Amid news of the destruction wrought by Hurricane Harvey, they were flashes of extraordinary human courage and heroism.

When a woman in labor was trapped in her apartment by floodwater, volunteers formed a human chain to pull her out. A doctor canoed to the local hospital to perform emergency surgery on a 16-year-old boy. An elderly couple was rescued from their home by a restaurant employee on a jet ski.

As Texas Monthly put it, “Harvey was not a catastrophe for Houston; it was our finest hour.”

Nancy Koehn, a professor at the Harvard Business School and author of the forthcoming book "Forged In Crisis," is an expert in how human leadership is tested during emergencies. She joined Boston Public Radio to explain how ordinary people in Texas have risen to the occasion. 

Click the audio player above to hear more from Nancy Koehn.