About The Book

Col. Thomas Kolditz, a professor at West Point and an on-the-ground military leader, shows how extreme life-and-death leadership skills can offer profound lessons for leaders in any setting in In Extremis Leadership.

Kolditz explains that leadership lessons and principles in dangerous settings also apply to leading in business and everyday life. He describes a variety of high-risk situations that are ideal settings to seek and find great leaders, assess how they might be different and glean valuable insights for extraordinary leadership in our everyday lives. Through heart-stopping, real-life stories of leaders in these extreme situations, Kolditz insists that leaders at all levels can improve their effectiveness.

The book is filled with compelling in-depth interviews with such in extremis leaders as chiefs of SWAT teams, mountain-climbing guides, leaders of large-formation skydiving events, the U.S. Military Academy’s national champion parachute team, and team leaders in football, wrestling, swimming and rugby, as well as the first armored cavalry commander to roll his tanks into the fiery streets of Baghdad in 2003. Kolditz challenges us to learn from their experiences and honor their commitment and sacrifices by serving people leading as if lives depended on it.

This authentic perspective on leadership will help cut through faddish, flavor-of-the-month leadership approaches and make anyone better at leading and being led.

In Extremis Leadership can be purchased at the following locations: