What sort of leader does it take....

... to capture poachers, go undercover and lead a remote team that works in a huge jungle?

At the moment I'm working closely with a conservation organisation, Fauna & Flora International. I found out about a most extraordinary leader - someone who has a job that is in may ways enviable, in others most certainly not.

She is a project leader in Indonesia, working to protect the Sumatran Tiger's preserve in the Kerinci Seblat National Park.

I would love to interview her because she has challenges that I don't think any business leaders face; and I'm sure we could learn from her.

Firstly, in a male dominated society, she is a woman in charge of a workforce that is predominantly. Secondly, she is not a native of the country where she works. Thirdly she faces daily danger not only from the local fauna (the most threatening of which is probably the mosquito rather than the tiger) but from the poachers who are armed, dangerous and have every intention of continuing to 'harvest' tiger body parts and skin. It is an extremely profitable and entirely illegal enterprise.

She works in an environment which is hostile - internet connection is patchy and even telecommunications are not the simplest. She manages a remote team who cover thousands of hectares of wild forest and who have to be away from their families for months at a time.

All I can say is that having heard so much about this lady from her colleagues, I would very much like to meet her and find out what the key qualities are that she has that makes her such a succesful leader and, above all, so good at her job that the tigers in her region are actually increasing.

She has to manage the teams, the politics, the morale of her workforce and a challenging situation in so many ways.

So here's my questions for you; if you could ask her three questions, what would they be?
And if you were suddenly posted to a position like this (within your field of expertise, but with similar challenges), what are the key leadership skills you think you would need to be as successful?

Post your replies here or email me on info at completetrainer dot com.


Photograph (C) Fauna & Flora International