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Courage is the Foundation of Leadership
When people talk about courage, they almost never point to their heads. They point to their chests. The word courage comes from the French word for heart, coeur, meaning the ability to stand by one’s heart or to stand by one’s core. People with courage tend to be restless, vivacious, and brazen.
Courageous people trust their intuition. They are open to the magical ways of the universe. They are often seen as unconventional or mysterious. The strength of their character draws people to them. Some are quietly courageous; others are outrageously brave and daring. Courageous people are bright and creative. They respond to changing situations with innovation and possibility.
Great courage is about being present. Real. Not faking it. Developing courage is letting go of what others think you should be and boldly showing the world who, in reality, you are. As a result, your inborn gifts are more readily available and people are drawn to you irresistibly. The five-step way for developing courage is:
- Face your fear
- Explore your vulnerability
- Lean toward the risk
- Celebrate your failure
- Take action - again, and again, and again
We develop courage by facing our fears. By tackling the big questions. When we label fear as bad or something to avoid, we create resistance that can magnify fear disproportionately. Our unconscious suppression numbs and deadens us and keeps us from living life fully in the moment.
We come across as inauthentic and we deprive others of our truth. Resisting an emotion in ourselves, whether it’s fear, anger, or sadness, keeps us from facing it in others. Whatever emotion we resist often becomes the one most persistent in our lives.
It’s natural to be fearful of following our hearts or baring our souls. Fear shows up in the things that we want most. When we admit our heart’s desire, we feel an emotional risk. And that’s the heart’s challenge - to explore our deepest desires. To share those desires despite the risk of being misunderstood, ridiculed, or unappreciated. For those willing to take risks, passion is easily expressed, but for most of us revealing our inner core or our spark is a continual process of unfolding.
Sometimes we choose caution. We’re afraid of appearing either too conservative or too radical. We preserve our reputations, but at what price? Sometimes the price we pay is appearing passionless, mediocre, and unmemorable. The answer to "What will people think?" is that they will think nothing. If we refuse to take a stand we go unnoticed. We do not stand out in a crowd. It’s a courageous act to take a stand. When we edit our thoughts, rehearse our emotions, and act as we think we should, we hide our true selves. The unwillingness to give voice to what we see feeds the False Self. The more we pretend, perform or withhold, the more we abandon our True Self.
Explore Your Vulnerability
When we express our fears, others feel our experience - deeply. We project richness when we share our experiences of trial and error. There’s no sense in pretending infallibility, because people see right through it. Instead of futilely trying to cover our weaknesses, we can increase our personal power by not holding Back and we let others see us as human.
When we seek excellence over perfection, authenticity is unveiled. Sometimes we make the mistake of equating vulnerability with softness or weakness. Yet, the truth is that we all have a sensitive core. Strength is not petrified hardness but mental and emotional agility. When we’re in conflict emotionally, our bodies are twisted. When we let go of the facade, it shows up in our eyes and our voices. Sharing our uniqueness conveys how special we are. When we admit our vulnerabilities we expose our True Selves - without apology.
Celebrating Your Failure
Another fear that can keep us from becoming more powerful is the fear of making a mistake or appearing foolish. As we courageously reveal our spark, we give ourselves full permission to take chances and make mistakes. Willingness to fail or make a mistake has a power all its own. We learn far less from doing things right than we learn from failure. Many entrepreneurs have admitted that their early failures and bankruptcies held more learning than any master’s degree.
We become more human and accessible through failure, and the pressure is off in the same way that a basketball team that loses its first game never has to worry about maintaining an undefeated season. Using mistakes to advantage unleashes our potency. When we trust our instincts we take a more adventurous stance. Taking chances enables us to embrace our fear as fuel for continuous growth. Savor the pain of failure. Appreciate the learning to be had. Recognize the hidden gift of renewal it offers - the permission to begin again and again and again.
Leaning Toward The Risk
Stand up and be counted! Such controversial thinking may mean taking the opposite view, pushing the envelope, thinking the unthinkable, or outright courting danger. Courageous leaders love the race of their own heartbeat. They are fueled by adrenaline. They paint risk with a broad brush. For some, it’s the seductive life of the gambler. Others are more calculated and certain of the outcome.
Martin Luther King, Jr. seemed to know his time on earth would be short, when he said, "I have seen the promise land. I may not get there with you." He climbed the mountain of risk so that others might live more fully, more freely.
Taking risks is one of the best routes to developing self-confidence. In concert, you invite the confidence of others. When you try something risky, a few may reject you. So what? They will be far outnumbered by the people who appreciate your vitality. Taking risk helps you become more genuine, more confident, and more courageous.
Taking Action - repeatedly...
Acting boldly and truthfully reveals your beauty, your personal magic, and your charm. Life is choice. You can live your life in fear of making mistakes. You can live your life choosing to act in alignment with your deepest values.
It would be foolish to suggest that being courageous means every act will be endorsed by society. Mignon McGlaughlin says, "Every society loves its alive conformists and its dead troublemakers." Politicians know that making a desirable impact doesn’t always win followers. Sometimes rebellion, or doing things differently from the norm, is an act of self-sacrifice. Someone has to pave the way for the good of all. Rebels are a necessity in a free society for identifying unmet needs and planting the seeds of change.
A word of caution, however: sometimes rebels have trouble becoming effective leaders until they learn to respect the boundaries that empower rather than diminish others. It’s a fine thing to envision a better future, but it’s useless when coupled with indecisiveness or a reluctance to take action. Taking action and calling others to action is the undeniable attribute of a leader. Be both a rebel and a leader.
As people act on their courage, they rarely eradicate fear from their lives. As leaders evolve, their fears change shape, vacillating between a slap in the face and a tamed tiger. Courageous people learn to use fear as the foundation for leadership. At Leadership that Works, we challenge our clients to tap into their courage - to use fear as the signpost of what’s next.
Fear is your personal invitation from Life to develop your courage, to develop character, to develop your own personal code of honor. To know when to take action when it isn’t always safe, known, or popular to do so. Which path will you choose? Will you accept Life’s invitation to act with courage?
Martha Lasley is the author of this column and a business coach at Leadership that Works, a firm that offers training and coaching for individuals and companies.
E-mail or call her at 570-297-2270. She specializes in enhancing performance to reach business and career goals.
© 1999 Leadership that Works