Since our formal inception more than a decade ago, the Leadership Under Fire (LUF) team has championed professional reading as a cornerstone of operational excellence. A close study of history’s most effective, mission-oriented leaders reveals a consistent thread: their success is closely tied to disciplined engagement with literature, reflection, and critical thought. In 2022, LUF launched its inaugural online book club, creating a forum for meaningful dialogue, shared perspective, and the kind of intellectual rigor that sharpens decision-making on the fireground and beyond.

In this week’s episode, LtCol Charlie Black explores  Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning—a work forged in the harshest conditions imaginable, yet centered on a simple, enduring truth: even in the worst circumstances, we retain the ability to choose our attitude and find purpose. When conditions are chaotic and outcomes uncertain, purpose becomes the anchor, and how we choose to respond defines both our leadership and our impact.