To earn a Master’s in Strategic Leadership & AI, you must successfully complete 10 courses (30 credits total) from among the following:
- 2 core courses (6 credits total):
- Ethical Leadership and AI
- Capstone
- 6 foundation courses (18 credits total):
- The AI-Powered Organization
- Foundations of Leadership in the Age of AI
- AI for Strategic Planning and Execution
- Organizational Change and AI Transformation
- AI and Data-Driven Decision-Making
- Coaching Skills for Strategic Leaders
- 2 elective courses (6 credits total):
- AI Leadership & Market Analysis
- AI Applications and Strategies
- AI Project Management
- Communication & Collaboration for Managers
- Human-Centered Leadership
- Global Leadership Study Tour
Program Format
The Master’s in Strategic Leadership & AI is structured in a cohort model with online asynchronous coursework and occasional synchronous elements.
Course Details
The coursework required for the Master’s in Strategic Leadership & AI includes eight required courses. Below represents a sample of course offerings. Format and content may change.
Core Courses (6 credits)
Ethical Leadership and AI
This course examines ethical leadership in organizations increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence, data-driven technologies, and digital transformation. Students explore ethical frameworks, moral decision-making, and values-based leadership in the context of emerging technologies and organizational change. The course addresses topics such as responsible AI use, algorithmic bias, transparency, accountability, privacy, governance, and the societal implications of AI-enabled decision-making.
Through case studies, discussions, and applied exercises, students analyze real-world ethical dilemmas faced by leaders navigating innovation and technological disruption. Emphasis is placed on balancing organizational performance, human impact, stakeholder trust, and responsible governance. By the end of the course, students will be equipped to make principled leadership decisions and guide organizations ethically in increasingly AI-enabled environments.
Capstone
This course provides students with the opportunity to synthesize and apply the knowledge and skills developed throughout the program by producing a substantial, practice-based project under the guidance of faculty and an industry advisor. Projects focus on real-world organizational challenges at the intersection of strategy and artificial intelligence and are aligned with each student’s professional interests and career goals. Students analyze complex organizational issues, develop evidence-based strategic recommendations, and design actionable implementation approaches that reflect enterprise-level leadership thinking. Through this integrative experience, students demonstrate mastery of strategic AI leadership competencies and prepare to advance into senior roles requiring the ability to set organizational direction, lead technology-driven transformation, and create cross-functional impact in an AI-shaped world.
Foundational Courses (18 credits)
The AI-Powered Organization
This course examines how artificial intelligence is reshaping organizations, leadership, work, and decision-making across industries. Students explore how AI influences organizational structures, culture, communication, collaboration, and workforce dynamics, while also examining the human and strategic challenges that emerge in AI-enabled environments. The course introduces frameworks for understanding how organizations adapt to technological disruption and how leaders can align people, processes, and technology to improve organizational effectiveness and innovation.
Students analyze topics including human-AI collaboration, organizational design, decision-making, digital transformation, trust in AI systems, workforce adaptation, ethics, and change management in AI-driven organizations. Through case studies, simulations, and applied projects, students evaluate how organizations integrate AI into operations and strategy while balancing performance, governance, culture, and human impact. By the end of the course, students will be equipped to assess organizational readiness for AI adoption and lead effectively in increasingly AI-powered enterprises.
Foundations of Leadership in the Age of AI
This course introduces core leadership concepts, theories, and practices essential for effective organizational leadership, with particular emphasis on strategic leadership capabilities. Students explore the evolution of leadership thought from trait and behavioral theories through transformational, authentic, servant, and adaptive leadership frameworks. Key topics include leadership styles and their strategic applications, vision setting, trust and credibility, feedback, coaching and mentoring, team and network leadership, and decision-making under uncertainty in AI-enabled environments.
Students also examine leadership in hybrid human–AI organizations, including maintaining authenticity and influence, navigating shifting authority and expertise, supporting employee adaptation to technological disruption, and sustaining trust, social cohesion, and organizational commitment during organizational transformation. Students engage in extensive self-assessment using validated leadership instruments, receive feedback, and create personal leadership development plans that account for the competencies required to lead in an AI-enabled organization. Through experiential learning including simulations, role-plays, and reflective practice, students examine leadership challenges across diverse contexts such as crisis situations, innovation initiatives, and cross-cultural environments, building a versatile leadership toolkit applicable to various organizational settings and career stages.
