Crucibles in Leadership - Emerging Nurse Leader

By Rose Sherman, EdD, RN, FAAN

We are all shaped as nurse leaders by the experiences that we have – both negative and positive. Some of these experiences are life changing and rise to the level of being a leadership crucible. A Chief Nursing Officer shared with me a story that ultimately has become her leadership crucible. She recently left an organization where the CEO was romantically involved with one of her nursing staff members. This CEO was married with children. The nurse was also married with children. Although they went to great pains to try to hide their relationship, it was well known throughout the organization. She had spoken with her staff member about her observations, and warned her that this was not appropriate behavior in the work setting. She also advised her that it could be a career derailer if she did not cease her involvement. The nurse, she noted, did not deny the affair and sat silently during the discussion.

Evidently, the conversation was reported back to the CEO by her staff member. He was infuriated with the CNO and vigorously denied his involvement. It destroyed their relationship, and she ultimately left the organization. He remains there today as does the staff member that he was involved with. I asked her whether she would handle the situation differently knowing what she knows now. She said she has no regrets about her decision to confront the situation. The behavior that she observed had crossed the line and she could not simply ignore it. It deeply bothered her to work for a leader who violated his professional boundaries without regard to the impact that it had on the organization.

The concept of leadership crucibles was popularized by Michael Useem, a Wharton University Professor, in his book the Leadership Moment. He defined them as difficult events that lead to deep self-reflection forcing you to question who you are and what really matters. These often involve the confluence of a number of intellectual, social, economic and political forces that test your principles, belief system and core values. Sometimes they involve very public failures that shake us to our core. Few leaders escape having one or more of these events in their career. However painful, we do have an opportunity to emerge stronger if we can find meaning in negative events, learn from our trials and inspire others through sharing them. Sadly, too few of us share these experiences with upcoming leaders who often perceive our paths to be much smoother than they have actually been.

It is too early to say what the long term impact of this crucible event has been on my colleague’s career. She knows that in the short run, it did impact the type of references that she received from the organization. Her nursing leadership team deeply respected her willingness to speak up when others would not. It has changed some of her criteria for evaluating future work environments. She has sought out environments that are known for a strong ethical and moral culture.

When an experience like this happens, you can move in one of two directions. It can either change and strengthen you or you become embittered and cynical. Crucibles set the stage for adaptation. We can either extract the wisdom or choose to wallow in what went wrong. Wise leaders remember that leadership is a journey and crucibles are signposts on our path.