CPD 400 Foundations of Leadership

This course was such an influential part of my leadership journey while at ODU. In CPD 400, we came out of the course knowing how to demonstrate our knowledge of the leadership theories that were covered in the class. We were able to self-assess our personal leadership skills and develop our own leadership philosophy. An important one for me: we learned there is a distinct, complex difference between management and leadership. Finally, we truly learned, by definition, what it means to be a leader.

The class came with projects and assignments that encouraged critical thinking and self-reflection. Among those were: discussion/interaction posts about the topics covered each week, weekly reflective journals that encouraged us to apply the topics to daily life, a research paper focusing on impactful historic leaders, and an application paper that required us to recognize an impactful leader in our lives, and explain how, with the subjects learned in the class, we can mimic our admirable leader.

Through this course, I was able to learn the history of leadership. I gained a greater respect for those who led the way for both the world and me personally. It is always important to know the background to ensure that you keep things sacred while still, appropriately, adding your own twist.

CPD 408 Global Leadership

This global leadership course was one like I had never taken before. It makes you realize that there is so much business to do around the world and so much insight to gain from other cultures. Finishing this “D” (Diversity) course, we understood how leadership affects our daily lives, we were able to recognize how biases and cultural framework plays a strong role in leadership. We learned to be culturally sensitive and emotionally intelligent. We are now able to accurately define the relationships in the leadership process, like leader and follower, and we understand the complexities of cultural differences and globalization.

This class included weekly discussion boards so that we could engage and converse with our classmates about the topics learned that week. We had weekly personal leadership journals so that we could apply what we learned to our own lives and provide our own thoughts on the matters. We had an essay that required us to reflect on our own leadership journeys up to that point. Using concepts learned in the class, we were able to correctly define and recognize what traits and behaviors we exhibited. Following this, we were given an assignment to plan our own self-development strategy to help us grow into stronger leaders. Finally, we were assessed on all that we had learned in the class.

I feel that this class was very beneficial to me. It taught me one of the best lessons I have learned as a business major – you cannot do it on your own! Other people, other cultures – they all have different insights and knowledge that can benefit goal reaching. It is so important to take time to learn about other cultures and to respect them. It can be very impactful in your business journey.

ENTR 301 Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship

This entrepreneurship course was one that I really enjoyed. Entrepreneurship is not a route I ever considered, but learning the process behind it is eye-opening. In this class, we enhanced our analytical and critical thinking skills, developed an understanding of the entrepreneurial process and how to organize a small business, the financial, economic, social, and political straddles included in the journey, learned to spot the difference between an idea and an opportunity, and how to apply these concepts to the world we prepare to enter.

To effectively understand what we were learning, assignments were given to strengthen our application. To ensure our participation, we were given weekly discussion boards to communicate with our classmates some important topics within the week. We were given exams to test our knowledge on the subjects discussed. The best part about the course was our ability to create our own businesses, while working as a team!

I gained a lot of knowledge from this course. I was able to see the ins and outs of entrepreneurship and gain an appreciation for all the hard work that goes into it. I learned where to go for resources if ever I wanted to take the entrepreneurial path. Most beneficially, I learned to create a business model!

MGMT 485W Business Policy and Strategy

MGMT 485W was very educational course. It is an important course for anyone looking to pursue a career in business. This course dealt with the logistics of an organization. What determines overall performance? What causes a company to fail? How can managers fix these issues? During this class, I put diagnostic reasoning to practice, learned the reason for and consequences of internalization, how the economy impacts businesses, how businesses can take advantage of the economy, and to recognize and resolve ethical issues.

This class included weekly quizzes to test us on what we had read, followed by weekly discussion boards to engage with our class. These discussion boards were great for applying knowledge. We were often given a real-life scenario about a recognizable company, and then we had to use what we learned that week to solve the problem. Along with this, we had to create a strategic report for a pre-established company. We did this assignment in steps, beginning with the company profile, moving to the external analysis, internal analysis, stakeholder analysis, business and corporation strategy, and international strategy. This project taught us how to use our resources and do our research. The project was a true representation of strategic management.

MGMT 485W really got into the backgrounds of operating a business. It highlighted strategies and procedures that are necessary for proper flow. It was beneficial in that it worked with real-time problems outside of the textbook. The class took a “hands-on” approach that, for me, was important in understanding the course.