AI for Strategic Planning and Execution
This course examines how artificial intelligence is transforming the strategic planning and execution process within modern organizations. Drawing on emerging AI-powered strategy platforms and practices, students explore how organizations use AI to accelerate environmental scanning, market analysis, strategic prioritization, scenario planning, risk assessment, action planning, and performance monitoring. The course emphasizes how AI-enabled tools can support strategy teams in moving more rapidly from insight to execution while improving organizational agility and decision quality.
Students analyze how AI can support hypothesis-driven problem-solving, competitive intelligence, strategic forecasting, stakeholder alignment, and strategy-to-execution workflows. The course also examines the limitations and risks of AI-supported planning, including issues related to data quality, organizational context, governance, bias, and overreliance on automated recommendations. Through case studies, simulations, and applied exercises, students develop practical skills for integrating AI into strategic planning processes while maintaining human judgment, collaboration, and organizational alignment.
Organizational Change and AI Transformation
This course focuses on leading and managing organizational change and large-scale transformation initiatives in increasingly AI-enabled organizations. Students examine why change efforts fail and learn evidence-based approaches for successful change leadership and AI transformation. The curriculum addresses the full change lifecycle, from diagnosing organizational readiness and designing transformation strategies to implementation, workforce adaptation, and sustaining organizational change over time.
Emphasis is placed on the role of leaders in guiding organizations through digital and AI-driven transformation, managing resistance, aligning stakeholders, reshaping culture, and sustaining momentum in periods of disruption and uncertainty. Students evaluate real-world transformation cases and develop strategies to support organizational agility, innovation, and long-term performance. The course also explores how AI-enabled tools, including organizational readiness assessments, predictive analytics for change adoption, and AI-powered sentiment analysis of workforce feedback, can support leaders in diagnosing readiness, monitoring adoption, and sustaining transformation efforts. Students develop the critical judgment needed to evaluate and apply these tools responsibly, ensuring that AI supports rather than replaces the human-centered leadership essential for successful organizational transformation.
AI and Data-Driven Decision-Making
This course equips leaders to leverage data, analytics, and evidence in strategic and operational decision-making without requiring technical statistical expertise. Students develop data literacy, including interpreting visualizations, understanding analytical concepts, asking critical questions about data quality and methodology, and identifying appropriate analytical approaches for different decisions. The course covers descriptive, diagnostic, predictive, and prescriptive analytics. Students also explore how AI and machine learning models support descriptive, diagnostic, predictive, and prescriptive analytics, and learn to evaluate AI‐generated insights for reliability and bias.
Topics include data collection and analysis, performance metrics, forecasting, visualization, decision models, and the ethical use of data in organizations. Students learn to distinguish correlation from causation, assess data reliability and bias, and communicate insights clearly to diverse stakeholders. Through applied case studies and practical exercises, students strengthen their ability to integrate data into strategic thinking and organizational leadership.
Coaching Skills for Strategic Leaders
This course develops foundational coaching skills that leaders can apply to support individual, team, and organizational effectiveness. Students build practical coaching competencies including active listening, powerful questioning, creating awareness, providing developmental feedback, and supporting action and accountability. The curriculum explores coaching as a leadership approach for developing people, improving collaboration, and supporting growth and change within organizations. Key topics include coaching conversations, adult development theory, coaching within organizational systems, emotional intelligence, ethical considerations in coaching, and the role of culture and identity in leadership interactions. Through practice sessions, peer coaching, reflective exercises, and applied activities, students strengthen their ability to use coaching skills effectively in leadership, team, and change management contexts. Upon successful completion, including a final skills assessment, students receive a Professional Certificate in Coaching Skills for Strategic Leaders.
