Every so often, humanity does something that reminds us who we are at our very best. The Artemis 2 lunar mission did just that. For NASA and the United States space program, the mission marked the first crewed flight to the moon since Apollo 17 in December 1972. For the rest of us, it was a masterclass in the potential of Creative leadership.
As a teenager, I remember watching those early Apollo space missions with my heart pounding—feeling the sheer audacity of it all. We were launching human beings into the sky and asking them to go farther than anyone had ever gone before. It stirred something in me: awe, possibility, and a deep belief in what human beings can accomplish when vision, courage, and collective genius come together.
And last week, watching Artemis 2 splash down in the Pacific, carrying a crew that had traveled farther from Earth than any humans in history, I experienced all of that wonder once again.
But it wasn’t just the technical accomplishment that moved me. In fact, even more than the feats that will be etched in history books, it was the smaller moments of realization and reflection—of humanity—shared by crew members throughout the 10-day journey that landed on my heart and took hold of my imagination.
From the quiet vastness of space, they showed us Earth as it truly is: one luminous, living home suspended in darkness. No borders. No divisions. As mission pilot Victor Glover observed, this is just one fragile, breathtaking planet carrying all of us—and we’re in this thing together.
At a time when displays of power, whether real, imagined, or desired, so often dominate our collective attention, this mission offers us a different kind of greatness to which we can aspire. Not dominance. Not control. But stewardship.
The scientists, engineers, dreamers, and astronauts behind Artemis 2 remind us what human greatness looks like when it is in service of something larger than self. Their work is a testament to collaboration, discipline, imagination, and a shared commitment to the future. To top it all off, they deliberately chose to do their work with joy.
To me, that is leadership.
At Leadership Circle, stewardship of the planet is not peripheral to our mission—it is central to it. And so, this Earth Month, we’re taking a closer look at how we’re fulfilling that commitment as an organization: how we care for the systems we’re part of, how our choices ripple outward around the world, and how we lead and collaborate with others who are called to do the same.
Creative leadership asks us to widen our field of view. To see beyond the immediate, to lead beyond the self, and to act on behalf of the whole.
When we do that, we begin to understand something essential: As mission specialist Christina Koch reminded us in her remarks the day after splash down, we are a crew. All of us share responsibility for the extraordinary vessel we call home.
My hope is that we let the wonder of missions like Artemis 2 inspire more than admiration. May it call us into deeper responsibility, deeper unity, and deeper care for this planet and for one another.
Bill Adams, Co-Founder and CEO
Bill Adams loves people and is passionate about relationships, leadership, and business. He is a serial entrepreneur who has started, owned, and sold multiple businesses. As a founder and the current CEO of Leadership Circle, Bill brings 30 years of experience to his clients—the CEOs of major Fortune 500 corporations, nonprofits, and private equity startups. In addition, Bill co-authored Mastering Leadership and Scaling Leadership. As a trusted advisor, teacher, consultant, and coach, he works with CEOs and top teams in fulfilling the promise of leadership.
