Next Generation Leadership

Why community is a leadership essential, especially in uncertain times.

Now is not the time to lead alone.

It’s a question I’ve been carrying lately. Whispering to myself in quiet moments, wrestling with it when the world feels particularly harsh.

There are days when I can feel them. Not in a ghostly way, but in my bones. The people who came before me.

We are living in a time when despair can feel like the most honest response. The headlines are relentless. The losses, personal and global, compound. For many of us, especially those whose work is rooted in justice, equity, and community, there is a heaviness that sits just beneath the surface—persistent, exhausting, and familiar.

I am writing this within hours of returning from the ceremony, remembering and praying for the lives of the two boys and their families. My son's classmates. They were two of five teenagers in the car, involved in a tragic accident. The living will never unsee, never forget how they felt in those moments.

It’s hard to find anyone who isn’t feeling overwhelmed by the state of the world right now. Political division is running deep. Civil unrest continues to flare. Institutions we once trusted are under scrutiny. Employees are burned out. And leaders—especially those with a deep sense of responsibility—are exhausted, disillusioned, and wondering whether they’re up to the task of leading in such a...

Too many managers wait until something breaks to start growing.

My father’s family is from a little town in Arkansas called Marianna, about 30 minutes from Memphis. It’s so small. The roads are intermittently paved. The church has no signage, no decadence, holds about 30 people. There are no easily identifiable street names. To visit family I know to look for Clifford’s place (that’s my cousin’s house frame that he intends to build a proper juke joint on),...

Whenever there is social unrest—mass protests, political turmoil, threats to civil rights—we tend to draw a clear line between “what’s happening out there” and what happens within the four walls of our organizations. But that line is imaginary. Our employees don’t leave their values, lived experiences, or fears at the door. And in times of crisis, those emotions become stronger and louder than...