Honors College’s Daniel Williams to highlight leadership lessons at Meijer Lecture

Williams said his lecture will reflect many of the same themes he and his students explore in HNR 350. The class provides space to "think about issues and challenges, holistically," he said.

"We all are making decisions and choices every day that are rooted in some belief system or some value system, and if we don't pause and pay attention to that, then we could really be missing how others are actually feeling," Williams said.

"One of the things we spent a lot of time talking about is how we define empathy and what people say about walking a mile in someone else's shoes."

Aside from the last five years leading the Steelcase Foundation, Williams also served as president and CEO of the West Michigan Center for Arts and Technology and was principal at Grand Rapids University Prepartory Academy. His work in the nonprofit and K-12 sectors earned him selection to the Crain's Grand Rapids 200 Most Influential Leader list and its 40 Under 40 Distinguished Alumni list.

It's that experience that's been an indispensable commodity for his students, who are on the verge of forging their own pathways in the world. Williams said he hopes his students emerge from the class with a critical and curious perspective toward their own actions and practices.

"Yes, we should be challenging what's happening and how we're existing in this space, but we need to do that with thoughtfulness and care," Williams said. "We need to do that with deep curiosity to be wanting to learn because there might just be something we don't know yet, and that's OK."