Do you have what it takes to maintain control in a severe crisis?
Southwest Airlines pilot Tammie Jo Shults, a veteran pilot of three decades, recently demonstrated she did. And was universally praised for her “nerves of steel.”
Shults safely landed the Boeing 737 in Philadelphia following an engine fire at 30,000 feet, and was applauded for maintaining her cool. Because of her demeanor and acumen, 144 passengers and five crew members survived, while tragically one passenger, Jennifer Riordan, died from her injuries.
Southwest Airlines pilot Tammie Jo Shults, a veteran pilot of three decades, has been universally praised for her nerves of steel. #bravewomenCLICK TO TWEETAccording to the Wall Street Journal, “A website called ATC Memes has posted on YouTube the conversation between Ms. Shults and air traffic controllers. At the outset, the pilot calmly announces, “Southwest 1380 has an engine fire. Descending.”
Read more in Take The Lead about leadership from a female fighter pilot.
James Freeman writes, “A short time later she reports, ‘Actually no fire now, but we are single-engine.’ At one point she informs controllers, ‘We have part of the aircraft missing, so we’re going to need to slow down a bit.’ Each report from the cockpit is delivered in the same even and reassuring tone.”
Rebecca Nicholson writes in The Guardian, “Those present recalled that after the plane had landed, Shults walked through the aisle to talk to them, to see how they were doing. One passenger, Alfred Tumlinson, told reporters that he would send the pilot ‘a Christmas card, I’m going to tell you that, with a gift certificate for getting me on the ground. She was awesome.’ News outlets have delved into her life story and it has turned out to be astonishing. Shults was one of the first female fighter pilots in the US Navy and was elite enough to fly an F/A-18 Hornet. She flew training missions as an ‘enemy pilot’ during Operation Desert Storm, as women were then still excluded from combat missions.
This approach of persistence and congeniality may indeed be female traits, research shows.
“In times of crisis, more stereotypical feminine qualities like being collaborative or good with people are often seen as particularly important. Thus, it may be that women are thought to be more suitable in certain types of crisis situations, since they are believed to possess these kinds of social qualities more so than do men,” writes Marianne Cooper of Stanford University on LinkedIn.
Research suggests stereotypically feminine qualities may be particularly important during a crisis. #womenleadersCLICK TO TWEETShe continues, “Research into the particular circumstances under which feminine traits are considered to be especially important are when a leader is expected to manage people, work behind the scenes to manage a crises, and be a scapegoat.”
Read more in Take The Lead on handling a crisis.
Gender may or not play a role in how a leader handles a crisis, but as a women leader, you can decide how you will behave. And it is likely you will have a crisis on your hands eventually.
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