An Italian city has the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Its architectural tilt is unintentional. My bedside table has the Leaning Tower of
Books. Its appears-to-be-happenstance
tilt is intentional. On any given day, I
have a minimum of 25 on-deck books to read.
Of all
2017’s reading, I rank Nancy Koehn’s Forged
in Crisis number one. Why did the
Harvard Business School historian trump the likes of John Grisham, master of
the page-turners? While I enjoy novels,
Professor Koehn reached back more than 150 years to pull into modern times the
examples of four men and a woman who demonstrated history-shaping leadership.
As I
read each story, I said aloud, “Amen!” I put on my early-2018 to-do list to buy
a case of Forged in Crisis and
distribute all of the copies. The book’s
subtitle is “The Power of Courageous Leadership in Turbulent Times.” If ever we needed inspiration, now is the
turbulent time. Our current environmental
crisis begs for courageous leadership.
Contrary to what some may think, Koehn stresses leaders aren’t
born. Leaders are made. They emerge, just as David stepped forward to
challenge Goliath in biblical times.
Read
what Koehn wrote about Abraham Lincoln’s failed effort to stop the Civil War
with his original emancipation proposal:
“Lincoln
was greatly disappointed. As he
considered this failure, he learned a critical lesson: he had no silver bullets
to save the Union. This was difficult to
accept. But he was beginning to
understand that the complexity of conflict and the magnitude of its stakes made
a single, clear-cut way to end it virtually impossible.
“This is insight for today’s leaders. We are under pressure to move fast, leap tall
buildings in a single bound, and make a big impact. But the reality of trying to accomplish
something real and good gives lie to the seductive notion that there is one
simple solution.”
Read more of this dilemma in the
chapter entitled “Emerging Vision.”
Do
those words sound relevant, as we consider our temporary negotiating stalemate
with Republic Services Inc.’s plan to build mountains of toxic coal ash in its
Broadhurst landfill? Two years ago, many
sighed, “There’s nothing we can do.”
Twenty-four months later, it is clear: “Yes, there is something we can do.” And that “something” is to maintain the willpower
to never give up and keep negotiating with Republic. It is in the community’s and the corporate giant’s best interest to reach an amicable
accord.
Want
more inspiration?
Go with Koehn back to 1915 and
British explorer Ernest Shackleton’s crisis in his quest to discover the South
Pole. As his crew watched their ship, Endurance, get trapped in ice and
eventually be swallowed, Shackleton did not despair. He forged ahead with one goal: “Lead all 27
of his men to safety.” Read the
bone-chilling account and marvel.
As our 16th president battled to
reunite the Union, Frederick Douglass, an escaped and later freed slave,
leveraged his courage and voice to end an ugly chapter in America’s history—human
bondage. With a bounty on his head,
Douglass—against all odds—became a leader, one our nation sorely needed.
In the 20th century,
Dietrich Bonhoeffer used his backbone and words to stand up against Germany’s
Third Reich. Earlier in Adolf Hitler’s
rise to power, the youthful minister detected Nazi evil on the horizon. The Führer eventually tossed the made leader into prison. Ironically, two weeks before Hitler took his
own life, the Führer had Bonhoeffer hanged. Nonetheless, he made the ultimate sacrifice
for what was right.
Koehn’s final example strikes closest
to home. Scientist Rachel Carson rose
above her shyness to open the world’s eyes to the dangers of irresponsible use
of chemicals—specifically DDT. Her fearless
efforts, along with her book, Silent
Spring, forged Carson into a leader.
Quietly battling her own crisis, terminal cancer, the nature-loving introvert
didn’t die before becoming the mother of the modern environmental movement.
Is there hope in today’s
environmental crisis in Wayne County?
Absolutely.
Read Forged in Crisis.
dnesmith@cninewspapers.com
