"Thank you for an engaging and meaningful presentation. I resonated with your message about cultivating grit, fostering duty, and setting pace – and you brought those concepts to life in your video and audience involvement. Appreciated the exchange of stories about our military experiences."

“Thank you for what you’ve done for me, for my team and for veterans and leaders everywhere.”

“We haven’t had an event like this for years. It was the most on-point, useful dialogue we have had. Your communication style engaged the crowd quickly and your real life stories really helped cement the concepts. Many thanks for your time and effort. You made a difference.”

"Once Jan and I spoke I knew we had to ask him to speak at our annual Leadership Symposium (LEDx) at Air University. Of course Jan did not fail to deliver—he connected with our crowd in a way that few have done—combining the best of academic leadership theory with practicality that only a true practitioner in the art of leadership can. Thank you Jan—can not wait for next year."

"Self Reliant Leadership and their expeditions stood out right away. Jan Rutherford and his team pair transitioning military members to senior business leaders in an open environment, helping them realize they already possess the skills necessary to tackle today’s business challenges: leadership, teamwork, critical problem solving skills, resourcefulness, resilience, and a high adversity quotient. I couldn’t have asked for a better opportunity to help me understand how my last year at Amazon and my previous eight in the Coast Guard related to one another and what improvements could be made in my ability to help lead and be a part of successful teams in the future."

"I found your TEDx talk very wise…and refreshing. You have the quiet authority to make the case, without a trace of bluster or inauthenticity, for the value of perseverance and sacrifice; all the better that you tie the sufferance of personal risk and discomfort to the need to reflect on your deepest values and to live by them. Your call to action is not to change the myth-of-your-life so you like yourself better but to change your life to earn the change of story."

“I’ve done other leadership courses at Oxford and Harvard, but neither are as profound as the Crucible experience.”

“There are a lot of ways to develop the next generation of high potential leaders, but the Self-Reliant Leadership Crucible is 100% proven. Your leaders will be forever changed to the benefit of their teams and your entire organization.”

"I have been on two Crucibles with Jan, including the Patagonia trip. Jan is a superb coach. He makes you think, he makes to see things differently, and most important, he helps you see your real strengths. Jan likes to say real leaders have heroic aspirations and when you work with Jan, you believe that you can."

"The environment forced us to communicate more effectively, support and hold each other accountable, perform roles outside our comfort zone or area of expertise, and perhaps most surprisingly, have a great time doing it. Nothing is forced; he quietly prods you out of your comfort zone and let’s you see what you are capable of. The real reward is taking this experience back to my co-workers, and showing them that a team can be much more than the sum of its parts. The lessons I learned on the Crucible made me a better leader and helped me take my team to the next level."

“Notwithstanding your generation or your state of life – student, new hire, young professional, captain of industry, buck private, or general – this book will enrich your mind and ignite the spiritual forces of your leadership. Jan Rutherford is at once a fire-hardened leader, an inspiring storyteller, and a contemplative scholar. His treatment of Self-Reliant Leadership is the hypergolic fuel that will move you and your organization from excellence to extraordinary, from success to significance.”