Leading from within: Mindset, Resilience and Psychological Capital

Department
  • International Program
Course unit code
  • IFLV6649
Number of ECTS credits allocated
  • 3.0
Name of lecturer(s)
  • Clayton Russell
Recommended optional program components
  • none
Recommended or required reading
  • PDFs that draw from (but are not limited to) the following will be created and placed on Sakai by the lecturer:
    - Laker, B., & Kalyuzhnova, Y. (2025). "Resilience Means Fewer Recoveries, Not Faster Ones." MIT Sloan Management Review.
    - Dweck, C. (2014). "How Companies Can Profit from a 'Growth Mindset.'" Harvard Business Review.
    - Youssef-Morgan, C. M., & Petersen, K. (2019). The benefits of developing psychological capital in the workplace. In R. J. Burke & A. M. Richardsen (Eds.), Creating psychologically healthy workplaces (pp. 113-132). Edward Elgar Publishing.
    - Loehr, J., & Schwartz, T. (2001). "The Making of a Corporate Athlete." Harvard Business Review.
    - Hayes, J. (2026). "How Sleep Deprivation Undermines the Human Side of Leadership." Forbes.
Additional information about examination modalities
  • Grading will be based on continuous engagement and applied learning throughout the course, utilizing three core evaluation components:
    • 40% - Active Course Participation (for example, active contributions to class discussions)
    • 20% - Online Conceptual Quizzes (short [2-3 questions])
    • 40% - Written Reflections (synthesizing self-assessment findings into a Self-Leadership and Resilience Plan)
Level of course unit
  • Bachelor
Year of study
  • Spring 2027
Semester when the course unit is delivered
  • 2
Language of instruction
  • English
Learning outcomes of the course unit
  • Students Will:
    1. Understand & Apply Growth Mindset Principles: Differentiate between fixed and growth mindsets and apply strategies to transform personal, academic, and professional challenges into learning opportunities.
    2. Build Mindset Capital (PsyCap): Learn about and develop the internal "HERO" toolkit (Hope, Self-Efficacy, Resilience, and Optimism) to boost confidence, stay driven, and reach personal and career goals.
    3. Identify individual responses to stress and setbacks, and learn practical tools to bounce back faster, stay grounded, and maintain energy under pressure.

    This course will follow an experiential, student-centered learning model designed for a high-engagement block format. Each topic will begin with a brief mini-lecture to introduce key concepts from sports and organizational psychology, followed immediately by guided group discussions where students will analyze real-world scenarios and share cross-disciplinary perspectives.
    Building on these discussions, students will participate in applied workshops featuring interactive drills, peer coaching, and classroom exercises to actively practice skills such as cognitive reframing and stress adaptation. The course will culminate in an experiential workshop where students will synthesize their insights into a practical, personalized Self-Leadership & Resilience Blueprint. All course activities will rely exclusively on content created by the lecturer using open-access library resources and materials provided on Sakai, no additional costs apply.
Course contents
  • Effective leadership begins from within. To be successful at leading projects or businesses, students should develop the internal psychological resources required to navigate stress, adapt to change, and sustain high performance. Based on applied organizational psychology and sports psychology, Leading from Within offers students an interactive exploration of personal growth and performance through the concepts of growth mindset, resilience, and positive psychological capital (PsyCap).
    This course treats leadership as a trainable mental skill. Through interactive challenges, peer feedback, and reflective exercises, students will actively develop the mindset strategies top performers use to handle pressure, bounce back from setbacks, and bring out the best in themselves.
Planned learning activities and teaching methods
  • The course comprises an interactive mix of lectures, discussions and individual and group work.
Work placement(s)
  • none

Back

We use cookies on our website. Some of them are essential for the operation of the site, while others help us to improve this site and the user experience (tracking cookies). You can decide for yourself whether you want to allow cookies or not. Please note that if you reject them, you may not be able to use all the functionalities of the site.

Accept Decline
Privacy Policy