5C · Leadership in Crisis

Leadership Under Pressure On and After 9/11

Students read historically reflective narrative profiles related to the events and aftermath of September 11 to engage in leadership as a lived experience.

Legacy Middle School (6–8) High School (9–12) College & Civic Church & Community Workplace & Groups Families Multi-day unit Lesson Plan

Essential question

How do pressure and uncertainty reveal leadership habits, values, and responsibilities that always exist beneath the surface?

Lesson overview

People often view leadership through outcomes, titles, authority structures, or strategic frameworks. Moments of crisis frequently reveal dimensions of leadership that are more difficult to measure but no less essential, including:

• Preparation before recognition

• Calm during uncertainty

• Listening under pressure

• Ethical responsibility amid incomplete information

• Sacrifice without visibility

• Adaptation without precedent

• Stewardship without guarantees

The stories connected to September 11 provide unusually powerful opportunities to examine these dimensions because the pressure itself was real, immediate, and consequential. As part of this lesson, you and students will have the chance to engage with profiles and accounts from a number of civic leaders, including the following:

• Chief of Staff Andy Card, who delivering critical information to the President with steadiness and restraint during a moment of national rupture.

• Secretary Leon Panetta, who inherited a nearly decade-long mission, assuming responsibility for guiding the intelligence, operational coordination, and decision-making process that ultimately led to the location and elimination of Osama bin Laden.

• Coach Herm Edwards, who allowed his team space to decide collectively whether to return to the field after the attacks, then standing publicly behind their decision.

• Bobby Valentine of the New York Mets, who shifted from baseball manager to operational support leader as Shea Stadium became the hub of New York’s recovery infrastructure.

• Vice Chairman of the Fed, Roger Ferguson, who stabilized the financial system through calm, disciplined decision-making despite unprecedented uncertainty.

• Pilots Marc Sasseville and Heather Penney, who prepared mentally for the possibility of sacrificing one civilian aircraft in order to prevent even greater loss.

• Rick Rescorla, Morgan Stanley’s security lead, who prepared employees through years of evacuation drills that ultimately saved lives when crisis arrived.

Consider asking your students these questions:

• What did leadership require in these moments?

• What forms of preparation mattered before crisis occurred?

• How do individuals make decisions under uncertainty?

• What responsibilities accompany leadership when outcomes are unclear?

• How do trust and culture influence collective response?

• What lessons remain relevant within contemporary institutions and communities today?

Learning objectives

  • Students will examine leadership through real-world moments of uncertainty and consequence.
  • Students will reflect on institutional response, preparedness, and responsibility.
  • Students will explore the relationship between leadership, trust, communication, and decision-making.
  • Students will connect civic remembrance to contemporary organizational and community challenges.
  • Students will discover opportunities for dialogue across educational, professional, and civic environments.
  • Students will gain insight into long-term leadership reflection via historical and human-centered inquiry.

Activities

Activity 1 60 min

Encountering Leadership Under Pressure

Participants begin by engaging with stories, profiles, oral histories, interviews, archival materials, or case studies connected to leadership decisions made during and after September 11. This initial activity emphasizes exposure to lived examples rather than abstract leadership theory. Participants encounter moments where individuals were required to navigate uncertainty, responsibility, moral consequence, operational disruption, institutional pressure, or collective fear. Participants may engage through the following activities: • Reading profiles • Encountering oral histories • Documentary materials • Recorded interviews • Facilitated discussions • Archival exploration • Leadership case studies • Small-group analysis • Storytelling sessions • Organizational reflection exercises

Activity 2 60 min

Organizational and Civic Application

Students and participants begin examining the deeper structural, emotional, operational, and ethical dimensions present within the stories. Rather than reducing leadership to simple success narratives, this stage encourages participants to explore ambiguity, tradeoffs, preparation, institutional culture, communication, and decision-making under pressure. Participants may analyze the following: • How trust was established before crisis emerged. • How leaders communicated during uncertainty. • How organizations adapted in real time. • How individuals balanced competing responsibilities. • How preparation shaped outcomes. • How humility, restraint, or listening influenced decisions. • How institutions functioned under stress. Participants are encouraged to identify tensions rather than simplistic answers. This stage deepens Awareness while opening pathways toward Participation.

