In their classic HBR article (2002), “Crucibles of Leadership,” Warren Bennis and Robert Thomas examine four skills that enable leaders to learn from adversity:

1. Engage others in shared meaning
2. A distinctive, compelling voice
3. Integrity
4. Adaptive capacity

The last is the most critical skill and includes the ability to grasp context, and hardiness. “Grasping context requires weighing many factors (e.g. how different people will interpret a gesture). Without this quality, leaders cannot connect with constituents.

“Hardiness provides the perseverance and toughness to remain hopeful despite disaster. For example, Michael Klein made millions in teal estate during his teens, lost it all by age 20 — then built several more businesses, including transforming a tiny software company into a Hewlett-Packer acquisition.

Bennis and Thomas conclude, “It is the combination of hardiness and ability to grasp context that, above all, allows a person to not only survive an ordeal, but to learn from it, and to emerge stronger, more engaged, and more committed than ever. These attributes allow leaders to grow from their crucibles, instead of being destroyed by them — to find opportunity where others might find only despair. This is the stuff of true leadership.”