Women in ProductCornell Certificate Program

In this course, you will explore the intricate relationship between the product manager, the product, and the customer. You'll begin by examining the foundational aspects of product management, including the nature of products, the skills required for effective management, and the common causes of product failures. You'll also gain insights into the product management process, learning to differentiate your role as a product manager from the tasks involved in managing products.

Through the course materials and activities, you will engage with the CORE approach and the Analytical Pyramid, essential tools for classifying ideation skills and navigating the product management journey. You'll then delve into the product development process, exploring its cyclical nature and the distinction between managing and executing tasks. You'll practice identifying management-specific responsibilities and discover how to optimize product design using techniques like Kansei engineering.

Finally, you will gain hands-on experience using Python for data manipulation and A/B testing. You'll discover how to measure customer preferences, leverage data to guide marketing strategies, and develop a deeper understanding of customer perspectives. This practical experience will prepare you to manage the product life cycle effectively and drive success in the market.

In this course, you will discover how to leverage data to develop and refine product strategies — a skill that is increasingly crucial in today's data-driven market. You'll start by exploring essential marketing metrics to design impactful customer journeys then use these metrics to optimize advertising strategies. You'll practice distinguishing between KPIs and attribution metrics to make informed marketing decisions, gather and interpret environmental data to contextualize your product strategies, and integrate these strategies into a company's broader marketing efforts.

Throughout the course, you will delve into various topics, including global ad spend, the marketing funnel, and advertising effectiveness metrics. You'll engage in practical exercises such as journey mapping, competitor briefs, and calculating key marketing metrics like cost per click (CPC) and return on ad spend (ROAS). You'll also be introduced to advanced concepts like marketing mix modeling (MMM) and multi-touch attribution (MTA), equipping you with the knowledge and skills to interpret complex data and guide product and marketing strategies.

By the end of the course, you will have a comprehensive understanding of how to synthesize data-driven insights to develop and implement effective product strategies within an organization, giving you the confidence and expertise to excel in your role.

You are required to have completed the following course or have equivalent experience before taking this course:

• Navigating Technical Product Management

This course equips you with the analytical tools and techniques needed to create data-driven strategies that resonate with your audience. Through a combination of interactive learning, an engaging case study, and hands-on coding exercises, you will explore fundamental ideas such as survival analysis, customer lifetime value, and sentiment analysis, which are essential for understanding customer behavior, predicting outcomes, and tailoring product strategies to meet consumer needs. These approaches will enable you to make informed decisions, refine product offerings, and create meaningful connections with your customers, ultimately driving engagement and loyalty.

You will then apply these analytical techniques to your own product environment. You'll use real data to discern customer preferences, analyze product features, and determine optimal strategies for improving product performance. By the end of the course, you'll have developed a comprehensive strategy that leverages consumer insights to enhance product value and drive customer loyalty.

You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course:

• Navigating Technical Product Management
• Developing a Data-Driven Product Strategy

In this course, you will explore the fascinating world of consumer behavior, discovering what drives customers and how to communicate those insights effectively. You'll start by analyzing motivations and internal influences on consumer choices, gaining a deep understanding of how and why customers make decisions. Through interactive activities and discussions, you'll explore real-world examples and apply these concepts to identify key behavioral implications. This knowledge will lay the foundation for formulating product specifications that are both insightful and actionable.

Throughout the course, you will develop critical communication skills to present your insights in a way that influences decision making. You'll get hands-on experience analyzing consumer motivations and presenting data-driven insights in meaningful ways. You'll work on formulating product specifications and ultimately craft a strategy for relaunching a recalled product. By the end of the course, you'll have the skills to understand consumer behavior, communicate insights to stakeholders, and make informed product decisions that resonate with your target audience.

You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course:

• Navigating Technical Product Management 
• Developing a Data-Driven Product Strategy
• Optimizing Product Strategy Using Analytics

In this course, you will discover how to apply different project management methodologies to tackle complex product challenges. You'll explore frameworks like Agile, Scrum, Kanban, and the RICE prioritization method to determine the most effective way to streamline project execution. Throughout this journey, you'll get hands-on experience selecting and implementing these methodologies in real-world product environments, allowing you to see how each approach can lead to more efficient outcomes.

You will also develop persuasive communication skills, leveraging consumer behavior insights to craft effective product messaging that resonates with your audience. You'll work on streamlining a technical product's development process and applying consumer behavior models to predict decisions and create effective pricing signals. By the end of this course, you'll have the ability to manage product development with confidence, driving both consumer engagement and business success.

