The Weight of Leadership in an Era of Hostility

April is National Stress Awareness Month, a time dedicated to recognizing and addressing the impact of stress on our daily lives. This focus on awareness aligns with a recent experience I had just a few weeks ago.

I have been guiding conversations about leadership for decades. But nothing could have prepared me for what happened while I was co-facilitating a webinar.

My co-facilitator, a Latina with a Ph.D., and I, a Black woman with a Ph.D., were conducting a session on delivering constructive feedback—when suddenly, the session was hijacked. Someone hacked into the Zoom call and scrawled racist, derogatory comments across our slides—attacking our identities, our presence, and our very right to lead that conversation.

In that moment, we had a choice: Allow hate to derail us, or press forward. We chose to press forward, modeling the very principles of constructive engagement we were there to teach. But when the session ended and a colleague called to check in, I broke down in tears.

Take a moment and ask yourself—what would you have done? In the face of hostility, would you have pressed forward? Would your team have been ready to press forward with you? Because moments like this are no longer rare. They are part of the landscape we must navigate as leaders.

We are living in a time of emboldened hostility—a boldness I have never before experienced so directly. Yet, when I think about my parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents, I recognize that the opportunities I have today—the education, the expertise, the platform—are privileges built on their sacrifices. And while it is a small price to pay in comparison, it is still a price that no one should have to pay in 2025.

So, where do we go from here?

The reality is, this moment demands more from leaders than ever before. Avoiding difficult conversations isn’t leadership. Preparing for them is.

Next, we’ll explore a leadership framework that equips executives to navigate complexity, embrace diverse perspectives, and create psychologically safe workplaces. Because if leadership today is about anything, it’s about how we engage in the conversations that define our culture.

Stay tuned.