When it comes to an emergency survival situation, it’s hard to look beyond the immediate threat. Gravely wounded group members, hysterical crying, disputes over resources, selfishness, and natural hazards are just a few of the difficulties you must learn endure. Despite this, a leader will always emerge.
Boiling it down, there are certain leadership skill-sets which can prove vital to you emerging as the group leader and further protecting your interests when surviving alone. Certainly there will almost always be someone who naturally falls into the “Alpha” leadership role–whether by physical or social attributes–but it is not always the best position for them. You can learn and apply these skills.
Loneliness is the penalty of leadership, but the man who has to make the decisions is assisted greatly if he feels that there is no uncertainty in the minds of those who follow him, and that his orders will be carried out confidently and in expectation of success.
Sir Earnest Shackleton
Now, it’s important we distinguish between skills and actions. Some may say you should task-organize the group, devise plans, set expectations, control the hysterics, etc. These are actions. Although these actions may save the life of you and the members of your group, they require a certain skill-set. These five skills presented here are prerequisites for these actions.
Let’s take a look…
JUDGEMENT
Judgement distills down to being able to think things through in a clear and organized manner so that you can make sound and timely decisions. This requires you to have the mental and physical resilience to accept your circumstances as they are and apply critical thinking. In any complex or volatile environment, whether you go left or right could really come down to probability of success. Recommended Read: Thinking in Bets by Annie Duke
DEPENDABILITY
In the wilderness or in life, you must be dependable in order to earn trust. If you cannot be depended upon, you cannot be trusted, and therefore cannot lead. This skill is the ability to be relied upon to perform responsibilities completely and correctly; every single time. Unlike the other skills in this post, this is not something you earn with experience and learning. It is a consequence of character. Recommended Read: The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
DECISIVENESS
Being decisive in a chaotic, volatile environment brought on by dire circumstances is in many ways what will separate you out as the leader of the group. You must have the ability to make good decisions calmly and quickly, even with cortisol surging through your body. In a team setting, this also means having the ability to communicate decisions in a clear, direct and compassionate manner. Recommended Read: Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
CHEERFULNESS
You may be surprised that “will to survive” is not listed on here. Arguably so, this is because your will to be happy is really as important (or perhaps more) than your own will to survive. They are mutually supportive. Your attitude is contagious; no matter where you are or what situation you are in. There are good reasons the Royal Marines Commando (UK) lists “Cheerfulness” as one of its core values alongside excellence, courage, and integrity. Recommended Read: The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathon Haidt
CURIOSITY
Curiosity did not kill the cat. Curiosity taught the cat resourcefulness and made him an incredibly skillful and resilient predator. This skill (or quality for some) will increase your survivability in two ways: social trust and resourcefulness. In a survival setting, people typically turn to those who understand (or seek to understand) them the most for guidance. If you are genuinely curious about someone’s predicament you can earn their trust and form a critical, symbiotic bond that only us humans enjoy. With regard to resourcefulness, you must have a desire to know “why” something is what it is. This will enable you to solve your way out of most problems and adapt to evolving situations with creative solutions. Understanding–or needing to understand–how things work will enable you to pick them apart and make use of almost anything. Recommended Read: Curious by Ian Leslie.
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