On March 16, Jim Kouzes held a webinar entitled “Enduring Truths of Leadership”. We were fortunate to again have Howard Morgan serve as facilitator and event moderator.
The topic of this webinar was leadership, and Jim spoke from his 25 years of research and experience in the field.
But first he started with a motto from Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a leader who knew some tough times: “Let unconquerable gladness dwell.”
Jim then discussed the importance of leadership in difficult times. Indeed, in a quick scan of historical crises and the leaders who emerged from those periods, the point was made that great challenges provide the opportunity for great leadership. What’s more, by overcoming difficulties we emerge stronger and better than before. Thus, we should be optimistic about the economic crisis we are in now. Leaders arise in times of adversity, challenge, change and difficulty.
From there, Jim went on to build our ideas about what constitutes leadership and where we can find it. The surveys he and colleague Barry Posner have conducted in their research closely tracked with the spot polls Jim did throughout the webinar. Continue reading » »
