BRAVELY STAYING THE COURSE!

There are three must-have traits for courageous leadership in today’s environment – Merilee Kern

While some contest whether or not former British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill actually said “success is not final, failure is not fatal – it is the courage to continue that counts,” the power of that statement looms large irrespective of origin.

Amidst the wildly unforeseen fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, this quote is rather prophetic. It speaks to prosperity not being taken for granted and the notion that failure in and of itself isn’t a death knell.

Relative to business specifically, it also evokes many questions about the very nature of courage – a concept oft characterised by the demonstration of “strength in the face of pain or grief.”

Of course, it’s presumed that successful leaders can and should inherently be courageous; but in what exact regard is courage a ‘mission critical’ managerial quality?

To what extent should a leader exude courageousness rather than humility? What actions or results thereof exemplify how courageous or not a leader is? Can a wholly well-intentioned show of courage backfire and end up doing more harm than good?

We’re currently living in an unprecedented and decidedly challenging point in time when courage seems to be the order of the day.

In an attempt to garner some clarity on how this is actually defined and perceived when in practice, I took these and other questions to an assortment of experts and leaders in the business community.

The result of that outreach is as eye-opening as it’s inspiring with salient inputs including this top-line wisdom.

BE COMMITTED By its very nature, the notion of courage connotes danger and evokes a sense of fear. Were there not peril, valour need not be required. Dean of Oxford College of Emory University Douglas Hicks underscores that courage not only enables someone “to take risks that others fear in order to achieve something important” but also, that doing so requires a backbone.

He says: “Courage is not about sticking one’s finger in the air to see which way the wind is blowing, what others are saying. It requires both self-confidence and resolve. CEOs show courage when they commit to keep employees on the payroll in (the) face of recession and do whatever it takes to create long-term profitability.”

For those businesses that aren’t exactly linear and instead operate as a continuously evolving process (such as healthcare, education and financial management), Chairman and CEO of Nicola Wealth John Nicola notes: “Courage comes from the consistency of your message, your ability to support it and the loyalty of your people delivering it in all environments.”

Not only germane to one’s actions, Nicola points out that fortitude and determination also manifest in a passive sense by “choosing to do nothing in the face of unrelenting pressure to act.” This is the courage of conviction that’s based on principles of an individual leader, a leadership team or the company at large.

Amidst the unfolding pandemic-related challenges and during prior catastrophic events such as the dot-com crash and Great Recession of 2007-8, Nicola has leaned on corporate ideology for sustenance.

“During each of these periods, we were under pressure to sell as markets dropped, to not rebalance and try and catch a falling knife, to go into cash and ride out the storm,” he says.

Instead, he mustered the courage and chose “to do what we believed the right thing to do was.” This decision ultimately resulted in significant performance benefits for his business’ clients.

CEO of leadership development outfit Linkage Jennifer McCollum further substantiates that courageous leaders stick steadfastly to their personal standards. She cites her organisation’s research findings, which are drawn from 100,000 leadership assessments with data from more than a million leaders, revealing specific behaviours that make a leader courageous.

One of the three found is: “Acts in alignment with personal values in challenging, conflicting or ambiguous situations.”

With courage as a character trait not to be discounted as a key determinant of a leader’s overarching achievements, McCollum clarifies that through her outfit’s study over 30 years on what most effective leaders do: “We know courage is a critical leadership practice that differentiates the most effective leaders from the rest.”

BE VULNERABLE According to the CEO of Money Club (formerly Ortus Academy) Aaron Velky, courageous leadership includes the decision to be truthful and vulnerable.

He says: “Whether or not the truth is easy to share and whether or not you know what speaking the truth will create as an outcome, courage is the ability to offer up where you are and what is real so that someone can process it individually.”

However, Velky goes on to clarify that bravely delivering hard messages is not enough. He explains: “When we share truth, we have to be prepared to listen. But listening is vulnerable – and that’s important too. Courage is owning what we are experiencing. Vulnerability is sharing it – the good, bad and emotionally jarring.”

Being able to admit and share regarding future uncertainties also speaks to vulnerability as a facet of courageous leadership. In fact, Velky says that the decision to acknowledge not only what is truthful and known – but also, the unknown – is another distinct decision a brave leader makes.

He asserts that one needs to be fiercely committed to recognising what and how much hasn’t been figured out. “Stating the unknowns mitigates the toxicity that is felt when you hide fears and the reasons to have them. Fears are okay and the unknown is okay once you acknowledge it.”

One business leader who’s walking that highly exposed walk of vulnerability is the CEO of Cropsticks Mylen Yamamoto Tansingco. Cropsticks is a social and environmentally minded B Corporation operating in the food service and hospitality industry. “I don’t have all the answers and I’m not going to pretend I do either,” she admits.

Tansingco publicly shared what Cropsticks is currently going through as a result of the pandemic. She explains: “I’m hoping to keep our community motivated and feel seen during this time.”

While she understands this is not without some level of risk, Tansingco avers: “I hope it doesn’t become a ‘courage fail’ after this is all over.” Yet, she took a leap of faith into that unknown anyway.

BE UNDAUNTED Uniquely drawing on her experiences as a standup comedian before entering the corporate world, CEO of Wonder Woman Writer Jennifer Jay Palumbo feels that being a courageous leader is accomplished by having unwavering poise.

“You have to believe in yourself and your idea no matter how the person in the room reacts or not” and “trust that you’re talented and smart enough to figure it out and still accomplish the task at hand.”

The idea that courageous leadership requires a willingness and ability to fail, and “get back up again” no matter how many times it needs to be done, is one that’s shared by Founder and Executive Director of Mercy Project Chris Field.

What particularly captures my imagination is Field’s belief that for courageousness to be a leadership asset, it must be a concerted choice – a daily decision rather than happenstance.

“Courage is a muscle, one we must exercise and grow by being courageous… one decision at a time,” he observes, and adds: “Courage takes many forms but none of them happen by accident.”