Conflicting Leadership

Last week in class we heard excerpts from the book "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer and watched a video of Dr. Kenneth Kamler, which both spoke about the 1997 climb of Mount Everest that resulted in the death of twelve people. During this climb, there was a tremendous amount of leadership skills being portrayed but not all were conventional leadership roles. 
After listening to the accounts of the people who were involved in this tragedy I began to realize that leadership comes in many shapes and forms and just because someone is appointed a leader, it doesn't mean that they actually are a leader. 
Rob Hall was one of the leaders of the Mount Everest climbing group. This was a leadership position that was appointed to him because of his level of experience and expertise. But there is another leadership role that I believe he has that was not necessarily appointed to him.At home, Rob had a wife and a baby waiting for him. In a sense Rob had a role of leadership within his family. He needed to be a good example for his child and help guide him through life. Unfortunately during the climb one of Rob's climbers, Doug Hanson, became extremely ill and was dying on the top of the mountain. Other climbers had told Rob that he should leave Doug because it is better to lose one life than two. Rob felt that he had a task that he had to follow through with and that he would be a bad leader if he left Doug on the mountain alone to die. The outcome of this decision ended with both Doug and Rob dying on the mountain. Many would argue that Rob exuded the most magnificent leadership role because he did not leave his climber. Although I think that what Rob did was definitely an act that should be admired, I also think that he was letting down other people who also needed him as a leader. By dying, Rob was letting down his child and discontinuing the role of being a leader to his son. From this I learned that sometimes people will have conflicting leadership roles and will have to choose which one is more important. 
On the other hand, there was another climber named Beck Weathers. Beck was on the mountain flirting with death when he realized that he needed to survive for his family. With his family in mind, he was able to push himself back to refuge and survive. In Beck's situation he showed that the leadership role he plays in his family was one worth fighting for. 
Another leader that came from this experience was the pilot of the helicopter that saved Beck's life. Although he was not an appointed leader, he took the risk of flying higher than anybody has ever flown before in order to save someone in need. In this case Beck took it upon himself to be a leader. 
From the Mount Everest experience I learned that leadership comes in many different forms and sometimes conflict with one another. Often times leaders and forced to choose which role is most important for them to focus on. Being able to make that decision can sometimes be the most difficult job for a leader.