Activity 3 60 min

Organizational and Civic Application

Students and participants begin connecting historical leadership moments to contemporary institutional, professional, educational, or civic environments. This phase is intentionally reflective and discussion-driven. The emphasis is not on replicating historical situations directly, but on examining how leadership principles revealed through those moments remain relevant within present-day organizational life. Possible areas of exploration may include: • Crisis preparedness • Communication under uncertainty • Organizational trust • Resilience planning • Ethical leadership • Public responsibility • Team culture • Institutional adaptability • Stewardship during disruption • Long-term preparation before crisis occurs

Activity 4 60 min

Reflection and Meaning-Making

Students and participants process a leader's actions as well as what their story reveals about leadership, responsibility, institutional culture, community, and civic life more broadly. Students will reflect on the fact that many leadership decisions connected to September 11 occurred under incomplete information and extraordinary pressure. Reflection should center less on perfection and more on responsibility, preparation, humility, judgment, and consequence. Reflection may occur through any of the following: • Written analysis • Facilitated dialogue and/or debate • Executive reflection exercises • Journaling • Group discussion • Oral presentation • Leadership seminars • Artistic interpretation • Peer conversation • Intergenerational dialogue

Ongoing Learning 180 min

Optional: Continuation and Institutional Stewardship

The optional ongoing learning phase focuses on carrying leadership reflection forward into ongoing organizational, civic, educational, or personal practice. Students and participants can identify ways institutions and individuals can continue engaging leadership development through preparedness, reflection, service, mentorship, resilience planning, community engagement, and ethical stewardship. Continuation pathways may include: • Attending or launching a leadership seminar • Taking part in annual reflection programs • Leading institutional preparedness initiatives • Joining or starting a mentorship program • Community service partnerships • Leadership ethics discussions • Oral history engagement • Resilience workshops • Taking on additional leadership-focused coursework • Leading organizational culture initiatives • Long-term civic engagement projects The emphasis is to sustain thoughtful reflection about how people and institutions respond under pressure over time. Some reflective questions to ask this stage include: What should future leaders inherit from these stories? How can institutions sustain cultures of preparedness and responsibility? What does stewardship look like within leadership roles? How do organizations carry lessons forward after moments of crisis fade from immediate memory? How can remembrance continue shaping leadership culture over time?

Grades 6-8 discussion questions

  1. What did leadership require in these moments?
  2. What forms of preparation mattered before crisis occurred?
  3. How do individuals make decisions under uncertainty?
  4. What responsibilities accompany leadership when outcomes are unclear?

Grades 9-12 discussion questions

  1. What did leadership require in these moments?
  2. What forms of preparation mattered before crisis occurred?
  3. How do individuals make decisions under uncertainty?
  4. What responsibilities accompany leadership when outcomes are unclear?
  5. How do trust and culture influence collective response?
  6. What lessons remain relevant within contemporary institutions and communities today?
  7. What pressures existed beneath the visible events?
  8. What forms of preparation mattered most?
  9. How did individuals balance personal risk and collective responsibility?
  10. What organizational strengths or weaknesses became visible under stress?
  11. How does pressure expose institutional culture?
  12. What forms of pressure exist within our own institutions today?
  13. How do organizations prepare for moments they hope never occur?
  14. What does trust look like before crisis arrives?
  15. How should leaders communicate during uncertainty?
  16. What responsibilities accompany leadership positions?
  17. What values become visible under pressure?

Adult discussion questions

  1. What did leadership require in these moments?
  2. What forms of preparation mattered before crisis occurred?
  3. How do individuals make decisions under uncertainty?
  4. What responsibilities accompany leadership when outcomes are unclear?
  5. How do trust and culture influence collective response?
  6. What lessons remain relevant within contemporary institutions and communities today?
  7. What pressures existed beneath the visible events?
  8. What forms of preparation mattered most?
  9. How did individuals balance personal risk and collective responsibility?
  10. What organizational strengths or weaknesses became visible under stress?
  11. How does pressure expose institutional culture?
  12. What forms of pressure exist within our own institutions today?
  13. How do organizations prepare for moments they hope never occur?
  14. What does trust look like before crisis arrives?
  15. How should leaders communicate during uncertainty?
  16. What responsibilities accompany leadership positions?
  17. What values become visible under pressure?

Primary source

Artifact

Downloadable profiles

Each source within this lesson comes from the book Keeping Our Nation's Promise: 9/11 and the Stories that Still Shape Us. Leadership-focused stories are available for download for this lesson. These profiles and references will be available shortly.
What did leadership require in these moments? What forms of preparation mattered before crisis occurred? How do individuals make decisions under uncertainty? What responsibilities accompany leadership when outcomes are unclear? How do trust and culture influence collective response? What lessons remain relevant within contemporary institutions and communities today?

Assessment options

  • Research and review (Grades 6-8; 9-12)
  • Writing and analysis (Grades 6-8; 9-12)
  • Civic and leadership participation (Grades 6-8; 9-12)
  • Ongoing civic and leadership participation (College and professional)