The courageous leader needs to…..

understand that to be courageous, one must possess the ability to face difficulty, uncertainty or pain, without being overcome by fear or intimidated by consequences. Wow, that’s a mouthful and yet how many of this type of leader to you know or work for? My guess would be, not many, and why is that?
How does one do this? How does one come to this reality? How does one act on these consistently?
To help our reflection here, let me offer a few ideas .
Courageous Leaders need:
• More confidence in principles and virtues than in personalities.

-Confidence is self assurance and belief that one is living out not only one’s personal principles and virtues but that are truly in sync with the organization’s principles and virtues consistently.
• A high tolerance for ambiguity, exposure and personal loss.

– To have tolerance is not a weakness, but really a strength. Tolerance is recognizing the value of another person despite the other person’s attitude, talk, etc. Tolerance allows time to defuse whatever the emotional state is in order to get to the real issues of disagreement. Tolerance is not about power, but how one uses it.

• An acceptance of deferred gratification and simple rewards.

The age of immediate entitlement or reward is fast waning and is short llived. The concept of “reward” needs to be revisited. The simple rewards are a job well done, a great working culture, cooperation for and from all levels of the organization, etc.

• Formidable persistence and determination.

– If there is not consistency, ongoing re-enforcement of principles and the everyday living out of those principles and virtues, any positive effects will be short lived