Leadership Means Taking a Stand

In my last post I talked about how leaders lead by example. Here’s a great story of leadership from Geoffery Webb’s post, Take a Stand.

By December 23rd, 1944 entire US Divisions were still retreating as the German Army continued to advance through the Ardennes Forest in a last-ditch effort to win World War II. On that frigid morning 65 years ago, a sergeant in a retreating tank destroyer spotted a bedraggled paratrooper chipping a foxhole out of the frozen ground.

The unshaven soldier looked up as the vehicle approached and yelled, “Are you looking for a safe place?”

“Yeah,” answered the tanker.

“Well, buddy, just pull your tank behind me,” he replied, “I’m the 82nd Airborne and this is as far as the bastards are going.”

Check out Geoffrey’s blog, Leading on Purpose for more great stories on leadership.