A Call for Courage
By Gary Gzik
I started my day as I always do; reading an inspirational message. The impact of the message was profound and is the basis of this article. The inspirational message reads:
“Fearlessness may be a gift, but perhaps more precious is the courage acquired through endeavour, courage that comes from cultivating the habit of refusing to let far dictate one’s actions, courage that could be described as ‘grace under pressure’ – grace which is renewed repeatedly in the face of harsh, unremitting pressure.” – Aung San Suu Kyi
Aristotle called courage the first virtue because it makes all other virtues possible. Courage is the foundation that helps leaders stand tall in the face of adversity, economic uncertainty and helps confront the barriers and challenges blocking performance. When times are tough, and the temptation exists to work in isolation, leaders need to ignite people’s courage. The leader’s role is to break free from the chains of fear and to kick start the impact of courage.
First, leaders need to get a true perspective on the situation. Leaders expect their people to act courageously and yet many leaders lock themselves in their offices and doubt their ability to impact change. It’s time to lead the troops with conviction, confidence and courage.
Look at the three attitudes of courage.
Attitude 1: The Courage to Fail Forward: This courage involves embracing mistakes. Encouraging new innovation and if failure happens, learn from it. In essence, fail forward. This sends a message to your team not to accept status quo and that you are open and support efforts of innovation. Your team won’t try new things or volunteer new ideas if they fear the outcome. There is nothing wrong with failing.....just fail forward.
Attitude 2: The Courage of Sharing Responsibility: Trust is a key component to this attitude. Having to control everything due to fear does not build character or responsibility in others. Are you like that? Do you need to know everything before a decision is made? Are you feeding into a paralysis state? To build performance you need the courage to let others’ share in the responsibility for producing results.
Attitude 3: The Courage of Dialogue: This attitude of courage is imperative to success. This involves speaking up, raising difficult issues, asking the tough questions, sharing unpopular decisions. This can really impact integrity in the form of admitting mistakes or seeking conversation about a difficult situation. Leadership is about having a courageous voice. You can’t ignite courage if your team can’t hear you!
So ask yourself each morning; how will I demonstrate my courage today? Make a clear plan on what that means and execute that plan.
One last inspirational message from Maya Angelou
“One isn't necessarily born with courage, but one is born with potential. Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can't be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest.”
For more information on inspirational Leadership, , contact Gary Gzik at ggzik@bizxcel.com.
Gary Gzik is the CEO of BizXcel and has been a consultant for businesses for over 20 years. He has worked with hundreds of organizations and more than 10 000 individuals in areas of leadership development, effective communication skills, strategic planning, presentation skills, team building, customer service and personal development.
