Different Meanings for Courage

Courage will mean different things to people based on their level of courage development, such as taking a risk to admit a mistake or to admit a bad staff hire. Each employee, whether boss or subordinate, brings his/her definition of courage to work and what it means to exhibit courageous leadership. Courage will sometimes be demonstrated under duress by a few and witnessed by a slew of people, such as whistle blowing or saying what everyone else is thinking.

Unfortunately, pure courage leadership is rarely learned or displayed by the majority much less demonstrated at the top. Courage leadership is deceptively simple. Does your organization (family) allow you to share with candor your thoughts and experiences?

Your perspective on this issue is critical because you approach your organization with your viewpoint (script). Based on your upbringing and work experiences each human spirit brings to work (personal relationships) a worldview that they perceive to be right. The adherence to a particular belief system such as “Whatever we do it must be fair to everyone,” “I’m getting too old for this…”, “I’ll never get ahead with this company as long as they …” or the best way to manage people is to get tough and pound them (until apathy sets in),” stems from a predetermined belief or script. Scripts are the undercurrent that undercut courage leadership. 

I would love for you to share your courage comments by posting them below. 

Sandra Ford Walston is known as The Courage Expert and innovator of StuckThinking™. She is an organizational effectiveness consultant, speaker, internationally published author of bestseller COURAGE, trainer and courage coach. She is certified in the Enneagram and MBTI®. Please visit www.sandrawalston.com.