Nancy Koehn was on track for an administrative leadership role
at Harvard Business School, where she taught the history of
leadership to the world’s best and brightest. But a series of
personal crucibles — the death of her father, a divorce that came
without warning and decimated her finances, a cancer diagnosis —
caused the floorboards of her personal and professional lives to
crumble beneath her. Her career aspirations drydocked, her sleep
interrupted nightly at 1 or 2 a.m., she sought solace in the love
of her intellectual life: history. When she picked up a book on
Abraham Lincoln to help pass the agitated hours, she discovered in
the trials of the 16th president that there was not only a way
through her setbacks but a way beyond them.
In this interview with BEYOND THE CRUCIBLE host and Crucible
Leadership founder Warwick Fairfax, Koehn explains how her search
for lighthouses of hope in the lives of great leaders who were
dented by crucible experiences helped her find healing through
FORGED IN CRISIS, her best-selling book about their trials and
triumphs. Host and guest take a deep-dive look at the incredible
story and important leadership lessons of British polar explorer
Ernest Shackleton — a conversation they conclude in next week’s
episode.
You are more than your failures and setbacks. We share stories of leaders who have moved beyond life’s most difficult moments to lead lives of significance, and insights on how you can do the same. Hosted by Warwick Fairfax.