Aristotle said ‘courage is the first virtue’.

But where does courage have a place for leaders?

We could say that courage has a place very much in our daily lives. The decisions we make even simple ones often require a deal of courage.

Of course, the opposite of courage is fear. Some people are so fearful of making a decision that their life is impacted negatively - regularly.

Managers, often cloak their fear when making decisions or giving directions by asserting themselves, as assertiveness has become a default behavior.

Implied in their assertiveness is “do it my way, because I said so “.

Likely, the team of developed an entrenched response, not to challenge the manager’s assertiveness.

Many of the very successful decisions in the corporate world – let alone in our daily lives - has required courage.

We look to our leaders to live their values. Sometimes leaving your values, deeply held values, can require courage. This can occur when the leader is required to do something as a directive from senior management, which may compromise his or her values.

When this occurs, it can require courage to explain to senior management why their directive is challenging for them.

Courage is required when exploring the vision with the team - inspiring a shared vision. Any worthwhile vision, one that is hopefully going to embolden the team, to and inspire them requires courage.

After all, the vision may well involve overcoming the doubts of the team as likely it will involve uncertainty from the team members.

Through their courage, there maybe times when their courage inspires others to be courageous, to not be held back by their fear.

Leaders may even encourage team members to make decisions which were beyond the usual parameters.

Aristotle may well be tight, proven so by the decisions taken as history shows considerable impact by those who had the courage to ‘take a big step forward’.

#Leaders #Leadership #Courage