cardboard, colored paper, and straws. Each group collaborated to create innovative projects such as an artificial photosynthesis device that reduces CO2 emissions and produces sustainable energy, a tourist-friendly station board to help visitors navigate stations, and a shelter to protect homeless cats from bad weather and other dangers. Through these projects, they learned the methods necessary to achieve common goals.
Prototypes of the systems designed by the individual groups (left) “Tourist-friendly station board,” (center) “Homeless cat shelter,” (right) “Artificial photosynthesis device”
The course also covered leadership styles across different cultures, examining how historical, cultural, and social contexts shape decision-making processes within organizations. Students explored the differences between egalitarian and hierarchical leadership and learned to navigate both conscious and unconscious biases.
A highlight of the course was a guest lecture by Dr. Minh Nguyen, a Tokyo Tech alumnus and a current employee at Google. Dr. Nguyen shared his experiences comparing Japanese companies with global enterprises, providing insights into overcoming cultural biases and maximizing one’s abilities in diverse settings.
This year introduced a new feature: a group-based ‘Review Quiz Relay,’ where teams competed intensely to demonstrate their understanding of the course material. The results of this quiz determined the order in which the groups would present their final projects.
(Left) Lecture given by Dr. Nguyen
(Right) Students competing in the review quiz relay
Final Presentations
The course concluded with group presentations, where each group analyzed two prominent global leaders and one local leader, identifying the key elements of effective leadership. This year’s notable leaders included Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike, Mao Zedong, and author Eva Moberg. One group even conducted a direct interview with Tokyo Tech President Kazuya Masu, analyzing the challenges he faces and his leadership strategies, comparing them to those of other leaders.
In their final presentations, students proposed systems for effective organization management that could be applied in multicultural environments, drawing from their research and the course’s teachings. They also reflected on how they would apply what they had learned to their future careers, sharing their insights with their peers.
(Left) Slide illustrating group’s anaysis on the leadership of President Masu
(Right) Final presentation
This course provided students with invaluable experience in international collaboration, both online and in-person, equipping them with the skills needed for global leadership. The Global Leadership Program at Georgia Tech will continue in March 2025, offering students the opportunity to study leadership abroad for two weeks. The Global Education Section remains committed to developing curricula that prepare students to succeed in a wide range of fields, from global corporations to universities, research institutes, and international organizations.