The Courage to Take Command: Leadership Lessons from a Military Trailblazer

8

DEALING WITH BULLIES

As a leader, you will almost certainly encounter people who take inappropriate advantage of their power at some point.

In 1991, when I was a major and had served for 15 years, I joyously became pregnant again. My unit was assigned to go to Germany for a three-week exercise that summer, but I was already five months pregnant by then and knew that the Department of the Army did not allow pregnant women to deploy. So I was surprised when the commander came to me and asked me to go anyway. He told me how necessary I was to the mission. I was pleased to be asked; it was flattering to hear that the team needed me. He promised me that I would have a job in a building and not in the field. I agreed.

After buying a larger-size fatigue ...