Many find themselves frustrated in their careers by lack of preparation for dealing with predictable dilemmas that regularly arise in the world of work. Two in five professionals fired in their jobs after college are terminated for lying, or misuse of technology. Easy to avoid! Or is it? What if you find you have to compromise your values to keep your job? What if they ask you to lie or cheat, even though you know if you are found out you will be fired? What if you find out the company is breaking the law?
Successful people know about and have the skills taught in this specialization. You should, too.
Those who wish to make a difference, build positive reputations, become leaders, and advance in their careers must cultivate professional success skills, along with their specific job skills. The central themes of this course – knowing yourself and your values, recognizing and meeting ethical challenges, using an analytical decision-making framework, identifying potential pitfalls, and developing tools to use in the moment – are essential soft skills for succeeding at work. In short, an ethical framework is necessary, and not just nice; smart ethics, as we define them, are integral to success.
Status: Professional Development
Professional Development
Status: Decision Making
Decision Making
Beginner·Course·28 hours
Featured reviews
5.0
·Reviewed Sep 22, 2021
The course is insightful, provoking, enriching and educative. i also appreciated the course facilitators and wish to to be thankful to Professor C.K. Gunsalus and team for job well done.
5.0
·Reviewed Jan 22, 2021
Excellent course, with many practical hints that I could apply at work to improve my performance and get recognition. Strongly recommended.
5.0
·Reviewed Jul 28, 2016
This was a great course, lots of information on analyzing problems at work and coming up with the best solutio
5.0
·Reviewed Feb 23, 2018
My Alma Mater! Life-saving course for a rookie professional like me. Thoughtfully designed and presented. Thanks!
5.0
·Reviewed Aug 15, 2026
Excellent guidance on practical issues at the workplace. It gave me great insight and makes it easier for me to think in difficult situations
All reviews
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C
Constantinos
5.0
·Reviewed Jun 14, 2022
I don't like the peer review assignments. Students don't really have the experience to grade. Peer reviewed assignments make student depended on the whims of other students for the completion of a course. Besides there are technical difficulties. Often you submit your assignment only to find out weeks later that your peers cannot see it. Then you have to do gymnastics such as copying and pasting your assignment link to the discussion forum just in hopes that someone will grade your assignment.
N
Neringa
5.0
·Reviewed Oct 18, 2018
Excellent course: made me realise that every professional discipline/employer have their own strengths and weaknesses. Hence, for improved overall wellbeing exchange of values is recommended: employer's weaknesses must match employee's strengths and employee's weaknesses must match employer's strengths so that both parties can grow together.
B
Bernard
5.0
·Reviewed Jun 27, 2020
This course is not really famous but deserves to be. It is an excellent course and a great start for this specialization that is truly useful. It starts slow and get better and better. The following courses are also getting better and better. I really recommend this course if wou want to improve your ethic at work and your decision-making
H
Heena
5.0
·Reviewed Jan 5, 2020
Wonderfully written smartly picked 2 MC, easy to understand and follow. After taking this course I find myself a new person in me who is ready to tackle any situation in professional life with the decision-making framework and personal script in mind.
K
Kelvin
5.0
·Reviewed Dec 6, 2016
This is a course that could solve every day issues we face in our careers. It shines lights on all darkness that could befall you in your career and offers real time working solutions using seasoned experts experience and knowledge.
T
Tryntsje
5.0
·Reviewed Aug 7, 2016
Unexpected to have such an engaging online course! I learned a lot and feel that I could evaluate my current position and think about my future perspectives. It was great. Currently following the sequel.
N
Ndudi
5.0
·Reviewed Sep 23, 2021
The course is insightful, provoking, enriching and educative. i also appreciated the course facilitators and wish to to be thankful to Professor C.K. Gunsalus and team for job well done.
J
Julien
5.0
·Reviewed Aug 12, 2016
I highly recommend this course, with a lot of advises from real life, very clear communication style and with a real good sense of humor. There is no time for being bored.
Excellent !
A
Abdur-Rehman
5.0
·Reviewed Aug 16, 2026
Excellent guidance on practical issues at the workplace. It gave me great insight and makes it easier for me to think in difficult situations
S
Simone
5.0
·Reviewed Jan 23, 2021
Excellent course, with many practical hints that I could apply at work to improve my performance and get recognition. Strongly recommended.
P
Pedro
5.0
·Reviewed Jan 3, 2017
Muito interessante para quem está tentando se encontrar no seu emprego, fornece ferramentas e perspectivas muito úteis.
Y
yanqi
5.0
·Reviewed Feb 23, 2018
My Alma Mater! Life-saving course for a rookie professional like me. Thoughtfully designed and presented. Thanks!
S
Stuart
5.0
·Reviewed Jul 29, 2016
This was a great course, lots of information on analyzing problems at work and coming up with the best solutio
C
Carey
5.0
·Reviewed Aug 24, 2018
I really good course, clearly presented, and something I wish I had taken at the beginning of my career.
Y
Yohanes
5.0
·Reviewed Apr 11, 2025
Sangat bagus, karena bisa lebih memahami terkait dasar identitas profesional
S
sana
5.0
·Reviewed May 26, 2025
- It's really a wonderful and valuable course, I learned a lot.
L
Lisa
5.0
·Reviewed Jun 1, 2017
Great course. I learned a lot.
R
Rebecca
5.0
·Reviewed Dec 23, 2016
very enlightening
H
Hermione
4.0
·Reviewed Aug 22, 2016
I would definitely recommend this course to anyone at all in the professional world. It is thought-provoking, varied, insightful and full of real-life examples. There was a decent amount of content to get through each week but this was broken up into manageable chunks. Interviews with a range of mature professionals were utilised, offering a range of perspectives and professional experiences. The use of peer group assessment was also very positive - firstly it meant that you actually had to complete the assignments set, unlike other courses on coursera, and it also gave you a sense of being part of a learning community, as well as gaining perspectives from other participants on the course.
G
Gabriel
4.0
·Reviewed Jun 9, 2016
Without question the content is great, but the written assignment instructions were somewhat vague and did not match the peer review rubric at times (although the mentor did pin a few posts to address the problem).