COURSE NUMBER: MBA296.4A

COURSE TITLE: The Art of Coaching Conversations

UNITS OF CREDIT: 1

INSTRUCTOR: Cort Worthington

E-MAIL ADDRESS:  cort@haas.berkeley.edu

MEETING DATES: Spring A only (1/17-2/28)

PREREQUISITE(S): None

CLASS FORMAT:  We will utilize lecture, discussion, and exercises in each class.

REQUIRED READINGS: assorted books, cases, and articles.

BASIS FOR FINAL GRADE: a combination of class participation, written work, presentations, and possible exam. 

ABSTRACT OF COURSE'S CONTENT AND OBJECTIVES:

Over the last two decades coaching has emerged as a central element in leadership development, and in the arc of a career leaders can expect multiple opportunities to coach and be coached.  This course explores both sides of the equation.  In peer to peer sessions, students will have weekly opportunities to practice delivering and receiving coaching, while being exposed to leadership development frameworks.  This course will explore underlying themes of personal character, values, mindfulness, and adaptability.  Assigned cases will ground us in business and leadership applications. 

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH:

Cort Worthington teaches leadership courses in Haas graduate and undergraduate programs.  A leadership consultant, his organizational client list includes Exxon Mobil, Sumitomo Bank, Oracle, Square, the US Army, Kaiser, McKesson, and Stanford University.
Prior to teaching at Berkeley, Cort was co-founder of toy company Primordial, LLC, where he raised capital and served as Director of Operations.  He also worked for many years as a film producer, directing documentary crews around the world. 
Other relevant experiences include fourteen seasons leading elite teams as a forest fire fighter and parachuting U.S. Forest Smokejumper, which piqued his interest in emergent strategies and improvisational principles as applied to leading within complex, dynamic systems. He has been actively utilizing improvisation as a methodology for enhancing personal communication and leadership skills since 1997. 
Cort holds an MA in Communication from Stanford University, an MBA from Columbia University Business School, and an MBA from U.C. Berkeley.