Understanding the Whole Career

At the beginning of the Yale integrated MBA curriculum, students take the Careers course. Taught by Amy Wrzesniewski, associate professor of organizational behavior, Careers is designed to deepen students' understanding of the forces and dynamics that shape careers over the long term. Wrzesniewski pulls together scholarship from psychology, sociology, and organizational behavior to provide a rigorous view of the individual's path through the work world.

Course readings, experiential exercises, lectures, and case studies help students understand the choices and tradeoffs people face throughout their careers, and what that can mean for them as managers and leaders. The course focuses on developmental frameworks, theories of resilience and transition, and the role of different kinds of capital—such as human capital, social capital, and financial capital—that people build in creating their careers. The ultimate goal of the course is to help students gain a broader perspective on the long-term decisions and actions they are taking on their unique paths to becoming leaders.