Adversity can empower you. (Leadership Skills).

Life throws everyone a curve sooner or later--be it a business setback, personal disappointment, prejudicial treatment, perhaps even a traumatic event. But those who can take adversity and transform it into a meaningful, life-changing experience often become extraordinary leaders. Authors Warren G. Bennis and Robert J. Thomas explore this theory in their article, "Crucibles of Leadership," in the September 2002 Harvard Business Review.

"We believe that great leaders possess four essential skills.., these happen to be the same skills that allow a person to find meaning in what could be a debilitating experience," write Bennis and Thomas. "First is the ability to engage others in shared meaning. Second is a distinctive and compelling voice. Third is a sense of integrity (including a strong set of values). But by far the most critical skill of the four is 'adaptive capacity.' This is, in essence, applied creativity--an almost magical ability to transcend adversity, with all its attendant stresses, and to emerge stronger than before."