Strategic Decision Making

Data is everywhere — but knowing how to read it, question it, and act on it is what separates good decisions from great ones. This course gives you a practical, jargon-free foundation in data literacy, designed for professionals who want to work more confidently with data without becoming statisticians or data scientists. You'll start by building a working vocabulary for data — metrics, reports, charts, and analysis — then move into the organizational side: overcoming resistance, assessing your company's data culture, and taking your first hands-on steps. From there, you'll follow the full data pipeline, learn how teams collaborate around data, and develop the critical thinking skills that turn raw numbers into meaningful action. Along the way, you'll tackle the concepts that trip most people up — data quality, correlation vs. causation, statistical significance, and machine learning — broken down clearly and connected directly to real decisions. You'll finish with a practical framework for applying data literacy through clear goals, curiosity, and collaboration. By the end, you'll have the vocabulary, the mindset, and the tools to engage with data at any level — and the confidence to keep going deeper.

Your brain is capable of remarkable thinking — but for most adults, critical thinking skills are switched off up to 70% of the time. This course shows you why that happens and, more importantly, what you can do about it. Drawing on neuroscience research, you'll discover how your brain operates in two distinct states and how everyday stress, emotions, and social dynamics can quietly sabotage your clearest thinking. Through practical, research-backed techniques, you'll learn to recognize your personal triggers, regulate your responses, and shift back into the focused, executive state where your best decisions get made. What makes this course unique is its dual focus: you'll not only sharpen your own critical thinking, but also develop the skills to activate it in the people around you. From facilitating better team decisions to guiding colleagues through conflict, you'll walk away with a complete toolkit for thinking more clearly — alone and with others — no matter what challenges land on your plate.