You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course:

• Navigating Technical Product Management
• Developing a Data-Driven Product Strategy
• Optimizing Product Strategy Using Analytics
• Analyzing and Communicating Consumer Insights

In this course, you will discover how to create a value offering that resonates with your customers by leveraging key economic principles and pricing strategies. You'll start by exploring financial fundamentals like discounted cash flow and the time value of money then use these tools to construct solid business cases and determine optimal pricing. Through practical activities, you'll develop pricing strategies that evolve over a product's life cycle, applying these techniques to real-world scenarios to create a sustainable and compelling value offering.

As you progress, you will explore behavioral pricing techniques to ensure your product's value is effectively communicated and resonates with your target audience. You'll determine how to drive alignment and action across teams, preparing for a successful product launch. By the end of the course, you'll have the skills to set strategic pricing, understand market dynamics, and deliver a value offering that stands out in the competitive landscape.

You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course:

• Navigating Technical Product Management
• Developing a Data-Driven Product Strategy
• Optimizing Product Strategy Using Analytics
• Analyzing and Communicating Consumer Insights
• Applying Project Methodologies to Technical Products

Most women in a leadership role face a very common dilemma: If she's a strong, assertive leader, she's viewed as domineering and abrasive, encountering resistance as a result. If she isn't assertive enough, she's viewed as weak and a pushover, making it hard to get support within the organization. In this course, you will examine that very common double standard and identify strategies to deal with it.

All leaders, regardless of gender, face conflict and resistance and have to work with people who think, act, and communicate differently from themselves. In this course, Deborah Streeter, the Bruce F. Failing, Sr., Professor of Personal Enterprise at Cornell, will show you how to recognize when there's gender bias at play and when there isn't, and how to address any issues that arise.

Many women say they would rather go to the dentist than negotiate for themselves. Why? Women are taught early to create equity in relationships. When you negotiate with someone and you feel that you're taking something away from them, that feels like a violation of the social contract with which you were raised. There's little wonder, then, that negotiation feels deeply uncomfortable for many women.

Yet negotiating is a critical skill that everyone, especially women, has to practice and master in order to be an effective leader. In this course from Cornell Professor Deborah Streeter, you will practice key behaviors that help negotiations, including asking for what you want — something most women are not taught to do. The course emphasises the gender dimension of negotiation strategies and the critical skills on which women leaders in particular need to focus. This course will be most helpful for women leaders who are not already practiced and comfortable in negotiation settings, and those who find negotiating stressful, uncomfortable, and difficult. Negotiating is a routine part of daily life and leadership, and approaching it with confidence and skill signals that you know your worth.

Research shows that emotional intelligence is a critical predictor of performance as well as a very strong driver of leadership and personal excellence. Those with high emotional intelligence can typically read a room quickly, clue into subterfuge, and more easily show respect and empathy. While soft skills such as those may not sound impressive, they can be imperative for a woman in a leadership role. You can be a top performer without any emotional intelligence, but the numbers are against you.

In this course from Professor Deborah Streeter, women leaders can develop their emotional intelligence and learn how to use it to their advantage to manage their team to greater success.

Research shows that feedback is critical for leaders and that creating a culture of feedback is key to a team's success. The more successful a team is, the better an organization's bottom line. However, there is an art to giving and receiving feedback, and if not done properly, feedback can have a negative impact to morale. Conversely, teams who receive feedback in a positive, supportive way will strive to continue to do well.

There can be a gender dimension to giving and receiving feedback that is critical for women in leadership roles to understand, as men and women react differently. In this course, Professor Deborah Streeter will examine the gender dimensions of giving and receiving feedback and explore strategies for working as effectively as possible to lead a high-performing team.

Symposium sessions feature three days of live, highly interactive virtual Zoom sessions that will explore today’s most pressing topics. The Leadership Symposium offers you a unique opportunity to engage in real-time conversations with peers and experts from the Cornell community and beyond. Using the context of your own experiences, you will take part in reflections and small-group discussions to build on the skills and knowledge you have gained from your courses.

Join us for the next Symposium in which we’ll discuss the ways that leaders across industries have continued engaging their teams over the past two years while pivoting in strategic ways. You will support your coursework by applying your knowledge and experiences to relevant topics for leaders. Throughout this Symposium, you will examine different areas of leadership, including innovation, strategy, and engagement. By participating in relevant and engaging discussions, you will discover a variety of perspectives and build connections with your fellow participants from various industries.

All sessions are held on Zoom.

Future dates are subject to change. You may participate in as many sessions as you wish. Attending Symposium sessions is not required to successfully complete any certificate program. Once enrolled in your courses, you will receive information about upcoming events. Accessibility accommodations will be available upon request.