Make courage the cornerstone of your leadership

Without some measure of courage, we will not try out new ideas, explore strange new worlds, address difficulties in our relationships or seek to improve our character. And in today’s world - candidly, in any world that humankind has encountered - we desperately need people who are willing to place themselves at some level of risk in order to create better ways and a better life for us all. 

What is the alternative? Settling for the mediocre, surviving but not thriving, stalling, atrophy and corrosion. A kind of existence, but one that is hardly energising or enjoyable, let alone abundant.  

People are wired for adventure, growth and progress, for a hopeful and abundant life. And yet this is rarely experienced without courage.

The very things that make for an energising life are by nature unusual, challenging, uncertain and carry the chance of undesirable outcomes. Risky. And as much as we may desire progress, we also like certainty. As the saying goes, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.  

Herein lies the tension for which courage - a remarkable human quality - is essential. It can be honed through practice. It can be lost in a moment. It is subjective - one person’s courageous moment is, for another, just a normal day. It is objective - we all recognise true courage when we encounter it, especially in someone else. Here follows a collection of thoughts and ideas that I hope help to frame why courage matters, how we can practice it and how we can avoid losing our courage when faced with an imminent threat.  

Fear of loss 

Courage exists in the recognition of reasonable fear - there could or will be unpleasant consequences of the decision or situation - and facing, even embracing (in a measured way) that fear and pressing forward regardless. It is recognising the instinctive desire to freeze (ignore the issue), run-away or lash out and instead to choose a more constructive and healthy stance. For the courageous, the pursuit of the greater goal, the bigger idea, of doing the right thing, supersedes the immediate feelings that go hand in hand with potential loss and consequence. 

What might some of those potential losses be? There are many, here are some of the most frequent that I experience personally and amongst our clients:  

• Personal reputation/social standing. Trying something that doesn’t work could result in a deterioration in reputation - how other people view and talk about you. Especially in talkative communities. And especially in communities that over-value status and position.  

• Financial security, especially when moving from a well paying corporate environment to something more akin to a start up. 

• Rewarding connections. Upsetting a client could result in a loss of business, which in turn would require effort to either replace the revenue or to restructure the company.  

• Friendship/quality of relationship. Not many people (me included) enjoy being called out for unwelcome behaviour. Doing so might fracture a relationship with someone we care about, or believe that we need in our lives.  

• Feeling secure. The anticipation of disappointment or in it’s expanded form, shame, can shake our sense of personal security. Not wanting to feel like a loser might be reasonable at some level, but not entering the race to avoid that potential risk will rob us of opportunities.  

The running theme through each of these examples is the desire for comfort and ease, at least in the short term. Anyone who’s avoided having a difficult conversation (all of us?) will recognise this; we know something needs to happen but would rather it happens on another day, or preferably just goes away.  

What can help us to exercise true courage?  

Strengthening in courage 

1. Do the right thing 

Doing the ‘right thing’ is an essential element of true courage and distinguishes courage from reckless bravado. There are universally accepted ideas (save for the extremely rare hyper narcissists - psychopaths - who care only for themselves) as to what the ‘right thing’ is. Dr Matthew Anderson, Executive Fellow at the University of Aberdeen summarises well: 

“What we regard as morality is pretty consistent: that is, be of good character and ethically virtuous, upholding truth and justice, through kindness, honour, integrity, magnanimity and defending the weak and powerless.” * 

If we allow ourselves to reflect honestly on the situations we encounter, we will know, deep down, the right - moral - course of action. Pushing our own personal desires down and making them subservient to those of our people - our colleagues, customers and community - gives us a chance to act with moral courage.  

2. Be clear about what truly matters.  

Too many leaders are preoccupied with today’s immediate needs, so much so that they forget the point of the organisation they are leading. Some even sacrifice the qualities that make us truly human and trustworthy - care, compassion, creativity, integrity, wisdom - in the pursuit of targets that don’t, in the grand scheme of things, matter at all.  

Here are some helpful prompts:  

• What truly matters in your work? How is your company/organisation making the world a better place? How are others benefitting from your products and services? What is truly ‘good’ about this? If this is not a question that you can answer even after some time and help, the courageous thing to do is to move on and find something else to do.  

• What character qualities matter to you? Can you identify 3 or 4? How would anyone know these qualities matter to you? What would we see and hear from you as a result? How could your diary reflect these qualities? What would those people you love the most, those who are closest to you, say in response?  

3. Set some stretching goals 

Like any muscle, courage needs frequent exercise. We can’t live off past successes and call that courage. Setting objectives that will stretch us and our teams is essential if we are to continue to lead with courage. These are some phrases that I’ve found helpful: 

Even better 

• “More of the same” is management, not leadership. Let other people look after those areas. Instead, give yourself to imagining and building what could be even better for the people and communities that you serve.  

What if we don’t? 

• For each “what if we do this and….” (and there will be many), also ask “what if we don’t?” That will help to place the fear of loss in it’s rightful place; informative but not dominant.  

With a fair wind 

• It’s an old phrase from the days of sail-power and conveys the thought that although it’s a big-ask, it might just be possible. A stretching objective consists neither in the realms of complete fantasy nor plannable reach. It will involve surprises, consistent effort and perhaps a little luck.  

Who actually cares?  

• A stretching objective must be in service to what truly matters about the company/organisation. How will colleagues, customers and the community benefit if this goal is achieved? If the answer is, ‘not a great deal’, then scrap it and look for another idea.  

4. Make yourself uncomfortable 

Placing ourselves in uncomfortable situations can provide us with the motivation we need to pursue a courageous life. Some examples include: 

• Be transparent about your hopes and aims, even though you may feel that you might be criticised later if those aims are not achieved.

• Apologise to someone that you’ve let down.

• Hand over the responsibility for something important to someone else.

• Publicly speak at an external event.

• Get to the shop-floor (or equivalent) and spend time with those on the front line doing what they do.

• Ask for help, a testimonial, a referral.

• Make a down-payment towards a stretching objective. 

Let’s make this they year that we intentionally weave courage - moral courage - into our lives and leadership. Who knows what could happen when we do! 

As a team, we’ve written more expansively on moral courage in our book, The Leaders Book. Visit here to order your copy. Or call us for a chat, we enjoy exploring these ideas with leaders in any field of work.  

*cited in ‘The Role of Leaders in Creating a Culture of Moral Courage’ published by the Centre for Army Leadership (open source).