The call for leadership in business and general aviation has never been stronger.  Good leadership in crisis or at pivotal moments is important. Great leadership engenders a culture of individual ownership and accountability, and makes a world of difference.

On December 6, 1978 United Airlines Flight 173 — a DC8 inbound from Denver, CO to Portland, OR — crashed in a suburban Portland neighborhood, approximately seven miles southeast of Portland International Airport. The Captain was one of the airline’s most senior pilots with over 27,000 hours, including 5,500 in the DC-8. The First Officer and the Flight Engineer had been with United for over a decade and — between them — had over 2,500 hours of experience in the DC-8.

The crew had felt abnormal vibrations and yawing when extending the landing gear upon approach into Portland. Additionally, the landing gear indicator, erroneously, indicated that the gear had not extended completely. They advised Portland and flew in a holding pattern for approximately an hour trying to diagnose the gear problem. Recordings indicate that the FO and Engineer at separate times raised concerns of remaining fuel, yet the Captain remained fixated on the landing gear issue and insisted they continue the applicable checks.

When they lost the number one and two engines, they declared an emergency, but lost the flight to fuel starvation, resulting in the crash which claimed 10 lives, one of whom was the Flight Engineer.

On June 6, 1944 (D-day), Allied forces took five beach landing areas of Normandy, France in Operation Overlord during World War II. Utah Beach (the westernmost) was one of two American landing zones and was taken with relatively few casualties — especially significant given that the other American landing at Omaha Beach was the bloodiest of all five.

In large part, the unanticipated ease of taking Utah Beach was due to the absence of leadership on the part of the German military. The Germans did not counterattack the seaborne assault, nor did they put up a strong inland defense at any of the beach’s four causeways.

While the German Forces in Normandy had spent years building coastal barriers, employing such devices as the asparagus — long, speared logs buried at angles — and other weapons along the coast to destroy incoming vessels, these were not fortified at Utah Beach, whose primary defense was natural: the ability to flood surrounding lowlands with the control of a lock at the mouth of the nearby Douve River. The Germans opened the lock at high tide to flood the area and then closed it to keep the water in. The German defense at Utah was to be ground troops — namely, the 709th Infantry Division.

However on June 5th, the Division’s leader, General Karl-Wilhelm von Schlieben, was away from his troops and returning when his vehicle broke down, prior to the first paratrooper landings shortly after midnight, June 6th. The German army was so hierarchical that the troops were “lost” and chaotic, unable to self-organize without him. Additionally, the 709th was comprised largely of multi-national units of Soviet prisoners-of-war and conscripts from Poland and other occupied countries who had chosen to fight in the German Army rather than become prisoners. Having no leader and motivations of self-survival versus advancing Germany’s cause, they were no match for the courageous and resolute Americans who met their primary objective of securing the beachhead.

Leaders, own your impact and guide your team members to do the same. Never underestimate the power of leaders to transform culture and direct results — either intentionally or unintentionally.