Successful decision making is based on three key pillars: strategy, law and ethics. After taking this course you will be able to use a practical framework based on these three elements to make successful business, personal and leadership decisions. This course opens with an example of a leadership decision: President Barack Obama’s strategic decision to capture or kill Osama bin Laden. The course then shows how the three elements can be used to prevent a tragedy when making a personal decision. The rest of the course focuses on making successful business decisions. In essence, to achieve business and career success, you must create value (strategy) and manage risk (law) in a responsible manner (ethics).
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Because the Law Pillar plays a central role in the three pillar model, the course includes practical legal briefings (with many examples) on the key elements of business success. Specifically, the course shows you how to:
• attract the best employees,
• develop successful products,
• create new business models,
• protect intellectual property,
• create contracts that achieve business goals, and
• use dispute resolution processes that improve business relationships.
Using a global perspective, the course also provides an introduction to international business culture for learners from the United States, and an introduction to the U.S. business culture for learners from outside the U.S.
Syllabus
WEEK 1
Welcome to Making Successful Decisions through the Strategy, Law & Ethics Model!
This course will enable you to use the Three Pillar model to manage business risk and create value in an ethical manner. You will also be able to use the model when making personal decisions. After completing this introductory module, you will understand the course goal and game plan.
WEEK 2
Use the Three Pillar Model for Personal, Leadership and Business Decisions
In this module you will learn the basic structure of the Three Pillar model and the importance of thinking globally in today’s business world. You will also learn a practical decision making tool that you can begin to use immediately for personal and business decisions. Suggestion: The videos are viewed by learners from around the world. English is not the primary language for many of these learners. As a result, when shooting the videos I have attempted to speak in a slow and deliberate manner. If English is your native language, I recommend that you increase the speed to at least 1.25x.
WEEK 3
Use Employment Law to Attract and Retain the Best Business Talent
Your ability to attract and retain the best employees is essential to business success. This requires an understanding of employment law. The videos in this module cover two of the most important and controversial areas of employment law: the ability of a business to fire employees and sex discrimination. After watching the videos, you will be able to manage employment risks in these areas, while also attracting the best talent to your business.
WEEK 4
Meet Your Customers’ Needs: Transform Product Liability into Product Innovation
In a fast-changing world, your ability to develop new products is an important source of competitive advantage. The videos in this module provide you with methods for managing product liability risks. You can use these same methods for consumer research and new product development.
WEEK 5
Create Business Opportunities Through Government Regulation
Government regulation plays an important role in determining the success of businesses around the world. In this module you will learn how to manage government regulatory risk by shaping the law and through compliance. You will also learn how to create business opportunities by anticipating regulation (the Regulatory Frontier Strategy) and by developing business models based on gaps in regulation (the Regulatory Gap Strategy).
WEEK 6
Use Your Intellectual Property to Create Shareholder Value
Whether you are an entrepreneur starting your own business or a manager in a major international corporation, intellectual property is one of your key business assets. In this module, guest lecturer Susan Kornfield, a leading intellectual property lawyer, will explain how to create, protect and use your intellectual property in the US and internationally. The module is divided into the four key areas of intellectual property: trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, and patents. Although these areas can be technical and complex, she brings them to life with many fascinating examples. Each of the four sections concludes with a summary of a lawyer’s perspective on intellectual property (which tends to focus on risk management) and a business perspective (which focuses on value creation).
WEEK 7
Develop Contracts that Create Value for Both Sides
Successful contracts are the key to value creation for businesses. This module provides a contracting checklist of the key elements anyone in business should understand when negotiating contracts. These elements are necessary to minimize risk by creating a “perfect” contract. However, because a legally perfect contract can also be harmful to business success, the module also covers how to focus your contracts on business objectives and how to visualize contract terms to increase your understanding.
WEEK 8
Use Dispute Resolution Processes for Value Creation
This module focuses on the processes that you will use to resolve disputes and build relationships that are key to business success. Short videos demonstrate arbitration and mediation processes. The module includes discussion of practical management tools you can use immediately to manage risks relating to business disputes: a corporate pledge, screens, contract clauses, and online resources. The module also shows you how to dispute resolution for value creation, including using the power of apology and a life goals analysis.
WEEK 9
Create and Lead an Ethical Business
This module focuses on the Ethics Pillar of decision making by addressing three questions that are important to your career success: (1) What decision-making process should you use when facing an ethical dilemma? (2) What guidelines should you consider when analyzing the dilemma? (3) How can your best serve as an ethical leader in you organization? In answering these questions, the module shows how you can use the Law Pillar and the Strategy Pillar to embed ethical standards into your business and create an ethical organization.
WEEK 10
Final Examination
This module includes the final examination, including both the relevant instructions and honor code.
