ORGL-689: Leadership and Hardiness

Expected Competencies

  1. Understanding Existentialism and Meaning-Making
    Demonstrate knowledge of existential psychology and its application to leadership, particularly in clarifying personal meaning and fostering existential courage during adversity.

  2. Exploring Psychological Hardiness
    Develop a deep understanding of psychological hardiness—specifically the “three Cs” of commitment, control, and challenge—as a foundation for personal and organizational resilience.

  3. Strategic Application of Hardiness Principles
    Apply the principles of psychological hardiness to complex organizational scenarios, integrating these concepts into leadership strategy, decision-making, and change management.

  4. Practicing Hardiness Through Experiential Learning
    Participate in real-life simulations and reflective activities that test and strengthen psychological endurance and leadership adaptability under stress.

Achieved Competencies

  1. Integrated Resilience Mindset: Shifted from a self-focused understanding of resilience to a relational, service-oriented view rooted in existential courage and hardiness theory (Frankl, 2006).

  2. Theoretical Application: Gained fluency in the "three Cs" of hardiness—commitment, control, and challenge—as described by Maddi & Khoshaba, and connected these directly to leadership practice in turbulent environments.

  3. Expanded Leadership Perspective: Through literature such as High Altitude Leadership, I explored metaphors that liken organizational leadership to mountaineering, understanding the strategic role of fear, over-reliance on tools, and adaptive decision-making.

  4. Personal Narrative as Leadership Catalyst: Deepened my use of reflective storytelling and personal adversity—including my son’s micro-preemie birth and our NICU journey—as a leadership teaching tool and mechanism for empathy, authenticity, and resilience-building.

Applied Competencies

  1. Southwest Airlines Case Study: Analyzed organizational hardiness at Southwest Airlines, focusing on cultural practices, strategic foresight, and employee empowerment that build resilience in a volatile industry.

  2. The Hardiness of a Primary Parent: Applied the hardiness framework to my personal journey parenting a micro-premature infant. Illustrated the "three Cs" through lived experience, and articulated how transformational coping and social support facilitated long-term resilience.

  3. Leadership and Recovery Narrative: Through multiple essays, I used my family’s NICU crisis and recovery as a living metaphor for hardiness-informed leadership. These narratives support my broader leadership philosophy: grounded, transparent, and service-first.

  4. Mt. Adams Climb Simulation: Engaged in a high-stakes simulation—training for and climbing 9,000 feet of Mt. Adams. Though I did not summit, the physical and psychological preparation exemplified the embodied practice of resilience, discipline, and commitment.

Artifact Inclusion

  • Case Study: Southwest Airlines

  • The Hardiness of a Primary Parent

  • Leadership and Hardiness Final Essay

  • Mt. Adams Preparation Reflections

References

  1. Frankl, V. E. (2006). Man’s search for meaning. Boston: Beacon Press.

  2. Maddi, S. R., & Khoshaba, D. M. (2005). Resilience at work: How to succeed no matter what life throws at you. New York: AMACOM.

  3. Warner, C., & Schmincke, D. (2009). High altitude leadership: What the world’s most forbidding peaks teach us about success. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

  4. Collins, J., & Hansen, M. T. (2011). Great by choice. New York: HarperCollins.

  5. Valikangas, L. (2010). The resilient organization. New York: McGraw-Hill.

  6. Lowney, C. (2005). Heroic Leadership: Best practices from a 450-year old company. Loyola Press.

Key Words

Existentialism; Psychological Hardiness; Leadership Under Pressure; NICU Journey; Commitment-Control-Challenge; Organizational Resilience; Simulation Learning; Reflective Leadership; Southwest Airlines Case Study; Personal Transformation; Mt. Adams Climb; Transformational Coping; Servant-Leadership in Crisis; Adaptive Strategy.