Abstract
What is rightly considered extreme contexts for the majority is the unfortunate reality for many others. For instance, according to World Bank data[1], the number of people living in proximity to conflict — defined as within 60 kilometres of at least 25 conflict-related deaths — has nearly doubled since 2007, with one in five in the Middle East and North Africa region now living near conflict. 500 million people live in fragile and conflict-affected situations (FCS) economies. Extreme contexts are not only full-range conflict zones; leaders in emergency services and health setting like end of life care or maternity mortality care examine extreme conditions daily. Leader’ s emotions in these contexts are often overlooked. They are often seen as a cause of the problems occurring during leading through extreme contexts. This is a very unfortunate view of emotions, as it leaves our understanding of the leadership experiences (and the resulted learning and development) in these extreme contexts lacking. It may also encourage the conclusion that emotions need to be managed away to lead successfully in such contexts. This paper is an empirical study of the nature of leadership learning and development in the extreme contexts. The extreme contexts that set the scene for this paper are violently divided societies. It aims to answer the following research question: What is the interplay between leaders’ embodied experience of risk, threat and physical and emotional distress in an extreme context and their leadership development? This paper draws on semi-structured interviews with 32 long-standing peace leaders in Northern Ireland, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The initial findings suggest that being immersed in a context of violent conflict is the significant aspect of the participants’ narratives. The contexts in which peacebuilding occurred were hostile and violent, polarised and depersonalising (Khalil and Hartley 2022). These dynamics deeply impacted their leadership development and learning. The core leadership development narratives distilled from the data are: The Presage: “becoming” a leader The narrative of leadership development as a process of learning by doing, making mistakes and reflection The narrative of resilience despite fear, loss and pain This research suggests a strong sense of commitment, experiential, reflective, ad hoc leadership development. It is a product of pro-active engagement with the context (physically and emotionally), and continuous creation of novel and innovative learning that goes beyond the previously acquired experience and prior knowledge which will be explored fully in the full version of this paper.