For Wendy Smith, associate professor of management, her Winter Session schedule included a unique class: BUAD 874, “Leadership From Within.” It was the first run of a one-week leadership intensive MBA class that lasted for only one week, from 9-5 every business day.

As if the three-credit, weeklong class wasn’t different enough, the class itself contained instructions that both the students and professor described afterwards as “vague.”

“I literally gave them the instructions: ‘Do something big and bold in a week,’’’ Smith said. “And they really struggled with that. They struggled because the instructions were intentionally vague. There was a lot of uncertainty about what I wanted and about how to implement this project. They had to figure out how to navigate this uncertainty.”

Smith’s intention was to teach the students leadership by throwing them into action. The class assignment was for the MBA students to work together in groups to create and implement a bold vision, and the four groups of students took those instructions in multiple directions.

“Over the week, they came up with an implemented some bold visions,” Smith said.

“One group educated about homelessness in Newark and collected supplies for the Newark Empowerment Center,” she continued. “One group focused on human trafficking. They educated about this issue and created kits for people to act on this issue.”

Another group researched recycling and found that most people don't know the rules of recycling and as a result, much of people’s recycling ends up in the trash, Smith said. The group worked to educate people on recycling. Another group was interested in women’s leadership, and in building a business plan for a women's MBA student organization.

Smith described leadership to the class and discussed what makes leadership good or bad. She taught the students to focus on value-based leadership.

“I start off by defining leadership as having a vision, and being able to effectively implement that vision,” Smith said. “And in defining it that way, I challenge the students to shift away from assumptions of a leader as the one person at the top of the hierarchy who has decision-making rights, and instead think about leadership as a collaborative activity to get things done.”

One of the key insights Smith gave her students was that while getting things done, particularly in an increasingly complex world, it’s not always clear what to do or how to do it; therefore, leadership depends on constantly adapting and reshaping the path. She feels that the students took that to heart and created some spectacular projects as a result.

“I was impressed with what they came up with over the week,” Smith said. “My feedback to them throughout the week was mostly, ‘Be bolder, and I trust you.’ I saw them go through a transformation during the week from real anxiety to a deep sense of awe and pride in what they were able to accomplish.”

The students all worked in groups to create their projects, which created an additional challenge. They had to figure out how to work with their classmates with limited resources and limited time.

“The goal of the class was to challenge the students to move beyond thinking about the frameworks and models for leadership to start engaging the living experience of leadership,” Smith said. “I wanted students to confront their own challenges about leading and then have to work through those challenges.”

Ultimately, Smith feels they accomplished this goal. She is already planning to run the class again thanks to the positive results.

“This is the first time I’ve run this class, and I was sort of stunned myself,” Smith said. “I felt quite vulnerable as well, as I too did not know how the students would react to these projects. Part of the class for me was acknowledging with them and recognizing my own vulnerability.”

“Uncertainty creates vulnerability,” she continued. “Push through it. Do something amazing.”

Jaclyn Tatnall, one of the students in the MBA class as well as the assistant director of communication marketing in UD’s Office of Admissions, was in the group that focused on the topic of women’s leadership. She described the class very discussion-based, saying that Smith and the students had good discussions that pushed everyone out of their comfort zones.

“It was a very vague project,” Tatnall said. “I was like, ‘What are we going to do? How are we going to figure this out?’”

Her group consisted of five women, and through conversations about potential project topics, they decided to create a project centered on female leadership.

“We thought, maybe we can use each other as a starting point to train each other in the workforce, because we noticed that was an area that was lacking” Tatnall said. “Then we wanted to build upon that and make it more broad. “

Despite having never experienced a class like BUAD 874, Tatnall raved about the class as well as Smith’s engaging teaching.

“I loved the class,” Tatnall said. “Leadership is something I’m really passionate about, and it’s a skill I want to develop. Dr. Smith was wonderful in the way she presented the material. It’s what I’ve been seeking, and it’s been a fantastic experience.”