Leadership during a crisis - Remembering 9.11.01

I remember exactly where I was on  September 11, 2001 at around 9 AM.  I was a second-year PICU fellow and was working in the laboratory doing sepsis research.  I had one of those pagers that received news and sports updates periodically throughout the day - I received an update that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center's North Tower (WTC 1) at 8:46 AM.  My first response was that this had been a horrible accident, but when I received a second update that another plane had crashed into the World Trade Center's South Tower (WTC 2) at 9:03 AM, I knew that we were under attack.  My wife called me with the news that a plane had crashed into the Pentagon a little later.  Several of us left our work in the laboratory and walked upstairs to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit and found an empty room and turned on the television.  We all stood there in shock for the next several hours, watching the events unfold throughout the day.  So much has happened since that awful day, but what I remember now is how we, as a collective United States of America, responded.  I have never witnessed so much patriotism, national pride, and sense of "togetherness" before or since that fateful day.  I also remember how well some of our leaders responded, particularly Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and President George W. Bush.  While many would disagree with some (or most) of President Bush's decisions and policies during his time in office, I think he did an amazing job pulling the country together during this difficult time. 

Crisis leadership is of particular interest to many investigators in a number of disciplines.  What can we learn from other leaders who served in times of crisis?  What did these leaders do, or what characteristics did they possess that allowed them to weather the storm?  How did these leaders react to the difficulties that they faced during the crisis?  In general, I have found that these leaders were prepared.  They had rehearsed or trained how to respond to a number of different scenarios, such that even if they were facing a rare event that no one could have ever envisioned happening, they were able to bring different elements of their training and experience to help deal with the situation.  These leaders remained calm.  They understood that many things were not under their direct control and focused instead on the things that were under their control.  These leaders were decisive, but they also listened to the experts on the front-line.  They made decisions "promptly but not hurriedly". In other words, they used the best available information available and were not subject to "paralysis by analysis." 

When I think of crisis leadership, I think of President Abraham Lincoln.  I don't think any other President has faced such a crisis as he faced during the Civil War.  The future of the United States of America depended to a significant extent upon how he handled adversity, the decisions that he made, and how he led our country throughout the war.  The poet Edwin Markham immortalized Lincoln in a poem entitled, "Lincoln, Man of the People".  One of my favorite lines in the poem is in the final stanza:

So came the Captain with the mighty heart; 

And when the judgment thunders split the house,

Wrenching the rafters from their ancient rest,

He held the ridgepole up, and spiked again

The rafters of the Home.   

 

I think these lines summarizes what it means to be a leader in a time of crisis.  Everyone stood on

Lincoln's shoulders.  He held our divided house together.  He was the rock upon which we rebuilt

our country.

 

On this day, I remember all of those who died on 9.11.01.  I remember the brave men and women on

United Flight 93 who fought back, ultimately giving their lives so that others might be saved.  I

remember all the brave rescuers who charged into the burning World Trade Center and Pentagon to

save as many people as they could.  I remember how the events on that day 15 years ago changed our

lives forever.  But most of all, I remember how well our leaders kept our country united together. 

And I remember Abraham Lincoln, who "held the ridgepole up" and who provided us with the model

of crisis leadership.