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Approximately 3.5 hours to complete

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Audio recording + long-form content

Welcome to the Self-study Course on Meta-Leadership

In this engaging, self-paced, online program, participants will become familiar with the three dimensions of meta-leadership practice and how they can help them lead through the complex, fast-evolving incidents of crisis and change. Grounded in real-world examples and exploring practical concepts and tools, this program will equip participants to amplify their impact as leaders.

Learning Objectives:

In this course students will:

  • Understand the three dimensions of meta-leadership: the Person, the Situation, and Connectivity as they relate to participants’ operating environment.
  • Enhance the understanding of how to remain grounded psychologically, emotionally, and cognitively in fast-changing circumstances.
  • Develop an appreciation for multi-dimensional perspectives and problem-solving, taking situational awareness up to situational insight.
  • Become familiar with the importance of fostering positive relationships across and beyond the extended enterprise to foster unity of mission and synchrony of action.

About the Instructors


The instructors you meet in this course are all affiliated with the National Preparedness Leadership Initiative (NPLI) at Harvard University. Together they bring decades of field and academic experience in leadership and the challenges of high-stakes, high-pressure situations. Each instructor will be introduced individually where they appear in course modules.

Peter Neffenger

An NPLI senior fellow, VADM (ret.) USCG, and former Transportation Security Administration administrator, Peter shares his insights into the dimensions of the meta-leadership framework. 

Kaleth Wright

An NPLI lecturer and Chief Master Sergeant of the United States Air Force (ret.), Kaleth shares how he handles situations when he finds himself in the basement.

Anne Kronenberg

Anne Kronenberg is Affiliate Faculty at NPLI. She’s held a variety of roles in public service for over forty years, usually in highly complex situations, including executive director of the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management.

Darrell Darnell

Affiliate Faculty at NPLI, former director of the District of Columbia Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency, and member of the White House National Security Staff, Darrell explores Cone-in-the-Cube thinking in real-life, highly complex situations.

Arezoo Risman

A graduate of NPLI’s Executive Program for Leading Through Crisis and Change, Arezoo shares her insight on fostering connectivity to influence change.

Joe Henderson

A Distinguished Senior Fellow at NPLI, Joe spent more than 30 years at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Suzet McKinney

Instructor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and former deputy commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health, Suzet speaks about her experience in seamlessly weaving together the dimensions of the meta-leadership framework.

Rich Serino

A Distinguished Senior Fellow at NPLI, Rich spent more than forty years in public service, providing leadership in emergency management, emergency medical services, and homeland security at the local, federal, and international levels as the Deputy Administrator of FEMA under President Obama, as the Chief at Boston EMS, and as the Assistant Director of Health for the City of Boston.

Lenny Marcus

Co-Director of the National Preparedness Leadership Initiative, a joint program of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government Center for Public Leadership, Dr. Marcus is also the founding Director of the Program for Health Care Negotiation.

Eric McNulty

Serving as Associate Director for the National Preparedness Leadership Initiative, Eric is responsible for research, writing, and teaching relating to leaders and leadership in high stakes, high pressure situations.

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