Unlocking GenAI Opportunities with AWS

Prepare Leaders to Accelerate Growth with GenAI

Organizations expect generative AI to revolutionize roles, enhance performance, and unlock trillions of dollars across sectors. However, a recent Udemy survey shows that 88% of employees and leaders are worried about their business leaders’ readiness to drive GenAI transformation and innovation. This highlights a need for a greater understanding of AI’s potential and improved change management skills.

Developed by the Udemy Business Leadership Academy in collaboration with AWS, this six-week cohort learning program is designed for VP and Director-level learners. It builds leaders’ confidence in driving GenAI innovation through hands-on, social learning.

This program is specifically designed to develop leadership teams of 25 or more learners, ensuring a comprehensive group learning experience that fosters collaboration and peer support.

To navigate GenAI transformation, organizations must develop leaders in three critical areas:

1. GenAI Technology: Organizations need tech-savvy leaders proficient in GenAI tools who can drive innovation and productivity. This program provides access to PartyRock, an Amazon Bedrock playground, where participants engage in practical exercises in GenAI prompt engineering and capability exploration. Through these hands-on activities, leaders gain a deep understanding of GenAI’s evolution, use cases, and methods to scale usage. Equipped with this knowledge, they can reimagine businesses, boost productivity, redefine customer experiences, and create new business models.
2. Change Management: Leaders use change management skills to foster innovation and create a thriving organizational climate. Participants learn innovation concepts, engage in an innovation tournament, and generate actionable proposals for efficiency and performance improvements through GenAI projects.
3. Communication and Collaboration: Effective communication and collaboration are the key to inspirational leadership, building trust and confidence while enhancing decision-making and driving innovation. The program guides leaders in developing communication strategies to articulate visions, provide clear directions, and foster open dialogues. Participants learn to communicate the need for change, develop a compelling vision for the future, and inspire organizational transformation.

Almost 90% of employees say their leaders will be critical to GenAI initiatives’ success. This program aims to equip leaders with the skills and confidence to lead successful GenAI transformation and accelerate organizational growth.

WEEK 1:

Learn about GenAI

• Explore how to improve productivity and innovation
• Discuss ethical and responsible use
• Develop skills with hands-on practice
• Understand GenAI prompt engineering in PartyRock, an Amazon Bedrock playground
• Collaborate in small groups to transform a fictitious company using GenAI tools

WEEK 2:

Application Week – Search for GenAI Innovation Opportunities

• Collaborate within breakout teams to use GenAI to execute common tasks such as designing a new product or building a new marketing campaign
• Present results of exercises to the larger cohort

WEEK 3:

Identifying Opportunities for Innovation

• Discover how the quantity, quality, and variety of ideas factor into building a strong innovation pipeline
• Learn to search for innovation opportunities inside and outside the organization
• Explore techniques for generating ideas and ways to take advantage of others’ innovations 
• Identify and submit innovation opportunities into the cohort-based innovation tournament

WEEK 4:

Application Week – Evaluate Pipeline of Innovation Opportunities

• Evaluate a selection of ideas in the Innovation Tournament to help filter out the top ideas 
• Review winning ideas and ideas you proposed to choose one you want to implement
• Dive into the “why” of your new idea and begin to describe the benefits that make the idea worth implementing

WEEK 5:

Communicating to Inspire Change

• Learn why the failure rate of change persists at above 70% and how to beat the odds
• Create a vision of the future that is compelling for you and your audience 
• Use authentic leadership communication to motivate, inspire, and guide teams to big, bold, breakthrough change

WEEK 6:

Application week – Communicate GenAI Innovations

• Follow the Leading Out Loud checklist to develop effective change messages
• Use AWS Partyrock to help you create a communication plan for presenting your GenAI innovation opportunity to stakeholders
• Videotape a 1-minute pitch of your GenAI innovation opportunity message to share with peers for feedback