There are moments in life that define us. Most of us have experienced them - moments that made a huge impact and created a shift in our thinking and being. This catalyst for positive change and evolution could be a painful and challenging experience. It is called a ‘crucible experience’ named after the vessels medieval alchemists used while attempting to turn base metals into gold.

As a Founding Dean of Indian School of Business (ISB), Pramath Raj Sinha, found himself in the middle of his crucible when he had to make ISB successful in the first year amidst high expectations from stakeholders, several missteps, lots of critics inside and outside and the crushing blow of 9/11.

Defining moment

The low-profile Managing Director of Ranbaxy, Arun Sawhney, who is also one of the most ethical CEOs defined by honesty, integrity and deeply-rooted personal values like respect, learning, simplicity and hard work, was in a leadership crucible recently.

Ranbaxy hit the headlines when the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) bought charges against it in the US and they had to pay a penalty in the US courts. Doubtlessly, it must have been a painful experience for Sawhney, where his integrity and capability were questioned and the company’s image suffered a beating with the media focussing on unethical practices in his organisation.

Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan went through his leadership crucible when his company ABCL failed, but he vaulted back richer due to his experience. He emerged as a transformed person — from the angry young man to Big B.

The former global head of McKinsey Rajat Gupta is undergoing his crucible right now as he serves term on charges of insider trading when he was on the board of directors of investment firm Goldman Sachs in the US.

Each one of us has such an experience and feels like a goalkeeper facing the penalty kick in a football match. No one from the team can help and the gallery is waiting. This is a defining moment and a leadership crucible.

Silver lining

“If I had not been in prison, I would not have been able to achieve the most difficult task in my life — changing oneself,” Nelson Mandela, the iconic South African apartheid leader, who spent over a quarter a century in prison, is reported to have said.

In their paper on Leadership Crucibles published in Harvard Business Review, Warren G. Bennis and Robert J. Thomas point to a study of over 40 top leaders, both young and old , in business and public sector, who were able to point to intense, often traumatic and always unplanned experiences that transformed them and became the sources of their distinctive leadership abilities. They called the defining experiences as “crucibles.”

The leaders they interviewed said the crucible experience was a trial and a test, a point of deep self-reflection that forced them to question who they were and what mattered to them. It required them to examine their values, question their assumptions, and hone their judgment

Artist M.J. Enas came in touch with the cruel reality of Parkinson’s disease in his forties, which, for the copper sculptor, was a rude shock. Today Enas sculpts more than before, using his will to overcome physical and mental challenges caused by the disease.

For leaders the transformation, new beliefs and a shift in consciousness resulting from the crucible experience is due to adaptive capacity and resilience.

Adaptability and resilience

This, in essence, is the ability to transcend adversity, with all its attendant stresses, and to emerge stronger than before. This is possible when leaders allow their context to use them and perceive these crucibles in a way that they adapt. Most organisational challenges are contexts where a leader could unite the team, build a strong sense of purpose and drive transformation.

As a leader, one of the most important things you can do is to thoughtfully reflect upon your most challenging experiences to understand what they can teach you. Indeed, the ability to routinely learn from “Leadership Crucibles” is central to every leader’s development.

Resilience is the ability to bounce back, cope, renew, and revitalise the self and system from a leadership perspective. One of the ways to build resilience is to focus on personal mastery and mindfulness. Many leading organisations, such as Google and Cargil, have developed training programs on mindfulness and personal mastery to build resilience.

Bill George, professor of management practice at Harvard Business School, author of True North and Authentic Leadership, and the former chair and CEO of Medtronic, says, “Mindful people make much better leaders than frenetic, aggressive ones. They understand their reactions to stress and crises, and understand their impact on others. They inspire people to take on greater responsibilities and align them around common missions and values. They are better at focusing and are more effective at delegating work with closed-loop follow-up. As a result, when people follow the mindful approach, their organisations outperform others in the long-run.

So, what is your leadership crucible experience? How has it influenced you? Are you building adaptive and resilient leaders in your organisation?

(The author is a CEO coach and Founder and Managing Director of learning and development firm OD Alternatives.)

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