Forged in Crisis

July 17, 2017
Harvard Business School historian Koehn has compiled an enthralling, if too loosely organized, look at five people who changed the world through sacrifice, courage, and conviction. Her first work of popular nonfiction gathers together stories about her subjects as illustrations of “courageous leadership.” She details Ernest Shackleton’s 1914 expedition to the South Pole, Abraham Lincoln’s tumultuous presidency, Frederick Douglass’s activism in the burgeoning abolitionist movement, Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s resistance against the Nazi party, and Rachel Carson’s groundbreaking ecological polemic, Silent Spring. She follows their lives, work, and difficult decisions; their challenges and their triumphs. Koehn shows that one important quality that set these leaders apart was their ability to guide others toward doing good. However, the premise for linking them together is slim: the main thematic thread Koehn finds, besides do-gooding and modeling virtue, is a stern commitment to self-improvement. Nonetheless, the individual stories add up to a fascinating look at a varied group of heroes, and Koehn’s call for her audience to emulate them strikes a pleasingly hopeful note for an era of partisan discord and lack of faith in leaders. Agent: Tina Bennett, WME Entertainment.

September 15, 2017
The making of "five unforgettable leaders who lived, worked, struggled, and triumphed in different circumstances toward different ends."In this engaging, unusually rewarding book, historian Koehn (Harvard Business School; The Story of American Business: From the Pages of the New York Times, 2009, etc.) examines the lives and skills of individuals who overcame "profound" personal crises to achieve important goals. Her striking choice of leaders--British polar explorer Ernest Shackleton, President Abraham Lincoln, abolitionist Frederick Douglass, German pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and environmental writer Rachel Carson--provides many ways of seeing how vastly different challenges can summon inner strengths that allow certain individuals to motivate others to great purposes. Leaders are made, not born, argues the author. In these perceptive sketches, she shows how these leaders "made themselves into people of character and strength capable of doing extraordinary things." The disciplined Shackleton led his ice-locked crew to survival ("Not a life lost and we have been through Hell"); Lincoln, ever resilient, saved the Union; ex-slave Douglass became a powerful voice for abolition; Bonhoeffer brought intense focus to his opposition to the Nazis; and Carson overcame illness and many other obstacles to exert quiet leadership against pesticide use and other environmental issues. Without interrupting her narratives, Koehn offers comments on the lessons for today's leaders and teases out significant traits shared by her subjects: "the harder they worked on themselves, the more effective they became as leaders." All had a talent for "looking widely, listening carefully, and reflecting constantly." With consistency, all managed their emotions in the most turbulent moments. Throughout, Koehn underscores the great humanity and depth of understanding of these leaders, from Shackleton's ministering to the smallest needs of his men to Bonhoeffer's empathy for the oppressed and powerless. Wise, thoughtful, and valuable, this book will foster a new appreciation for effective leadership and prompt many readers to lament the lack of it in the world today.

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Starred review from September 1, 2017
Harvard Business School historian and career coach Koehn identifies five leaders whose stories act as inspiration and motivation for today's up-and-coming executives. Three are usual suspectsAbraham Lincoln, Ernest Shackleton, Frederick Douglass. The other two are out-of-the-ordinaryenvironmentalist Rachel Carson (Silent Spring, 1962) and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the Lutheran pastor who worked against the Nazi regime. Rather than simply reiterate what these people have done and what it means, Koehn skillfully weaves together their stories and the lessons, primary of which is great leaders are made, not born. Through the narrative on Shackleton, for instance, she probes the various life-threatening issues of 27 men stranded on polar ice with no ship and few avenues of communication. A large part of success was the commander's outward show of confidence, empathic authority, and ability to manage his crew's energy while still plotting the rescue. Stories are highly engaging (and well documented); in fact, many are transformed into nail-biting adventures. Courageous leadership, Koehn concludes, is based on mission-driven, highly energetic, resilient, and well-rounded people who see the big picture and its impact. A book that quietly surpasses many so-called leadership tomes.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)