Based on four of the most popular courses taught at the Wharton School, Achieving Personal and Professional Success is designed to introduce the tools and techniques for defining and achieving success at home and at work. You'll learn how to find your passion and core values, how to apply these values to your own life, how to work well with others, how to communicate effectively, how to set goals, how to use influence to achieve these goals, and even how to say you are sorry. Through exercises, self-diagnostic surveys, quizzes, and many case studies, you'll discover how to define not only what you want, but also the best way to get it. While many business courses cover topics related to successful organizational practices, these courses provide key insights into successful personal practices, whether you are in the office or in your home. We all bring ourselves to work every day, and these courses will help you be your best self wherever you are.
Achieving Personal and Professional Success Specialization
Learn How to Maximize Your Potential. Define Success, Communicate Effectively, and Use Influence to Accomplish Personal and Career Goals
Offered By
How the Specialization Works
Take Courses
A Coursera Specialization is a series of courses that helps you master a skill. To begin, enroll in the Specialization directly, or review its courses and choose the one you'd like to start with. When you subscribe to a course that is part of a Specialization, you’re automatically subscribed to the full Specialization. It’s okay to complete just one course — you can pause your learning or end your subscription at any time. Visit your learner dashboard to track your course enrollments and your progress.
Hands-on Project
Every Specialization includes a hands-on project. You'll need to successfully finish the project(s) to complete the Specialization and earn your certificate. If the Specialization includes a separate course for the hands-on project, you'll need to finish each of the other courses before you can start it.
Earn a Certificate
When you finish every course and complete the hands-on project, you'll earn a Certificate that you can share with prospective employers and your professional network.
There are 4 Courses in this Specialization
Success
Do you want to be more successful? This course was designed to help you define what success means to you, and to develop a plan for achieving it. Wharton Professor G. Richard Shell, an award-winning author and the creator of the popular Wharton School course on the meaning of success, created this course to help you answer the questions that arise when you consider how best to use your life. Drawing on his decades of research and mentoring, Shell offers personalized assessments to help you probe your past, imagine your future, and measure your strengths. He then combines these with the latest scientific insights on everything from self-confidence and happiness to relationships and careers. Throughout, he shares inspiring examples of people who found what they were meant to do by embracing their own true measure of success. Get ready for the journey of a lifetime—one that will help you reevaluate your future and envision success on your own terms. Students and executives say that Richard Shell’s courses and executive training programs have changed their lives. Let this course change yours.
Improving Communication Skills
Learn how to communicate more effectively at work and achieve your goals. Taught by award-winning Wharton professor and best-selling author Maurice Schweitzer, Improving Communications Skills is an essential course designed to give you both the tools you need to improve your communication skills, and the most successful strategies for using them to your advantage. You'll learn how to discover if someone is lying (and how to react if they are), how to develop trust, the best method of communication for negotiation, and how to apologize. You'll also learn when to cooperate and when to compete, how to create persuasive messages, ask thoughtful questions, engage in active listening, and choose the right medium (face-to-face conversation, video conference, phone call, or email) for your messages. By the end of the course, you'll be able to understand what others want, respond strategically to their wants and needs, craft convincing and clear messages, and develop the critical communication skills you need to get ahead in business and in life.
Leading the Life You Want
Pursue a meaningful life and improve your performance as a leader. Taught by acclaimed Wharton professor, best-selling author, and former Ford Motor Company executive and head of its Leadership Development Center, Stew Friedman, Leading the Life You Want provides you with the skills you need to lead in all four domains of your life: at work, at home, in the community, and in your private self (mind, body, and spirit). You'll explore the core principles of leadership and learn the skills you need to bring them to life. You learn how to find a greater sense of purpose, see how to convey values with stories, learn how to manage attention, feel less stressed, lead through serving others, and more. You'll see these skills illustrated in the inspiring yet imperfect lives of six remarkable leaders: Tom Tierney (former CEO of Bain), Sheryl Sandberg (COO of Facebook), Michelle Obama (former First Lady), Eric Greitens (Republican Governor of Missouri), Julie Foudy (world champion soccer star and three-time Olympic medalist), and Bruce Springsteen (world-famous rock musician). You'll have the opportunity to assess your own leadership skills, and learn simple, proven exercises to practice them. By the end of this course, you'll have the tools you need to develop your skills so you can grow as a leader in all areas of your life and create greater harmony among them.
Influence
What does it mean to be influential? How does one persuade others to pursue a unified goal? How does one leverage power? In this course, you’ll learn how to develop influence and to become more effective in achieving your organizational goals. Professor Cade Massey of the Wharton School has designed this course to help you understand the framework of power and influence and the dynamics of effective networks, and shows you how to develop your skills of persuasion and leverage. By the end of this course, you’ll know your own strengths and how to use them to get what you need, how to gain power and influence, and how to leverage relationships and alliances to achieve your goals in both business and in life.
Instructors
Richard Shell
Professor of Legal Studies and Business Ethics and Management
Maurice Schweitzer
Professor of Operations, Information and Decisions
Stewart D. Friedman
Practice Professor of Management and Director of the Wharton Work/Life Integration Project
Cade Massey
Practice ProfessorAbout University of Pennsylvania
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the refund policy?
Can I just enroll in a single course?
Yes! To get started, click the course card that interests you and enroll. You can enroll and complete the course to earn a shareable certificate, or you can audit it to view the course materials for free. When you subscribe to a course that is part of a Specialization, you’re automatically subscribed to the full Specialization. Visit your learner dashboard to track your progress.
Is financial aid available?
Can I take the course for free?
Is this course really 100% online? Do I need to attend any classes in person?
This course is completely online, so there’s no need to show up to a classroom in person. You can access your lectures, readings and assignments anytime and anywhere via the web or your mobile device.
How long does it take to complete the Specialization?
16 weeks is the typical sequence for completing this Specialization; however, you can work at the pace which makes sense for you.
What background knowledge is necessary?
No background knowledge is necessary to complete this Specialization; however, you must be able to be honest with yourself and willing to try new ways of thinking and communicating to achieve results.
Do I need to take the courses in a specific order?
No. The courses in this Specialization are designed to be taken in the order that is right for you. If you don't know where to begin, we recommend starting with "Success." Professor Shell will guide you through exercises designed to help you define what success means to you. You may wish to use this self-knowledge as a foundation for the other courses.
Will I earn university credit for completing the Specialization?
No. Although these courses are based on very popular courses offered by the Wharton School, they are not eligible for course credit from the University of Pennsylvania.
What will I be able to do upon completing the Specialization?
This Specialization was designed to help you be more successful in both your personal and professional life, using the techniques and exercises taught at the Wharton School. Upon completing this Specialization, you will be able to define what success means to you, apply your core values and principles at home and at work, communicate effectively and influence others to achieve your goals.
More questions? Visit the Learner Help Center.
