In Extremis Leadership

Resource

Physical Development for In Extremis Leaders

Danger makes it important for in extremis leaders to maintain exceptional cardiovascular fitness and muscular strength. My fitness icon when I was younger was Lieutenant Colonel Dave Petraeus, currently serving as a four-star general, and charged with command of the Multinational Forces in Iraq. He could run farther and faster than most of his men and was fond of demonstrating a rope climb without the use of his legs, ascending a twenty-five-foot climbing rope hand over hand in an L-shaped pike position. Fitness was a huge part of Petraeus’s leadership style, and of his life.

In 1991, just prior to my arrival in the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Petraeus was commanding an infantry ...