(featuring insights from 2025 Authentic Leader Award recipient, Jim Keyes)
Long before Jim Keyes led two Fortune 500 companies or launched a national movement around student success, he discovered something deeper than a career path: he discovered that learning itself is a form of freedom.
Growing up in a three-room home without heat or indoor plumbing, surrounded by circumstances that should have narrowed his future, Jim discovered a truth that changed his life: education was the one thing no one could take from him. Through books his father brought home, encouraging teachers, and an awakening to the power of curiosity, he began to see learning not as homework…but as a doorway.
As Jim puts it:
“Learning is a lifetime process of curiosity and discovery. Every new thing that we learn can open doors to new opportunity.”
This is more than a motivational quote. It’s a worldview — one that shaped every chapter of his life.
Education didn’t simply prepare him for a career; it prepared him for freedom…
- Freedom to think.
- Freedom to choose.
- Freedom to rise above circumstance.
- Freedom to serve others with wisdom and integrity.
Authentic leadership has always been anchored in this kind of freedom — the freedom that comes from growing in knowledge, character, and responsibility. It’s the pathway to seeing the world clearly and serving the world generously.
Jim’s journey reminds us that learning is not a phase of life — it’s a posture of the soul. Whether we are guiding students, leading teams, or navigating our own growth, learning gives us the tools to act with wisdom, humility, and purpose.
The truth? Education is the lifelong companion of anyone who seeks freedom — and the foundation of anyone who aspires to lead with character.
Editor’s Note
At the Authentic Leadership Foundation, we believe authentic leadership begins with the willingness to learn — not once, but continually. As we honor Jim Keyes at Bring Out the Greatness 2025, may his story remind us that freedom grows as wisdom grows, and the world changes when leaders commit themselves to lifelong learning.
