Essential Business MOOCs For August

“In business, you don’t get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate.”

Ever hear that doozy? Roll your eyes, but it’s true. Who hasn’t dreaded laying out a case for a pay raise? And who hasn’t witnessed a client threaten to leave unless you change your terms…again? Work is hard enough! Who wants to haggle? If you’re tough, you’re labeled as “difficult.” If you roll over, they‘ll just dismiss you as a coward – and steamroll you the next time.

In reality, negotiation isn’t an either-or. It is about creating more.

That’s the philosophy behind a new MOOC course from Stanford University: “Introduction to Negotiation.” Taught by David Johnson, a celebrated Silicon Valley attorney, this course brings the same negotiation mindsets and tactics taught at Stanford to the masses. But forget price and think balance in this course. According to Johnson, his teachings emphasize how “big universal ideas like fairness, trust, reciprocity, ethics, and culture have a central role in the way any negotiation operates and how that will directly affect the outcome of your negotiation.”

Johnson’s deep dive into negotiation strategy is among the best MOOC courses in business that start in August, writes Poets&Quants' Jeff Schmitt. Whether you’re an applicant to a business school seeking to get a taste of what you’re getting yourself into (Harvard Business School now has a place on its application for the first time to list your MOOCs), an existing MBA student who wants to explore a few topics outside the curriculum, or an experienced professional eager to supplement your base of knowledge, this month’s offerings provide an array of compelling options.

Stanford’s Johnson isn’t alone in pushing for transparency, self-understanding, and mutual benefit. Kirk O. Hanson, a pioneer in the field of ethics, launches his first MOOC: “Business Ethics for the Real World” (along with a sequel, “Creating an Ethical Corporate Culture.”) Case Western Reserve’s Richard Boyatzis returns with another section of his popular “Inspiring Leadership Through Emotional Intelligence.” A highly-regarded author, Boyatzis was ranked as the ninth-most influential thinker in a survey by HR Magazine

Celebrity professor Peter Navarro jumps into the MOOC fray with “Managing Your Time, Money, and Career: MBA Insights for Undergraduates,” a UC-Irvine course designed for college freshmen who are striking out on their own for the first time. And let’s not forget the University of Washington, which is launching a series of quant courses on computer network security and computational finance.

Plus, there’a more than two dozen other self-paced MOOCs in August starting on a wide variety of other topics that range from the “Foundations of Business Strategy” to “Social Media for Business.”

Check all of them out in detail and register for those you want at PoetsandQuants.com:

Essential MOOC Courses in Business Starting In August