By Profiles in Leadership Journal

In our work with leadership, we focus on the areas that have the greatest impact.

Each quarter, that focus shapes the awards we choose to recognize. For 1Q 2026, we are honoring four expressions of leadership that quietly shape organizations, often long before outcomes are fully visible or formally acknowledged.

Human Resources Leadership Award

Human Resources leadership is often described in functional terms. Policies. Processes. Compliance. Necessary work, all of it. But that description rarely captures the human weight of the role. HR leaders often carry the most difficult conversations in an organization, conversations that involve disappointment, conflict, and uncertainty. Those moments do not end when the meeting ends.

At its best, HR leadership is less about control and more about judgment, knowing when to enforce a standard, when to listen longer, and when context matters as much as consistency. Much of this work remains invisible when it is done well. Problems do not escalate. Trust holds. People leave difficult moments with their dignity intact. Leadership of this kind shapes culture more than most policies ever will, which is precisely why it deserves recognition.

Latino/Hispanic Leadership Award

Latino and Hispanic leadership is sometimes understood too narrowly, often defined by visibility rather than contribution. Yet much of this leadership shows up through responsibility steadily assumed and carried over time. It is leadership expressed through reliability, steady presence, and a willingness to hold things together when pressure builds.

No group leads in a single way. Still, there is a recurring pattern worth noticing. Leadership that builds trust quietly. Leadership that places duty ahead of recognition. When this contribution goes unseen, organizations miss an opportunity to learn from it and to elevate what already works. This award exists to bring that leadership into clearer view and to honor its sustained impact.

Mentoring Leadership Award

Mentoring is often treated as a formal role, something assigned or structured. In practice, it is far more personal than that. Mentoring happens when someone creates space for another person to think, to ask questions, and to grow without being rushed or reshaped.

Mentoring also carries a responsibility that is easy to underestimate. Words offered casually can linger longer than intended. Encouragement can open doors. Careless advice can quietly close them. The best mentors understand this and lead with restraint. They guide without overtaking. They invest without needing credit. This award recognizes leadership that strengthens others in ways that continue long after the moment has passed.

Emerging Leadership Award

Emerging leadership exists before certainty arrives, before experience has had time to develop, and before authority is fully formed. That makes it easy to overlook, even though its long-term influence is often decisive. Emerging leaders often reveal themselves not through titles, but through effort, curiosity, and a willingness to take responsibility without being asked.

This stage of leadership is fragile. A well-timed word of encouragement can accelerate growth. A careless dismissal can slow it for years. Recognizing leadership at this stage signals that potential and effort matter, even before everything is fully formed. Every experienced leader was once emerging, and someone took the time to notice.

Taken together, these four awards reflect a single view of leadership. Leadership that is practiced rather than performed. Leadership that builds confidence, steadies teams, and creates room for others to grow.

Recognition, when done thoughtfully, does more than celebrate outcomes. It signals what an organization values and what it chooses to encourage going forward. This quarter, we are signaling that leadership shows up in many forms, often quietly, and always through people.

That feels like leadership worth recognizing.