Summing Up

1. In extremis leaders are inherently motivated because of the danger of the situations in which they’re working; therefore, leaders don’t need to use conventional motivational methods or cheer-leading. If you’re leading in a more conventional situation, consider how you need to motivate the people on your team.

2. In extremis leaders embrace continuous learning, typically because they and their followers need to rapidly scan their environments to determine the level of threat and danger they’re facing. Leaders in other environments are fortunate in not facing physical threats; nevertheless, they should continually scan their environment for competitive or market threats and embrace learning so they can stay ahead of the pack-or at least on top of solving problems.

3. In extremis leaders share the risk their followers face. This isn’t just grandstanding; leaders truly share-and even take on greater-risks in in extremis situations. Leaders in other environments should keep this in mind: don’t ask your followers to do anything you wouldn’t do yourself.

4. In extremis leaders share a common lifestyle with their followers. Leaders and followers in high-risk situations don’t earn the same amount of money, but the pay is uniformly modest. In recent years, there has been much attention paid to executive compensation, and all leaders should consider how much they truly have in common with the rest of their organization.

5. In extremis leaders are highly competent, which inspires their followers to emulate that level of competence. Whatever type of organization you’re leading, you’ll obviously gain more respect if you show that you know what you’re doing.
6. Dangerous situations demand a high level of mutual trust. In extremis leaders trust their team, and they themselves can be trusted. And even if someone’s life isn’t at stake in an organization, his or her livelihood may be, so do everything you can to be trustworthy and to trust your team to do what you’ve hired them to do.

7. High-risk environments demand mutual loyalty between leader and followers. And although corporate America has changed from the era when workers stayed with a single company for fifty years and retired with a gold watch, leaders should do everything they can to foster a culture of mutual loyalty.