Episode 8: The Five Fundamentals of Leadership In Practice (#1)

I’m excited to kick off a brand-new series on Learning Leadership In Practice.After reflecting on the books I read in 2025 over the first seven episodes, we now turn to what I consider a foundational text for this podcast: Learning Leadership by James Kouzes and Barry Posner.Over the next five episodes, I’ll be walking through the Five Fundamentals of Becoming an Exemplary Leader, not just summarizing them, but exploring what they look like in practice.We begin with the first fundamental: Believe You Can Learn to Lead.Too often, our leadership growth is limited not by opportunity, but by belief. Kouzes and Posner argue that leadership is learnable and that the best leaders are the best learners. In this episode, I share a personal story of stepping into leadership over former peers, wrestling with imposter syndrome, and learning that leadership development is ultimately self-development.If leadership is learnable, then growth is always available.I’d love for you to listen, reflect, and consider:Where might limiting beliefs be holding back your leadership growth?Thanks for learning alongside of me. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit davidreyes.substack.com