Overview

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Before we can lead others well, we must first learn to lead ourselves well. Knowing your why is an important part of this journey. In this course, you will identify your core purpose and recognize meaning in your life, explore the power of spirituality and embracing our mortality, create a lasting impact by serving a greater good, describe your character and practice personal excellence. This course can be taken for academic credit as part of CU Boulder’s Master of Engineering in Engineering Management (ME-EM) degree offered on the Coursera platform. The ME-EM is designed to help engineers, scientists, and technical professionals move into leadership and management roles in the engineering and technical sectors. With performance-based admissions and no application process, the ME-EM is ideal for individuals with a broad range of undergraduate education and/or professional experience. Learn more about the ME-EM program at https://www.coursera.org/degrees/me-engineering-management-boulder.

Syllabus

Set Your Destination: Clarifying Purpose and Meaning

Before any successful flight, a destination must be chosen—and the same is true for a meaningful life. This week, you’ll explore the foundational concepts of purpose and meaning through questions like: Why am I here? and What gives my life significance? You’ll learn how coherence, purpose, and significance work together to shape a life of intentional impact. By the end, you’ll craft your Flight Destination Statement—a personal guide to lead with clarity and live with purpose

Beyond the Horizon: Spirituality, Mortality, and Meaning

This week, we’ll climb to cruising altitude and take a wider view of life, leadership, and meaning. You’ll explore spirituality as a personal connection to something greater than yourself—whether that’s faith, nature, humanity, or legacy. We’ll also reflect on mortality, not to provoke fear, but to clarify what truly matters while we’re here. Gaining perspective beyond the horizon allows you to live and lead with deeper presence, purpose, and peace.

Leave a Flight Path: Impact Now, Legacy Later

Every flight leaves a wake—just as every life leaves a legacy. This week, you’ll explore what kind of impact you’re making, and what values you want to be known for. Whether or not you think about legacy often, you are shaping one every day—through your choices, your character, and your presence. By the end, you’ll begin crafting your Leadership Impact Statement as a compass for how you lead and live going forward.

Set Your Heading: Define Your Character and Values

As a pilot sets a heading to stay on course, leaders must define their values to navigate life with integrity. This week, you’ll clarify what you stand for and craft your personal ethos—a values-driven statement that guides how you lead, decide, and live each day. Your ethos becomes your internal heading—steadying you through pressure, distraction, and uncertainty. With this in place, you’ll fly with a clearer sense of purpose, direction, and character.

Flight Mode: A Model for Personal Excellence

This week, you’ll explore what it truly means to perform at your best—not through perfection, but through intentional growth. You’ll examine the downsides of perfectionism and how it impacts mental well-being, while learning to replace it with a healthier model rooted in personal excellence and mastery mindset. Just like a seasoned pilot trusts their system and adapts in real time, you’ll build a performance model that is sustainable and self-aware. By the end, you’ll know what your “flight mode” looks like when you’re operating at your highest and healthiest level.