Leadership. The other evening I watched a special about the Cuban Missile Crisis that took place in October 1962. This was literally 13 days of terror as we watched the drama unfold between the young US President JFK and his older counterpart in the USSR (Soviet Union), Mr Khrushchev.

We all felt that there would be nuclear war at any minute. As a young person in the naval reserve it seemed even more frightening. The military teams on both sides advocated strong military action but as the crisis dragged on it became apparent that the more thoughtful and reflective leaders had other ideas.

They worked to develop a solution and you have to recall that this was in the days of telegrams, secret phone codes and letters sent by courier planes. The resolution demonstrated what leadership is really about — identify the issues, seek common ground, and develop solutions that are acceptable to the parties. Thankfully the crisis ended peacefully.

It seems a shame that in our world today that this example cannot be followed and repeated where leaders do find solutions. Who sets your example for leadership?

“The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humour, but without folly.” - Jim Rohn

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