CHAPTER EIGHT
THE DISCIPLINE OF COURAGE

“Courage is the ladder on which all the other virtues mount.”

—Clare Boothe Luce

Leaders throughout the ages have been studied in an attempt to determine the qualities that make them exceptional in their time and situation. More than 50 leadership qualities have been identified. But of all of these qualities, the two that all leaders seem to have in common are vision and courage.

Leaders formulate a clear vision of where they want to take their organization in the long term. Being able to articulate this vision clearly is the key to motivating and inspiring others to work with them to make that vision a reality.

The second leadership quality that all the studies found in common was courage. Leaders have the courage to do whatever is necessary to achieve their vision. The development of courage in a leader is essential to realizing his or her full potential. Fortunately, courage can be learned and developed over time by engaging in certain behaviors over and over again.

Courage Is the Golden Mean

Aristotle is famous for his concept of the “golden mean” of virtues, as he described in his “Nicomachean Ethics.” He described courage as the golden mean between the extremes of impetuosity on the one end, and cowardice at the other end. He taught that the way to move from one extreme to the other was to overcompensate in the opposite direction from where you are today. For example, then, if you felt afraid or cowardly, you would force yourself to act impetuously; boldly going to that extreme until you eventually came back and settled down at the golden mean of courage.

Aristotle also said that the way to develop any virtue is to act as if you already had that virtue in every situation where that virtue is required. Psychologists call this the “law of reversibility.” It says that if you act in a particular way, you will eventually trigger the thoughts and feelings that would accompany those actions. By continually acting as if you already had the qualities you desire, you eventually develop those qualities as a part of your character where they become a permanent part of your personality.

Everyone Is Afraid

The fact is that everyone is afraid; the only difference is in the things we are afraid of and with what degree of intensity. For you to be a great leader, you must develop the quality of courage and use it to deal with the trials, tribulations, and turbulence of leadership, especially in today’s business environment.

The two greatest fears we all share are the fears of failure and loss on the one hand, and the fears of criticism and rejection on the other. Many other fears include poverty, embarrassment, ridicule, loss of love, loss of security or status, and so on. But all of these fears fall under one of the two umbrella categories mentioned: failure and rejection.

What is the difference, then, between the brave person and the coward? Both are afraid, but the brave person forces himself or herself to act in spite of a fear. Emerson wrote, “Do the thing you fear, and the death of fear is certain.” The only way to free yourself from fear is to do what you fear. It is for you to move toward the fear-inducing circumstance or person and as you do, the fear actually becomes smaller and more manageable. But if you back away from the fear, if you avoid the fear-causing situation or person, the fear grows larger and larger and soon dominates your thoughts and feelings.

Identify Your Biggest Goal

One of the questions we often ask in our seminars is, “What one great goal would you dare to set for yourself if you knew you could not fail?” If you were absolutely guaranteed success in any one thing in life, big or small, short or long term, what one great goal would you set for yourself?

Another question we ask is, “What have you always wanted to do but been afraid to attempt?” Often, your answer to this question indicates what you are really meant to do with your life. The things that you have been afraid to attempt in the past may be in the area where you could enjoy the greatest success and happiness, if you could just overcome your fears in that area. Your answers to each of these questions will often reveal the role that fear plays in your current decisions.

The biggest fears that most people have today break down into financial fears on the one hand, and fears of confrontation or dealing with difficult people on the other. Many companies get into serious difficulties because of the top executive’s fear of dealing with a negative or underperforming person in a key job.

You can reduce your financial fears with better planning, by organizing your financial life to live debt free and with sufficient cash reserves so that you don’t have to worry about money. You can resolve your people fears by confronting the difficult people in your life and putting an end to the negative situation that is making you unhappy. When you confront your fears, and do the thing you fear, your self-confidence and self-esteem immediately improve. But when you avoid your fears, wishing and hoping they would go away, your neocortex (the reasoning and thinking center of your brain) shuts down and you withdraw to your animal brain, or limbic system, which has only two settings—fight or flight. When pulled between the fight or flight reactions, you will be either angry or depressed. Neither of these conditions is conducive to good decision making.

