“Who in this group will I be able to trust to walk the bad bush with me?” Sitting on the third row in the auditorium of my alma mater, this was the first question I fielded from my principal. I was a new teacher, and he was beginning his first day on campus. As the story goes, trusting him enough to “walk the bad bush” was the highest compliment one of his fellow Special Forces soldiers paid him during his tour in Vietnam. This statement meant your comrades quite literally trusted you with their lives because they found you to be driven for the cause, skilled, and loyal. It took many years for me to fully understand the implications of his parables. This story, in particular, was meant to convey his philosophy on leadership development.

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