Archive for May, 2011
Leadership and the Demise of Osama bin Laden May 2 2011 2 responses
When I went to bed on Sunday night at 10:30 pm, the last thing I expected to read when I woke up on Monday morning was that U.S. special forces have killed Osama bin Laden.
As I write this, the details of the operation and the decision process that preceded it are still being reported. According to the New York Times and other outlets, U.S. intelligence operatives received a lead last August on a location in Pakistan where bin Laden might have been living. More information was gathered, plans were developed and last Friday morning before he left to survey tornado damage in Alabama, President Obama gave his approval to launch an operation to either capture or kill bin Laden at his compound. Early Monday morning, Pakistan time, a couple of dozen Navy SEALS rappelled from helicopters into the bin Laden compound. A firefight began and when bin Laden resisted, he was killed. Around 11:30 pm, Washington time, on Sunday night, the President announced to the nation and the world that bin Laden had been killed and that “justice has been done.”
While I haven’t fully sorted through my thoughts on the events of the past 24 hours, I am thinking about the different aspects of leadership that are required to create this kind of result. Here’s what I have so far (I’d like to hear what you think through your comments):
Scott Eblin is an executive coach, speaker and author of 
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