[August 29, 2014] On this day in 2005, a Category 4 hurricane came ashore close to New Orleans, Louisiana. Although not the most powerful storm in U.S. history, it was the worst natural disaster experienced. The destruction to the states of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama was serious. There were many leadership failures leading up to and during the storm, many of which were well publicized. But the big question is, “was the response to Hurricane Katrina a disaster in leadership?”
NASA Photograph of Hurricane Katrina
Leadership is about people and forever will be. The success or failure of leadership, therefore, is measured by what people believe and think and not by circumstances that actually occur. For example during WWII, the German Panzer Division Commander Bayerlein thought that heavy fire from his Reconnaissance unit which was successfully attacking an American position was a sign of stiffening enemy resistance. Thinking he was being outflanked, he postponed an attack on Bastogne. Of course, we now know that Bastogne was the linchpin for the German main offensive and contributed to its ultimate failure.
In the case of the federal response to Hurricane Katrina’s destruction on the Gulf Coast, there was great material success. There were problems but overall the federal response went according to plan. There were serious deficiencies at the local and state levels; for example, the levees were not constructed properly leading to their failure and heavy flooding. The federal response was portrayed in the press and political circles as a personal failure of the leadership of U.S. President Bush. To this day, despite additional positive facts coming out, it is still seen as a failure of leadership by the President.
What this means is that the response to Hurricane Katrina was a failure in leadership.
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[For a Summary see Wikipedia] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Katrina