Florence Nightingale's Leadership During The Crimean War

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Leadership can be defined in many ways, but one thing all leaders have in common is determination to get a task done. Although leaders may carry out this action in many different ways they all do what needs to be done in order to reach their goal. Florence Nightingale was willing to gather a group of women and pick up and leave her home to tend to the wounded soldiers of the Crimean War. In order for Florence to be successful in leading these women ultimately into a place of war she needed to have trust and a good reputation for herself. Something that shows the reputation of Florence Nightingale was the fact that at the time there were no female nurses in the Crimean War. The war office avoided hiring more after their poor reputation, nevertheless Nightingale received a letter
Her success in doing so was due to her concern with the sanitation of the hospital. When Nightingale arrived in Crimea on the British Base, Scutari, she was met with filthy floors, bugs, and rats under the beds (History.com, 2009). This is when Florence took action and began to sanitize and clean the hospital as best she could. In doing so she showed her problem solving characteristics. She also showed that she was a confident leader by getting these things done even if she had to argue with the military officers who considered her a nuisance (Fee, E.). Florence soon became known as “The Lady with the Lamp” or the “Angel of Crimea” (History.com, 2009). She was given these names because she spent every minute caring for her soldiers. She would make her rounds through the dark hallways in the evenings carrying her lamp (History.com, 2009). As the leader of her nurse corps Nightingale set the example that the patient should be first and she showed this through her actions and her compassion toward

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