Courage is not about being absolutely fearless, diving into even the most challenging situations with pure grit, tenacity, and willpower — this devil-may-care attitude is actually reckless and irresponsible and may cause irreparable damage to your business. In truth, it is distinguished by purposeful, steadfast boldness to take risks, accept challenges, and make revolutionary decisions. Courage is what sets great leaders apart from good managers.
Leaders need courage because it’s what will allow them to take risks and search for innovative solutions for the business. It’s also what pushes them to persevere despite challenges and obstacles, never stopping until goals are met. Courage will keep them innovating even while they’re standing alone.
This article discusses the reasons why courage is necessary for a leader to be successful in managing and leading a team through progress, changes, and challenges — facets that make up a diverse, evolving business. We will also talk about how courage can easily be misconstrued as fearlessness — a dangerous misconception that carries many avoidable risks — and why it entails accountability and honesty. Let’s start!
Do Leaders Need Courage?
Leaders need courage to effectively manage their teams and lead them toward achieving the goals they’ve set, both as individuals and as a group. It’s what will fuel them in taking on new challenges and solving the trickiest of problems.
Courageous leaders do not go the extra mile merely for show, or to earn others’ admiration, nor to avoid criticisms and disapproval. Coupled with good ethics and the right principles, courageous leaders will take the business to new heights simply because they believe it’s the right thing to do.
Let’s take a closer look at why courageous leadership is necessary for a business to thrive:
1. Courage Is Key to Being Resolute
Standing up for what you believe in takes courage, even more so if it means you’ll be standing up alone. It’s about upholding values and ideas you believe are best for the team. It’s about unwaveringly advocating for causes you know will help your business go straight to the top.
Leaders also need courage because they have to be conscientious in effectively leading a team toward progress and success. Doing the right thing isn’t always easy, especially when people around you don’t take your side or choose to be passive about a particular issue.
I remember a story a friend shared about a colleague from a consultancy firm she used to work with. One of the benefits they enjoyed was a substantial monthly gas allowance in the form of a company card. The limit was considerable enough that it allowed them to use this card even for personal matters completely unrelated to their work. Essentially, all they had to do was swipe the card to keep their gas tanks full.
This colleague was adamant about keeping a check on her gas expenditures, never going beyond a realistic limit she set for herself. Whenever she reached that self-imposed limit, she would pay for her gas expenses from her own pocket. She went on with this practice even if people around her continuously teased her about being so frugal and considerate.
“This is the company’s money anyway, already set aside for us to enjoy.”
“It’s a benefit you should be making the most out of. After all, you work so hard!”
Despite such statements that she constantly hears, this colleague was steadfast because she believed it was the right thing to do.
Months later, she was practically handed a promotion on a silver platter. Apparently, her honesty, resoluteness, and conscientiousness have long been noticed and appreciated, and she was top of mind when a position opened up. Management knew she was a person they can trust, and this was one essential aspect they were searching for in a good leader.
2. Courage Helps Overcome Fear
“Fear is a reaction. Courage is a decision.”
Winston Churchill
As a leader, you’ll frequently find yourself in situations that require you to think out of the box and come up with innovative solutions to solve pressing issues. If you’re armed with courage, the fear of garnering criticism from your peers, losing your team’s partiality, or the possibility of failure won’t stop you.
Pushing for innovation is risky because, oftentimes, it goes against the grain of the company. Innovative ideas and solutions call for people to try out something new — and new things always have a high risk of failure, especially if the notion hasn’t been previously tried and tested at all.
Courageous leaders are capable of taking the business to new heights with their decisiveness and persistence for innovation. They are fully aware that new strategies, cutting-edge solutions, and unexplored frontiers are daunting and high-risk, yet they will choose to pursue these since they know that overcoming fear is one surefire way to break barriers and take the business to the next level.
3. Courage Affords Balance Between Fear and Over-Confidence
On that note, courage is not about being utterly fearless and brash. A truly courageous leader is someone who strikes a balance between fear and over-confidence.
“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”
Nelson Mandela
Courage doesn’t mean blindly rushing into situations armed with just determination and bravado. Rather, it allows you to master your emotions and respond to risks responsibly so you don’t put your team and the business in jeopardy.
Let’s break down these 2 concepts further:
Fear
Fear is a human instinct closely associated with survival. It typically triggers the fight-or-flight response. In the business setting, fear is what keeps us from pushing forward. We choose to either power through tricky situations or completely abandon them.
Before allowing fear to take over, here are some questions to ponder:
Can this really harm me and my team? How?
What are the consequences if I choose to push through? What if I don’t?
What’s the worst that can happen?
It’s courage that allows a leader to temper fear and sit back, evaluate scenarios, and weigh all options to come up with the best possible solutions for the business
Over-Confidence
Confidence is great, but over-confidence isn’t. It’s a dangerous perspective that forces you to take unnecessary risks that can be irreversibly detrimental to the business.
Before allowing confidence to take complete control over you, here are some thoughts to mull over:
Will this make a significant impact on the company?
Are the risks worth taking?
Are there any other alternatives that offer fewer risks?
Have I explored all possibilities?
It’s courage that allows leaders to pull back the reins on over-confidence so that arrogance and recklessness won’t endanger the team and the business.
4. Courage Equips You To Step Out of Your Comfort Zone
“Great things never came from comfort zones.”
Anonymous
When someone is described as “courageous,” you probably instantly envision a fearless, brave warrior fighting against all odds for an immensely noble cause. This may hold true on the big screen or a theater stage, but in the real world, courageous people can be regular folk like you and me.
Courage in leadership enables you to step into the spotlight so you can do whatever the situation requires — especially if nobody else is willing to do so. It emboldens you to not always go with the flow, but rather, to always think for yourself and do what you know is right.
Whether it’s about challenging the norm because it’s no longer as coherent as it once was, becoming a whistle-blower by exposing a scandal in the workplace, or standing up to higher management to fight for the approval of a project that everyone invalidates but which you know will be highly beneficial for the business, you will need courage to accomplish these feats.
5. Courage Expands Your Horizon
“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.”
T.S. Eliot
Like most leaders, you probably have high aspirations and lofty plans for yourself and the business. Unfortunately, you really won’t go anywhere with just those ambitions and goals up your sleeve. What you really need is to pursue them and persevere until you achieve them.
Courage in leadership is what will create growth and push the business forward. It is what fuels ambitions, actions, and the relentless drive to achieve set goals, whether it’s for your personal growth, the team’s advancement, or the organization’s progression.
Courageous leaders cannot be satisfied for long with just the current status quo. You can count on them to continually push for higher goals, better strategies, more clients, increased productivity, and higher profits. They’re eager to discover and try new things to expand the business’ outlook.
6. Courage Makes Accountability a Must
“On one side of accountability is courage, on the other is freedom.”
Jean Hamilton-Ford
Courageous leaders are known for spearheading innovative projects, taking risks, and employing cutting-edge strategies to help push the business onward. They are also recognized for sticking to their principles and not walking away when the situation gets tough.
It takes courage to admit mistakes. It is especially tricky for leaders who must maintain a reputation of proficiency, professionalism, and excellence at their job. Taking responsibility for both successes and failures — and not placing the blame on their team — is the mark of a true leader.
Trust and respect fostered through integrity and accountability are at the forefront of a courageous leader’s management style. They know that these values are what will inspire their team to follow their lead, support their causes, and perceive them as a role model worth emulating.
At Sancus Leadership, we believe that honesty and accountability are core values that must take center stage in any successful team.
Book a call with us so you can start exploring how courage in leadership can help you and your team achieve your goals faster!