Where Courage Is Required

Courage is required, and even demanded, in several areas of business life. The first area is in decision making. It takes courage to make important decisions that involve the irrevocable commitment of money and resources, especially when the outcome cannot be guaranteed.

Leaders do not like to fail. They do everything possible to avoid failure by minimizing risk. But they know that failure is inevitable and unavoidable in the pursuit of sales and profits. It is impossible to succeed without failing, sometimes over and over again, until you learn the vital lessons necessary to succeed at a high level. The key is to “fail forward,” which means using trial and error to enable you as a leader and your organization to learn and move forward. As Herodotus said, “There is no shame in failing; only in not rising again.”

Types of Decisions

Decision making is a key skill and responsibility of leadership. It is important to recognize what type of decision you need to make:

1. Decisions that you have to make: These issues are your chief responsibility. No one else can make these decisions. If you don’t make them, others cannot act. The system slows down and then stops.

2. Decisions that you don’t have to make: Sometimes you can simply remain neutral, or buy time, rather than making a decision you cannot then get out of.

3. Decisions that are not yours to make: These decisions are the responsibility of someone else, who then becomes responsible for carrying out the decision. One of the best ways to build competence and confidence in people is to delegate decision making to them, and then work with them to learn and grow through the process.

4. Decisions that you cannot not make: In the absence of a decision in this area, nothing gets done. Progress stops, and no advancement is possible.

If you are experiencing fear about making decisions, it is important to recognize that one of the main causes of fear is ignorance. It is fear of the unknown. You can greatly reduce this fear, and this block to decision making, by doing more research, by gathering more information.

Risk Taking

Another area where courage is required is in the area of risk taking. The fact is that every action or decision entails risk. We never have any guarantee that an action or decision will be successful.

Many people believe that entrepreneurs and business people are “risk takers.” Sometimes politicians encourage businesses to “take more risks,” to hire more people and stimulate the economy. But the fact is that successful business people and entrepreneurs are really “risk avoiders.” They do everything possible to minimize the risks involved in the pursuit of sales and profitability. They engage in due diligence and conduct careful research. They get as much information as possible to reduce the possibility of loss, both of time and money.

As a leader, you face several types of risk:

1. The risks you have to take: No progress is possible without moving forward into the unknown.

2. The risks that are not yours to take: They are the responsibility of someone else, like hiring a new person.

3. The risks that you can afford to take: The upside can be especially positive, the costs are low, and the downside is small.

4. The risks you cannot not take: These risks involve possible loss, but the upside for you and your company are so great if you succeed that you must take this type of risk.

Analyze each risk and determine into which category it falls. This process of assessing the actual risk reduces your fears and increases your courage.

Two Parts of Courage

The first part of courage is the courage to begin—to launch, to step out in faith, to “go boldly where no man has gone before.” The second part of courage is the courage to endure—to continue, to persist in the face of the inevitable short-term failure and temporary setbacks. This part of courage is called “courageous patience”; it is the ability to hang in there, to be resolute and determined, particularly in the period between when you launch a new product or endeavor and when you experience any results or success.

“Stay the course!” has always been an excellent piece of advice. Often it is too early to tell whether your decision is going to succeed. It is amazing how many people lose heart and pull the plug on an initiative just before it succeeds. As Ross Perot said, “Many people quit just before succeeding. That’s not the time to quite, but the time to exert even greater effort.”

The development of courage is essential to your success as a leader. You can eventually become fearless and unstoppable by practicing some of these ideas until they become entrenched habits and disciplines of both mind and action.

Action Exercises

1. Identify one area or situation in your life where fear may be holding you back, and resolve today to confront the fear situation or the person directly and deal with it once and for all.

2. Think of the biggest risk you are taking in your life today and determine whether it is your risk to take, or if it is too big a risk to take.

3. Identify the most important decisions you will have to make in the future, and determine what you would decide if you had no fear of failure.

4. In what areas of your life and work could the fear of rejection or the fear of criticism or disapproval of others be holding you back from taking action?

5. In what area do you need to act boldly, to launch into a new endeavor, even if you have no guarantees of success?

6. In what areas do you need to endure, to persist, to keep on working, even if you feel discouraged?

7. Identify the three most important lessons that you have learned from failure in the past, and how they have helped you to be a better person today.