There are inherent personality traits in someone who will most likely be successful working in a complex crisis. They’re easy to describe, harder to realize and even harder to capture at the right time.
Humanitarian response leadership is about confidence and risk taking, persistence and personal resilience, according to Michael Bowers, senior director of strategic response and global emergencies for Mercy Corps.
“It’s tolerance of ambiguity,” said Bowers, who began his career in Kosovo. “We get a lot of people stewing in that for so long — in South Sudan, in Syria, surrounded by a bombardment of challenges. It’s not just thinking quickly, it’s something that’s protracted years … with no end in sight.”