What would be true if we could summon ten percent, twenty percent or more courage? What unpleasant or even disastrous circumstances might be avoided? What might we achieve that otherwise we can only imagine? Just in the context of recent headlines what might be different?
Courage is a universally admired virtue, and one typically associated with bravery on the battlefield, heroic rescues or physical trials. That kind of courage is admirable, and we are all better off for it. Tomorrow’s challenges will call for additional forms of courage, however – capacities that will be especially important for leaders and organizations to demonstrate and cultivate.
We will need the courage of entrepreneurs and other pioneers who to put their ideas, innovations and resources on the line, without any certainty of success and distinct possibilities of rejection. Our recent economic climate has been especially challenging for those with untested ideas and business propositions; the temptation is strong to invest energy and resources in only the sure bets. To succeed, entrepreneurs’ courage will need to be matched by the “en-courage-ment” of markets and investors.
We will need the courage of authenticity – trueness, truth and transparency. Leaders and institutions displaying the courage of trueness remain true to their mission and values; they persist in the face of adversity while adapting as needed. I agree with Howard Schultz, Starbucks’ CEO, who said “winners use adversity as opportunities to reinforce their values; losers use adversity as an opportunity to abandon them.” For example, it is easier (and requires less creativity) to abandon commitments around nice-sounding values like “environmental stewardship” or “community citizenship” when the chips are down and so is the bottom line. Without the courage of trueness, it might become easier for some not-for-profits to focus more attention on growing their margins than on fulfilling their missions.
We need more leaders and organizations that model and cultivate truth-telling, including the capacity to face “inconvenient truths” and articulate unpopular opinions. We hail the behavior of whistleblowers like Sharon Watkins at Enron and Mark Zachary at Countrywide, and created legal mechanisms to protect them, because there is generally much at stake to stand up and say out loud: “This is wrong!” There was no doubt significant pressure and much at stake preventing workers on the BP oil rig that blew from voicing greater concern over violation of safety protocol. Truth-telling need not be that dramatic; it might take the form of a board or committee member calling attention to facts that others would rather not face or of stating an unpopular opinion. To paraphrase Andy Grove, Intel’s CEO, if leaders lack the courage to face brutal facts, brutal reality sets in.
Authentic leaders possess not just the courage of their convictions, but the courage to have their convictions challenged. “Truth” is a team sport; our communities and institutions will be better off when we collaboratively seek truth instead of attempting to convince each other that we already possess it. When already convinced that we alone know the truth we end up with the entrenched positions, gridlock, vitriol and even violence that politics has descended into instead of true dialog in the public’s best interest.
Winston Churchill helped us understand that “courage is not the absence of fear, but acting in the face of our fears.” Why can some do that and others not? Why can we in some circumstances but not in others? In a recent New York Times Science article I learned that part of the answer has to do with our brain’s subgenual anterior cingulate cortex – a thumbnail-size bundle of neurons that moderates between our cognition and emotion, and serves to dial down our amygdala, fear’s “central headquarters.” Getting back to my original question, though, how might we summon that ten, twenty or more percent courage that could make all the difference?
I like to think of courage as “heart,” and in fact the word courage comes from the French word for heart: “couer.” Just as we strengthen our heart muscles by exercising them, part of how we can strengthen our courage is to exercise it – first with smaller challenges, then larger ones. First we find the strength to voice unpopular opinions in small meetings with peers, then with our boss, and eventually in large meetings where the stakes are even higher.
Another way to fortify courage is to remind ourselves of what matters most; knowing what we live for can give us the strength to deal with almost any how. On a personal level we can remind ourselves of an important purpose, values we hold dear, loved ones or how we want to be remembered. Organizations too can draw on their sense of purpose, remind members of their work’s impact and importance, and draw upon organizational values or stories for inspiration.
Sometimes we lose courage and fail to act because we’ve told ourselves stories about, or exaggerated potential consequences. We fear rejection, for example, believing that the rejection will be personal versus the rejection of just an idea. Sometimes organization members don’t speak up because they fear job consequences when there has been no history of that, or perhaps an isolated incident many years in the past under different leadership.
A supportive community – family, friends or coworkers – encourages the heart. We need to keep company with those who support our courageous steps and provide that support to others. Organizations that wish to strengthen their courage reserves need to en-courage innovation, truth-telling and other courageous acts.
Courage and integrity are pretty much inseparable; where we find one we will generally find the other. In my book Navigating Integrity – Transforming Business As Usual into Business At Its Best, I share more examples of ways that courage can help us navigate four integrity challenges that most leaders and organizations face: Identity, Authenticity, Alignment and Accountability.
What aspect of your life or work would benefit from exercising more courage?
What strategies might you employ to build up your personal courage capacity?
How might more displays of courage benefit your organization?
What strategies might your organization employ to build up its courage reserves?
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