Course Highlights

• Helps individuals and teams understand and practice human-centered design
• Provides both strategic and hands-on techniques for structured exploration through prototyping
• Teaches how to enable an action-based organizational culture in which empathy is generated, trial and error is encouraged, and failure is celebrated as a source of learning—all resulting in successful innovation
• Combines the inspired, intuitive methods taught in the world’s best design schools with the systematic, analytical methods for which MIT is world renowned
• Confers a certificate of course completion from the MIT Sloan School of Management

Why attend Leadership by Design?

Successful companies create compelling, disruptive products and services by cultivating a culture of leadership and design thinking, and by putting people at the center of their process. These firms innovate continuously by connecting with customer needs and emotions and demonstrating effective design leadership. Learn how enable this design culture at your organization to achieve buy-in for your vision and create solutions that consumers love.

This course helps individuals and teams understand and practice human-centered design. You will learn both strategic and hands-on techniques for structured exploration through prototyping. You will also learn how to enable an action-based organizational culture in which empathy is generated, trial and error is encouraged, and failure is celebrated as a source of learning—all resulting in successful innovation.

Course Experience

Drawing on the resources of MIT’s Integrated Design & Management curriculum and its new Integrated Design Lab (ID Lab), this program combines the inspired, intuitive methods taught in the world’s best design schools with the systematic, analytical methods for which MIT is world renowned. This program is led by Matthew S. Kressy, creator and director of MIT's Integrated Design & Management (IDM).

Course content includes:

• Discussions on expression and culture
• Field exercises in observation, exploration, and user empathy
• Lectures on concept generation
• Studio exercises in persona development and story telling
• Lectures and case studies pertaining to design leadership
• Hands-on sketch modeling and rendering exercises
• Functional prototyping workshops
• Opportunities to build, test, and iterate prototypes in teams
• Concluding discussions on process and leadership

The tools presented in this design leadership program can be applied to any range of human-centered innovation problems and opportunities including products, services and social/societal challenges.

By applying a human-centered approach to design leadership, you’ll be able to conceive radically innovative solutions to multifaceted problems, create visions that get buy-ins from senior management and colleagues, avoid hazards, and create solutions that people love both emotionally and intellectually.

Learn more about the live online experience. 

Learn more about the in-person experience. 

Applying to the Course

We accept enrollments until the offering reaches capacity, at which point we will maintain a waitlist. Many of the courses fill up several weeks in advance, so we advise that you enroll as early as possible to secure your seat.

You can begin the application process by using the red 'Enroll Now' bar at the bottom of the screen.
 

Health and Safety

See our on campus healthy and safety policies.

Have Questions?

Contact us if you would like to speak with a program director or visit our Frequently Asked Questions page for answers to common questions about our courses.