The SL course of the U.S. Army War College (USAWC) resident core curriculum, is designed to help you think, operate, and act within the strategic environment through an examination of responsible leadership and management practices.

This course continues the development of leadership at three levels: Direct (taught at the basic and elective courses), Organizational (taught at the Command and General Staff College), and Strategic (taught at the Army War College). Building on your experiences, it provides the foundation for application of strategic-level skills and competency throughout the academic year and into the future.

As national security professionals, you must be able to translate the goals of national policy into credible military objectives (ends), concepts (ways), and resources (means) of the National Military Strategy. The SL course continues the expansion of your understanding of national security and the strategic-leadership environment by examining the leadership dynamics necessary to sustain innovative, agle, and ethical organizations in a joint interagency, and multinational inviroment.

This course is designed to present material in ways that will encourage personal and professional reflection, critical assessment, creative thinking, and consideration of issues that are most often characterized by volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity, and marked by opportunities and threats.

Our goal is to provide an environment for critically reflective learning as you examine issues and processes and explore alternate possibilities and opportunities as you study the unique aspects of leadership at the strategic level

We expect that during this process you will participate vigorously in seminar discussions, classroom practical exercises, mini-case studies, question-and-answer periods with guest lecturers, and the refinement of your own individual learning plan for this academic year.

Strategic Leadership Instruction:

• Develops an appreciation of and understanding for leading and managing complex organizations at the strategic level.
  Facilitates a deeper understanding of the role of a strategic leader with reguard to organizational climate, culture, and vision.
  
• Lays the foundation for success in subsequent core courses and the entire academic year.
  

This course touches on all the themes but is the standard bearer for three:

• Strategic Vision.
• Ethics.
• Human dimensions of strategic leadership.