Best Free Business MOOCs In November

Shaping Your Professional Brand

School: University of Illinois

Platform: Coursera

Registration Link:

Start Date: November 6, 2017 (4 Weeks Long)

Workload: 5 Hours Per Week

Instructor: C.K. Gunsalus

Credentials: Gunsalus is the Director of the National Center for Professional Research and Ethics (NCPRE), a University of Illinois initiative designed to promote ethical leadership in the private and public sectors. Over her forty year academic career in Champaign, she has taught in the business, law, engineering, and medical colleges, with her areas of expertise including conflict resolution, negotiation, and organizational integrity. She is the author of The Young Professional’s Survival Guide: From Cab Fares to Moral Snares.

Graded: Students must successfully complete all assignments to receive a Certificate of Completion.

Description: It’s not what you know but who you are that ultimately determines success in business. As your career progresses, your expertise grows increasingly less important, replaced by your ability to identity and groom talent and motivate them to buy into and execute your vision. That requires stellar communication and relationship-building skills. Even more, it demands that leaders become self-aware of how they project themselves.

In this course, students will take an in-depth look at themselves – and the team around them. In particular, writes Gunsalus, the course will examine areas like “asking questions, listening, developing likeability (you’d better be stellar if you’re difficult), identifying cognitive bias, apologizing, receiving apologies, and the basics of whistleblowing.” In the process, students will learn how to build rapport with superiors, peers, and reports alike, along with identify the roots of conflicts and cool them before they escalate.

Review: “It’s one of the best courses on this topic! Very well structured and interesting with concrete steps and recommendations” For additional reviews, click here.

Additional Notes: This is the second course in a three course specialization called “Professional IQ: Preventing and Solving Problems at Work.” To learn more about these courses and register for them, click here.