Learn How to Think Strategically with Leaders from Public Leadership and Harvard Kennedy School

Published January 18, 2023

Courses mentioned in this post: Strategy Execution for Public Leadership

Series mentioned in this post: Leadership, Communication, and Transformation

“During my time as Assistant Secretary of Defense, I was working on the response to the Ebola crisis in the United States,” tells Eric Rosenbach, Harvard Kennedy School faculty and former Pentagon Chief of Staff.

“And I remember, very clearly, being in the White House Situation Room with the President of the United States thinking through our response strategy and being shocked that the President had to push his cabinet members to think about small issues of strategy execution that they previously had not considered. That burned an important image in me that I needed to teach this to future public leaders.”

In our course Strategy Execution for Public Leadership, Eric Rosenbach takes on this vital mission. The course, designed for public sector leaders, addresses pressing questions such as: 

• What's the magic combination of leadership, management, and strategy that gets you to the point that you have impact and create public value?
• How do I create a high-performing team that propels me to have excellent execution of our strategic ideas?
• Why do so many public sector strategies fail? 
• What is the strategy-execution gap? And how can we address that to improve the impact you have on public sector initiatives?

Alongside the former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Global Security, you will learn directly from individuals who have worked on executing complex strategies in the real world.

“We selected a diverse group of individuals and cases for the course so that participants can learn about an international perspective,” notes Rosenbach. “These are some of the most talented public sector leaders you could learn from in the world presenting a wide variety of cases of public sector strategy.”

By studying decisions of these key public leaders, you will better understand how to develop strategies that not only align with your organizational goals, but also gain insight into the challenges and scrutiny that come along with making public decisions.

Through global case studies and examples, you will explore topics that set you on a path to strengthen your public leadership, including resource and budget planning, talent recruitment and retention, and risk planning and mitigation tactics. Alongside these key skills, you will learn how to communicate effectively and strategically in moments of crisis.

“Crisis communication is very important,” adds Rosenbach. “In the course, we’ll use a case study of the US military to examine the crisis management response. We’ll discuss how we in the Department of Defense addressed the issue and communicate in a way that rebuilt trust with the press and the public for our military missions.”

By the end of this course, you will not only have the tools to create a sound public execution strategy, but also know how to test and optimize your strategy, increase competitive advantage, and sustain long-term impact and success.

Are you ready to build your strategic plan and enhance your public sector leadership? 

Register for Strategy Execution for Public Leadership and learn directly from leading experts—applications close Monday, January 23, 2023 at 11:59PM ET.

Discounts Available For Those Who Qualify

If you’ve previously taken a course with Harvard Online, take advantage of our Past Participant discount for this course!

Additionally, learners with non-profit, student, military, or government affiliations can take advantage of discounts for this course. For more information on discounts and to apply, visit the bottom of our Course Policies and Discounts page.