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��������app’s eighth annual Lead Where You Stand conference featured a trove of inspirational speakers who challenged the crowd and offered practical experience and guidance for living June 1-3 at the college’s Global Leadership Center.

Robert Putnam and Shalyn Romney Garrett, authors of “The Upswing: How America Came Together a Century Ago and How We Can Do It Again,” explained how the nation has reached historic levels of political polarization, economic inequality, social isolation and cultural self-centeredness. Their talk included graphs of multiple barometers that reflect how eerily our state of polarization resembles 1860-65, just before and during the Civil War.

“The trend of increasing polarization has been going on for 50-60 years,” Putnam said. “America is also extremely unequal economically, and the gap between educated and uneducated is growing. Never in American history has the distribution of income, the gap between rich and poor, been as great as now. And America is more socially isolated, and Americans are lonelier than we have ever been.”

Romney Garrett noted that our situation most closely resembles the Gilded Age (1870 to 1900), followed by the Progressive Movement, a social, political and cultural movement that sought to recapture America’s promise. “This bipartisan movement included immigrants and capitalists, labor activists and women, housewives and career politicians, Black Americans and white Americans, and almost everyone in between,” she said. “We need a shared morality of believing that we are all in this together and that we owe something to one another and to members of the same society. We have to look to our young people to be innovative and find the solutions to our problems.”

Dr. Charity Dean, former Santa Barbara County public health officer and assistant director of the California Department of Public Health, overcame an impoverished upbringing to become a central figure in America’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The main subject in Michael Lewis’ book “The Premonition,” Dean explained her concerns about U.S. public health. “We’re a bunch of rebel fighters who stood up for what we believe in,” she said. “That rebel streak is in the DNA of our democracy. Here’s the challenge: How do we harness that in the right direction? During COVID, I saw the rebellious streak of American citizens going in the wrong direction. But I also saw the human nature of what I’d dealt with as a local and state health officer: Most people want to do the right thing. Most people will take care of each other if they know what to do, and in those moments, they need to be led.”

CEO and co-founder of the Public Health Company, Dean noted, “We now face threats that are trifectas or superfectas of disease, infrastructure, politics, climate change and human behavior. They’ve sped up and increased in intensity, and we need a new kind of capability to meet this new kind of threat.”

 ��������app President Gayle D. Beebe shared critical leadership principles often gained through extreme and challenging experiences. “The crucibles that shape us include crises that refine our character and call forth our best effort,” he said. “They test our capacity to adapt and change and invite us to find new solutions to vexing problems to reach a successful and enduring outcome.” He is completing a new book, “Crucibles that Shape Us: Meditations on Life, Leadership and Human Longing.”

David Brooks, New York Times columnist and author, spoke about building bonds of trust in a fragile and polarized world and reestablishing the country’s moral culture.

He emphasized the need to see others deeply so they feel seen, heard and understood. “Listen to people with intensity,” he said, pointing out that few of us can accurately guess what others are thinking.

Brooks identified an epidemic of blindness that hinders conversations between Black and white, rural residents and elites, people holding opposing political views, and even husbands and wives. “It’s a crisis of dignity and respect,” he says. “The concrete act of seeing each other is so important. Each person we meet is a soul, made in the image of God, and we should approach them with deep respect, reverence and curiosity.”

We need to improve the quality of our attention as well as our social skills and knowledge of humanity, Brooks said. Quality conversations lead to deeper human connections. Asking good questions allows us to look at people with the right attention. “Be curious about people,” he said. “To rebuild trust, we need to be surrounded by trustworthy relationships.”

According to Brooks, the founding fathers thought we needed to improve the virtue of citizens. Old school texts taught morals and character development. But schools no longer seek to form good people, focusing instead on getting into college and getting a job. “Lots of organizations got out of the character business and into the get-in-touch-with-yourself business,” Brooks said. “You became the ultimate source of moral authority.”

Creating good people used to be a humanistic ideal. Now it’s becoming a specialist in something. Moral development helped people focus on their purpose and do difficult things. What mattered was your character, not what you did. Without a moral structure, we’re adrift, lacking values to guide us. Morals educate our emotions and mold our feelings and instincts. “Moral communities like ��������app transform people,” Brooks said.

Marcus “Goodie” Goodloe, senior fellow for ethics and justice at Dallas Baptist University’s Institute for Global Engagement, wrote the book “King Maker: Applying Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Leadership Lessons in Working with Athletes and Entertainers” as well as “Habits: Six Steps to the Art of Influence.” He shared King’s qualities as a leader.

“King said leadership is less about being comfortable and more about being a conscience,” Goodloe said. “Leadership is moving people from here to there, and King provided an ethical framework for this transformation”

King wanted to move the needle with curiosity, finding power in working together for good. “If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together,” Goodloe quoted. “The time is always right to do right. Conscience thunders; it’s not a still, small voice.” King always chose community over chaos.

Goodloe encouraged participants to read King’s letters from jail, form relationships with people who are different, assume the best of others until they prove you wrong, treat the needs of others as sacred and holy, and do what you can.

Erin Meyer, author of “The Culture Map: Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business,” teaches at INSEAD, an international business school based in Paris. She analyzes how national cultural differences affect business and speaks about cross-cultural management and global teamwork. “Know your authentic style and know the culture of the people you’re working with,” she said. “Develop international muscle while knowing your own style well. Learn to decide the best moment for using your own style and when to adapt.”