Debbie Laskey's Blog: SPRING LEADERSHIP SERIES 2025

Friday, May 16, 2025

SPRING LEADERSHIP SERIES 2025 – Featuring James Strock

Last year, I launched a Spring Leadership Series to think about leadership in nontraditional ways. As 2024 continued, I presented additional ways to think about leadership during my Olympics Leadership Series and Holiday Leadership Series. With a new year upon us, I've invited 25 thought leaders to share their responses to five questions relating to team-building, reading, and leadership. My #SpringLeadershipSeries2025 began the first day of Spring and continues through June 20th, the first day of Summer.

Before we begin, I'd like to applaud two special individuals for providing the inspiration for this series. First, big applause goes to Erika Andersen, a leadership expert and author who I've had the pleasure of knowing for nearly 15 years, and she's appeared on my blog 13 times since 2011. She wrote an article for Forbes entitled, "How Springtime Can Make Us Better Leaders," and that article serves as the core of the series as its first question. Second, I also applaud Joseph Lalonde, a leadership expert and author of a book called REEL LEADERSHIP, for planting the seeds for last year's Spring Leadership Series on my blog. After I read Joe's book, I started looking at movies as well as works of fiction, TV shows, and TV characters with "leadership-tinted glasses."

For today's post, I'd like to introduce James Strock, an independent writer, speaker, reformer, and entrepreneur, based in Southern California. He's the author of several books about leadership, politics, Ronald Reagan, and Theodore Roosevelt - and I've had the honor of learning from him since we first met back in 2011.

QUESTION: Leadership expert and author Erika Andersen wrote an article for Forbes entitled, "How Springtime Can Make Us Better Leaders." In the article, Erika compared gardening to management and leadership. What are your thoughts, or was there something that stood out from the article?

JAMES STROCK: Erika Anderson's piece touches enduring truths. Leadership is grounded in relationships. Relationships are living things, existing in evolving ecosystems. Being mindful of the constant change, of seasonality, of the back and forth of negotiating unexpected circumstances, these are all analogous to gardening.

QUESTION: What was the most recent example of inspiring leadership that made an impact on you?

JAMES STROCK: J.K. Rowling (author of the Harry Potter series) has exhibited inspiring leadership, assuming a public role in a contentious debate concerning transexuals in traditionally biologically female spaces, including sports teams. This is a highly contentious, evolving issue at the intersection of science, culture, and politics. Rowling well recognized that her wading into this would inevitably put her business and perhaps her personal safety at risk. She persevered and her example has emboldened others. She has modelled effective, determined, relentless civility. Whether one agrees with her views or not, one must admire her courage.

QUESTION: What is your favorite team-building activity, and why?

JAMES STROCK: Almost any group activity can be a team-building activity. I like outdoor activities involving physical activity in verdant surroundings, outside of customary settings and disconnected from phone, email, etc. For distributed teams, simply meeting in-person, including highly directed business meetings as well as social time, can be of great value.

SHARE THIS: Almost any group activity can be a team-building activity. ~@jamesstrock #SpringLeadershipSeries2025 #DebbieLaskeysBlog

QUESTION: Which book is on the top of your to-be-read pile, and why?

JAMES STROCK: I am looking forward to reading On Grand Strategy by John Lewis Gaddis. Though focused on historical examples, with an emphasis on statecraft and warfare, it's widely respected for having lessons for work and life generally.

QUESTION: In the past year, has a TV show, film, or work of fiction stood out as a result of its emphasis on leadership?

JAMES STROCK: The film, A Complete Unknown, isn't explicitly about leadership. It's about the evolution of Bob Dylan, amid the artistic, cultural, and political changes of the 1960's. Dylan makes decisive personal and professional decisions that alter his career trajectory, and ultimately, become foundational to a career of notable significance. Through his art, Dylan crafts a leadership role that continues to develop decades later and will likely remain as a living legacy.

My gratitude to Jim for sharing his leadership insights and for being a part of my #SpringLeadershipSeries2025. Did these questions open your eyes to think about leadership in nontraditional ways? That was the hope!

Image Credit: Dr. Nicola Davies.

Read Erika Andersen's article, "How Springtime Can Make Us Better Leaders"

https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikaandersen/2015/05/14/how-springtime-can-make-us-better-leaders/

Read Jim's previous appearances here on my blog:

HOLIDAY LEADERSHIP SERIES – Featuring James Strock (November 2024)

https://www.debbielaskeysblog.com/2024/11/holiday-leadership-series-featuring_0843516022.html

OLYMPICS LEADERSHIP SERIES – Featuring James Strock (July 2024)

https://www.debbielaskeysblog.com/2024/07/olympics-leadership-series-featuring_0590013298.html

SPRING LEADERSHIP SERIES – Featuring James Strock (April 2024)

https://www.debbielaskeysblog.com/2024/04/spring-leadership-series-featuring_0620073012.html

FALL BACK TO READING SERIES – Featuring James Strock (October 2023)

https://www.debbielaskeysblog.com/2023/10/fall-back-to-reading-series-featuring_0711042239.html