Leading with Courage

Courage is being brave and confident enough to do what you believe is right, including the ability to act when facing opposition or even risk to your reputation. Failure to apply courage as a leader can result in avoidance of important decisions which can have serious consequences, including undermining staff morale and diminishing the business bottom line. “Daring leaders who live their values are never silent about hard things,” writes Brené Brown in her book Dare to Lead.    

Applying courage, of course, is not always easy. Winston Churchill said: "Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen." Also, a reckless approach can lead to overconfidence and poor decision making.

Unfortunately, courage can be challenging to learn or fully internalize. But, becoming a better leader requires a willingness to step outside your comfort zone to learn and grow. In their book Learning Leadership, Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner write, “you can’t expect to become better at leadership, or anything else for that matter, without doing something different than you are currently doing.”

In their book Mastering Leadership, Robert Anderson and William Adams observe that, “Great leadership is connected with the deepest parts of ourselves. It has more to do with character, courage, and conviction than it does with specific skills or competencies.” 

How are you doing when it comes to applying courage at work?  Are there things you should be doing that you are avoiding instead?  What steps could you take to up your leadership courage?

For more on this topic, you can read my recent NH Business Review column "Embracing Courage in the Workplace" at https://www.nhbr.com/embracing-courage-in-the-workplace/.