“Lincoln saw his country on fire, and decided to run into the flames.”
This was one of the many important analogies used to relate to the current situation. In the midst of a global pandemic, one can either complain about the situation and become unproductive, or one can try to make the most of it and find new ways to stay active and involved in the things that matter. Dr. Mark Sullivan joined the boys on Wednesday evening on a Zoom call to have an open dialogue about leadership in crises.
Dr. Sullivan is a professor at the Fisher College of Business at Ohio State. He received his Master’s degree from Harvard and his Doctorate from Case Western. On Wednesday evening, he highlighted a few inspiring stories from interviews that he had conducted over the years with people who had been forced to deal with different crises. These people in their own unique ways came out of the situations stronger, and explained a bit of what it took for that to happen in each unique scenario. Dr. Sullivan would then open the discussion for some of the boys to give their input on situations in which they had an experience that offered a similar lesson. It was quickly realized that nearly everybody had a situation of similar magnitude of importance, yet each situation was entirely unique. Dr. Sullivan helped guide a discussion to offer new perspectives, allowing the boys to all learn from each other. Below are some comments the boys had about the session with Dr. Sullivan:
“I learned to accept that we are not the sole authors of our story, and tough situations can actually be partners to help us recenter on the important things.”
“Aside from personal health exercises that I took away for my personal life, Dr. Sullivan taught us the importance of vulnerability within the group, and that cannot be understated.”
Even if everybody took away a different lesson from this, each person learned something valuable. Being able to persevere through unexpected and unwelcome events can help build character when handled well. Dr. Sullivan was able to help guide the boys through their own personal journeys with persevering through this pandemic.