Write a personal story of courage in the context of leadership. You should think of leadership less as having formal positional authority but more as finding one’s inner authority or inner “captaincy” in Whyte’s terms. The story you choose to write should be based on personal experience (it can be work-related but it doesn’t have to be).

The story should describe a situation in which either a) you needed courage to act decisively and struggled to find it or b) you needed and found courage to act. After telling the story, apply as many elements of the monomyth as you can:

1. call to action – an initial situation or status quo and the occurence of an event that makes the leader feel compelled to act
2. crossing the threshold – an incident or choice after which there is no turning back
3. struggle – either among people or between people and circumstances, or between conflicting emotions within oneself (make clear who are the adversaries and who, if any, are the allies)
4. A resolution to the struggle
5. Return – a reintegration back into one’s home or regular life but with new insights.

Your paper should be 1-2 pages double spaced 12 pt.