Leadership Lessons from West Point

Chapter 9. LEADING AS IF YOUR LIFE DEPENDED ON IT

Thomas A. Kolditz

In situations where followers perceive their lives are threatened, leadership literally defines the promise of future life, and those at risk desperately seek capable leaders. Such high-risk situations are ideal settings to seek and find great leaders and to assess how they might be different from those who lead in more mundane contexts.

Colleagues and I have been studying authentic leadership under circumstances where the injury or death of followers must be actively avoided. We have found that men and women who lead other people in places and through situations that most of us would find intimidating, if not outright horrifying, will often behave in ways that may provide insights ...