In this first of our five courses, Dr. Karen Monsen introduces the nursing informatics leadership essentials and skills that will guide you through your studies as you apply leadership principles to the nursing informatics specialty. Course Objectives: \tDescribe essentials of nursing informatics leadership to gain a foundation for study in this specialization \tReflect on your personal nursing informatics leadership goals to establish your plan to advance your nursing informatics leadership journey \tComplete the Minnesota Nursing Informatics Leadership Inventory to increase self-knowledge regarding your leadership skills and how you prefer to use them \tJoin a nursing informatics organization or network to increase your nursing informatics collaboration and leadership opportunities