The Leadership Test of the past 6 months. Did you pass?

I happened to turn on the radio and heard a DJ say “in a year this will all seem like a little blip in our lives.” I could not disagree more. What we have all experienced in the last 6 months is pivotal, make-or-break and trajectory-changing. Nothing will ever be the same. And that’s a good thing. Often the biggest periods of growth and evolution are born of crises. This is a time of sea change, not subtle shifts.

As an Executive Coach, I’m deep in it with leaders who have had no choice but to adapt. It was one way, and then it simply was another way. There wasn’t a pandemic, and then there was. There wasn’t the murder of George Floyd, and then there was. Status quo ceased being an option. Courageous leadership became a mandate.

Early on in the pandemic, Patrick Lencioni, the author of The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, held a session for coaches focused on leadership in these unprecedented times. He said that how leaders show up in the next few months will paint the picture of how they will be remembered as a leader in 10 years. Leaders have either risen or fallen. Stasis hasn’t been an option.

Even before all havoc broke loose, Dr. Brené Brown, a researcher from the University of Texas and author of Dare to Lead, asked a broad range of leaders from Fortune 50 companies, NGOs, nonprofits and the…