This week we hosted the experts from the Leaders as they shared how to craft your personal leadership vision.

By Phil Eyre, Founder and Director at Leaders Consultancy 

Why do we need courage?

As leaders, we are seeking to change things, bring new ideas into life, create and improve products and services. It is natural to have concerns about what this might lead to, we usually prefer certainty and clarity whereas leading involves ambiguity and change. But when concern becomes fear, we need courage to overcome fear and continue to press forward and make good decisions.

Courage is not the absence of fear, it’s the facing of it.

Typical fears for business owners and leaders 

Fear is a multifaceted emotion, but some common fears include:

  • fear of failure, which will crimp innovation
  • fear of criticism will suffocate openness
  • fear of rejection will stall growth
  • fear of not being needed will prevent delegation
  • fear of the unknown will paralyse decision making.

Plus, we can be drawn to seek short term gratification; we can be tempted to prefer short term gains rather than make better decisions for the long term.

In the short term, we can be tempted to:

  • quit when we’re not seeing the results we want
  • be careless because we’re ‘so very busy’
  • take excessive risk, recklessly placing ourselves in danger
  • blame others for our problems rather than creating new solutions.

Moral Courage

Pursuing moral courage is at the heart of excellent leadership; the ability to decide with conviction and implement with compassion.

Strong decisions are not enough on their own; they need to be connected with compassion. Without compassion, our high conviction choices can become self-serving and unhealthy. Good decisions are connected to vision and purpose, rooted in healthy values (goodness, integrity, truth, justice, honour) and connected to the mission of the organisation. These might not be easy decisions, but they are courageous ones.

Headline strategies

  • Don’t obsess about competitors. They’re doing their thing, you’re doing yours. Focus instead on strengthening you’re offering and in delighting your customers.
  • Apply the 24 hour rule; celebrate successes for 24 hours and then get back to work. Commiserate losses for 24 hours and then get back to work. It’s in the consistent doing of our work that we make progress. Talking about the work isn’t the work! –
  • Hold your nerve when pricing, especially in the early days. Be careful not to set a low-bar precedent out of fear of never achieving the value you deserve.
  • Put effort into good business, not busyness for the sake of it. Sometimes we do well to relax and let good things grow rather than force them. Fear creates the desire to force things and chase too hard. It takes courage sometimes to ‘chill’.
  • Notice your milestones and progress. It helps to recognise what has been achieved when we’re telling ourselves it’s all over (which is neither true nor kind!). When under pressure, take a breather before making an impulsive decision. Take a walk, take a rest and then decide. (But don’t over-rest; a decision is still needed)

Further Reading:

1. Leaders blog: “True Courage is from the Heart”

2.The Centre for Army Leadership: The Role of Leaders in Building a Culture of Moral Courage

3. Book: “Fear Less, How to win your way in work and life”, Dr Pippa Grange

For more resources on Mastering the Art of Leadership, click here.