Electives (6 Credits)
AI Leadership & Market Analysis
This comprehensive course explores the rapidly evolving AI-driven business landscape. It combines essential leadership strategies with in-depth market analysis to prepare students for the challenges and opportunities presented by technological advancements. The course covers the impact of AI on leadership, emphasizing adaptable leadership styles for tech environments. It teaches managing diverse workforces, leading digital transformation, and developing problem-solving and decision-making skills for the tech industry. It also includes analyzing AI market trends, interpreting industry reports, and conducting competitive analysis to understand strategies and dynamics of different market players.
AI Applications and Strategies
The course provides a non-technical introduction to Artificial Intelligence as well as a deeper dive into how it can be applied to industries and use cases. This will include selected techniques used to power modern AI systems for a variety of use cases, as well as the functional differences between different varieties of AI. The course aims to educate on the practical day-to-day applications of AI for the business professional, offering a foundational understanding of the advantages, limitations, and scope of AI from a business application perspective. Students will discuss AI-related concepts and techniques, including generative AI, forecasting, machine learning, and deep learning. They will examine how humans and machines interact to produce intelligent systems that become part of the fabric of a business. Finally, students will gain insights into the success factors for each type of application.
AI Project Management
The course provides an in-depth exploration of the strategic, methodological, and operational steps necessary for implementing successful AI-driven enterprise projects. It emphasizes the multifaceted organizational, political, and technological barriers that often impede AI adoption and presents actionable strategies to overcome these challenges. Students will engage with key topics such as change management, adaptive program management, and organizational agility, essential for navigating the rapid pace and inherent risks of AI integration. Through a mix of presentations, discussions, and research, students will learn to navigate the complexities of organizational change, including resistance and the emotional aspects of AI transformation. The course equips students with practical tools for managing the life cycle of AI projects, from planning to execution.
Communication & Collaboration for Managers
This course develops essential communication and collaboration competencies for effective leadership. Students learn best practices for leading teams, creating collaborative environments, and engaging diverse stakeholders with different communication styles and motivations. Key topics include high-impact communication in fast-paced environments, persuasive presentations, conflict management and resolution strategies, adapting communication to audience preferences, and building strong value propositions in negotiations and stakeholder engagement. In addition, students explore how AI can be used to scale and enhance collaboration, serve as a collaborative tool without outsourcing human responsibility, and support the rapid creation of persuasive communications and compelling narratives. They also examine how AI can be used to road-test ideas through fast, low-cost iterations, and how to communicate effectively both with AI systems and about AI-driven transformation initiatives. Through practice and application, students develop skills to communicate with greater impact, lead collaborative teams effectively, resolve conflicts constructively, and engage successfully across diverse organizational contexts.
Human-Centered Leadership
This course explores human-centered leadership as an essential approach for building strong relationships, leading teams, resolving conflict, and fostering organizational resilience. Students examine how empathy, inclusion, trust, and emotional intelligence contribute to effective leadership and sustained performance in complex organizational environments. The course also addresses how leaders can maintain human‐centered practices in increasingly AI‐enabled workplaces. Topics include managing hybrid human‐AI teams, supporting employee well‐being amid technological change, and ensuring equitable and ethical use of AI in people‐related decisions.
A central focus of the course is the development of emotional intelligence competencies, including self-awareness, self-regulation, social awareness, and relationship management. Students learn how emotional and social skills influence communication, decision-making, collaboration, and problem-solving. Through applied exercises, case discussions, and reflective practice, participants strengthen their ability to lead with awareness and intention while aligning people-centered practices with organizational goals.
Global Leadership Study Tour
This course provides an immersive, experiential learning opportunity designed to examine leadership and strategy in a global context. Through international site visits, executive briefings, organizational tours, and structured reflection, students analyze how leaders navigate cross- cultural dynamics, institutional differences, and global market forces. The course emphasizes the challenges and opportunities of leading organizations across diverse political, economic, and cultural environments. Students engage with industry professionals and organizational leaders to explore strategic decision-making, innovation, and transformation in international settings. Pre-travel coursework prepares students with analytical frameworks for understanding global institutions and cultural contexts, while post-travel assignments focus on integrating insights into strategic leadership practice. By the end of the course, students will strengthen their global competence and ability to lead effectively in interconnected and multicultural environments.
Accreditation
All programs offered by Georgetown University are fully accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.
