Leadership Forged In Crisis – Ultimately, We’re Humans Providing Leadership

Leading a group of people through a crisis can be incredibly challenging, humbling, frustrating, tiring, disappointing, and the list can go on. It can also be remarkably rewarding as your efforts during your next organizational crisis may be what ultimately allows the enterprise to survive. Leadership, in general, is hard. Leadership during a crisis is immensely difficult. As we near the end of this module, it seems appropriate to consider a few inspiring stories of a collection of remarkable leaders, all of whom battled remarkable forces during their respective crisis, and all of whom delivered a legendary performance. They didn’t do so because they were natural born leaders – because they weren’t. Nor do they do so only because they were lucky and simply found themselves in the right place at the right time. They delivered exceptional leadership because they were able to find inspiration in their own humanity. They didn’t view themselves as flawless saviors, but rather, as fallible and even occasionally fragile human beings – just as you will be as a high stakes leader attempting to navigate the greatest challenge of your professional life. 

The short summary you are about to read was drawn from the book Forged in Crisis: The Power of Courageous Leadership in Turbulent Times by Harvard Business School historian Nancy Koehn. It is a wonderful book that describes, in great detail, the leadership challenges of five remarkable leaders: explorer Ernest Shackleton; US President Abraham Lincoln; abolitionist Frederick Douglass; Nazi-resisting clergyman Dietrich Bonhoeffer; and environmental crusader Rachel Carson. Their inspirational efforts provide lessons for the high stakes leader in all of us.

Enjoy the reading that you will find here. If you enjoy this summary, consider adding this book to your own leadership library.