The Courage to Lead:
Navigating What’s Hard with Integrity
In today’s complex and rapidly evolving workplace, HR professionals are increasingly called upon to demonstrate courage in situations that carry both personal and organizational risk. Whether advising senior leadership, advocating for employees, or establishing ethical boundaries around emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, HR practitioners must navigate competing pressures while maintaining integrity and trust. Despite these demands, courage is rarely framed as a professional capability that can be intentionally developed and applied in practice.
This interactive session positions courage as a critical, learnable leadership competency grounded in self-mastery, ethical decision-making, and strategic influence. Participants will explore four distinct “faces of courage” relevant to HR practice—ethical, relational, strategic, and authentic—and examine how these manifest in real organizational scenarios, including high-stakes conversations, conflict navigation, and values-based decision-making.
Drawing on interdisciplinary research, including neuroscience and organizational justice studies, the session connects courageous leadership behaviors to measurable HR outcomes such as employee engagement, retention, risk mitigation, and ethical culture. Participants will apply this learning through guided self-assessment, case-based discussion, and peer accountability exercises designed to translate insight into action.
This program supports HR professionals in applying leadership, communication, ethics, and relationship management competencies aligned with HRCI’s HR Body of Knowledge and SHRM's BASK. Ideal for HR professionals, managers, executives, and organizational leaders seeking practical tools for leading through disruption, stress, and transition.
Objectives:
1. Articulate the business case for courageous leadership using current research on organizational trust, engagement, and the cost of avoidance — and connect it to measurable HR outcomes including retention, claims utilization, and ethical culture.
2. Apply a six-step grounding protocol to regulate their internal state before a high-stakes conversation or decision, using emotional awareness and intention-setting techniques drawn from self-mastery and contemplative practice.
3. Identify their default and avoided "face of courage" (ethical, relational, strategic, or authentic) using a self-assessment tool, and recognize the patterns that drive their professional avoidance behaviors.
4. Commit to one specific courageous action they will take within seven days, articulated to an accountability partner using a Both/And framework that holds compassion and integrity simultaneously.
Date: July 16, 2026
Location: LIVE at BPEC - pre-registration required)
The Birch room opens and networking begins at 11:30 AM – Share announcements, opportunities, and insights with fellow professionals. Sign in, select your lunch, sit with people you have not met, and learn about one another.
Program begins at 11:45 AM – ASHRM updates and information.
Speaker presentation at 11:50 AM – Guest speaker will deliver a one-hour session, followed by closing remarks from the ASHRM President.
About the Speaker
Cara Fox, CPTD, SPHR
https://www.linkedin.com/in/carafoxakwell/
https://zenfoxsolutions.com/
Cara Fox is a leadership development consultant, facilitator, and keynote speaker with more than 25 years of experience helping leaders and organizations meet the evolving demands of modern work. As Founder and Principal Consultant of ZenFox Solutions, she partners with clients across sectors including transportation, healthcare, nonprofit, and government. Cara has also supported global leadership development initiatives, including subcontracted facilitation for a multinational beverage company’s emerging leader program spanning four continents. Her work integrates executive coaching, professional facilitation, performance consulting, fractional HR leadership, and conference keynotes grounded in practical, evidence-based approaches to human-centered leadership.
Cara is the creator of The Zen Leader Program, a framework that blends mindfulness-based practices with actionable leadership skills across inner development, relational effectiveness, and guiding principles. She has also collaborated with SimsolaAI to pioneer AI-powered leadership simulations, advancing new approaches that bridge reflective leadership with emerging technology. In 2026, she was a featured speaker at the Alaska State HR Conference, where she delivered two highly regarded sessions on human connection and attention in the digital age, and she continues to speak at local and regional events.
“Mindfulness is leadership's energy source. .”
--Cara Fox
Continuing education credit approved: 1 PDC
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Serving Southcentral Alaska since 1974
