Crucible Events and Their Impact on Leadership
Antonio Oliva
Management 430
Professor M. Nunnelly
October 23, 2012
Crucible Events 2
Crucible Events and Their Impact on Leadership “Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure... than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.” Theodore Roosevelt The timid soul who has never ventured out for fear of defeat or the individual who has by all accounts, has the right stuff to be a natural leader and knows the feeling of victory will he or she always perform in this natural manner? Or can a crucible event change all that? Why can a crucible experience influence leadership style, beliefs, philosophy, or behavior? To explain this probably best to first define a crucible experience. According to the article Crucibles of Leadership, Warren Bennis and Robert Thomas define a crucible as:
A trial or a test, a point of deep self – reflection that forced a person to question who they were and what mattered to them. It required them to examine their values, question their assumptions, and hone their judgment. In variably, they emerged from the crucible stronger and surer of themselves and their purpose – changed in some fundamental way. Warren Bennie is one of today’s foremost authorities on leadership he is the Founding Chairman of the Leadership Institute at the University Of Southern California and author of 27 books and more than 2,000 articles on leadership. In his book, On Leadership, Dr. Bennie states that, after many years of observing and interviewing leaders, they differ from other people in very distinct and identifiable ways. First of all, they have a constant appetite
References: Anonymous. (2012, October 13). United states marine corps recruit training. Wikipedia. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Marine_Crucible#The_Crucible Bennis, W. G., & Thomas, R. J. (2002, September 1). Crucibles of Leadership. Harvard Business Review, Retrieved from http://hbr.org/2002/09/crucibles-of-leadership/ar/6 Carrison, D., & Walsh, R. (1999). Semper fi business leadership the marine corps way. New York, NY: AMACOM. Garamone, J. (2003, October 17). "The crucible". Armed Forces Press Service, United States Department of Defense. Retrieved from http://wwwdefense.gov/specials/basic Thomas, R. J. (2008). Crucibles of Leadership: How to learn from experience to become a great leader. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Press.