Hello.  I’m Carol Vernon, your leadership skills teacher for Online Activism Institute for Women in the Middle East.  You have an opportunity to take my class online – in six different parts – complete with homework and exercises to strengthen your leadership skills. Let me tell you about myself and the leadership class I hope you take.

I am an executive coach and I specialize in helping women and men develop their unique leadership style. I work with government, political, business, and nonprofit leaders.  Each of these leaders has their own unique way of leading.  Some people think these people, as well as other strong leaders, are ‘born leaders’. While this may be occasionally true – there may be some people who are born with strong leadership ability and have been given the opportunity to practice and develop their leadership – the fact is, leadership skills can be learned. In my on-line class you will learn the specific skills you need to hone to lead people and manage projects. You will learn the major differences between leadership and management and you will put this learning to work right away as you apply it to your advocacy work. We will start by defining exactly what leadership is.  We’ll look at who you lead, who you follow, and how you will use your increased leadership capacity. We’ll spend a good deal of time getting very clear about your leadership vision. All great leaders know where they are going and they are able to persuade others to follow. You’ll have an opportunity to create your vision statement and state clearly and succinctly where you are going. You’ll also be challenged to think about your followers – what do they see, why do they see it that way, how can you change their perception? Next we’ll turn to specific leadership keys such as prioritizing.  How can you as a leader best prioritize your time, money, and team skills to be most successful? We’ll also look at other leadership keys including problem solving and creating positive change. You will have an opportunity to focus on how to deal with challenges more effectively and what you need to change in order to create true and lasting change. Finally, we’ll turn to the most important aspect of leadership – leading, motivating, inspiring, and empowering others. Leaders are called to model the way for others.  We’ll define what this modeling is and how you can most effectively lead by example. Developing your leadership presence is an ongoing journey.  This class will allow you to discover and clarify your strengths and also uncover blind spots that can hold you back from accomplishing what you most want to do. I live and work in Washington, DC.  I have served as a congressional aide on Capitol Hill and also worked for corporations and national non-profit organizations. I have had the opportunity to travel extensively and particularly enjoy working with people from other countries. Like many of your trainers, I teach and coach at the Women's Campaign School at Yale University.  This program brings together women leaders committed to developing the skills needed to lead others. I had the opportunity last year to teach and coach several participants from the Middle East.

I am pleased to be a part of the program and I look forward to working with you. Again, I am Carol Vernon. Thank you for watching and I hope you will take my class.