Introduction

It seems that more and more people are affected by or working in volatile and dynamic extreme situations. These different forms of extreme situations require appropriate forms of leadership. Therefore, effective leaders must be able to adapt their leadership depending on the situation they are confronted with. The performance of leaders and teams in extreme situations is a matter of life and death and thus, the encouragement of research on leadership in extreme situations has a deeprooted impact on all leadership processes in the most dangerous and extreme situations. This article tries to facilitate a better understanding of leadership aspects in extreme situations and further research is required to understand the skills, abilities, and capacities leaders need in order to be effective in extreme situations. The studies in this book extend the knowledge on civil and military leadership processes and their conditions in extreme situations. Furthermore, they deepen our understanding of the skills, abilities and capacities which are required for leading well in extreme situations.