Courageous Leadership—The Ethical Behaviors

Courageous leadership provides the impetus, knowledge, and fortitude to solve problems at all levels and enhance organizational effectiveness and job performance. Courageous leadership is a state of mind. Particularly during times of uncertainty, courage behaviors reflect ethical behaviors, such as seeing yourself as a leader no matter your role or position, confronting an uncomfortable truth/issue like admitting you made a bad hire or not being afraid to take negative action. Thinking differently and being willing to challenge the status quo requires everyday courage. In fact, today’s business climate makes it more important than ever for leaders to embrace everyday courage, but courageous leadership may not look like what you think.

Unfortunately, most people do not claim courage as one of the primary virtues they display at work. They mistakenly believe that courage is only relevant during particularly perilous times. When you identify the impediments to courageous leadership, you also find the solutions to the organization’s StuckThinking™ such as why many people are afraid to have a “courageous conversation.” The outcome based on my research: courage is caged in the workplace. Empowering courage allows you to overcome obstacles like intimidation, self-doubt and uncertainty. While courage remains a “potential” for everyone, it becomes a “reality” for only those willing to pay the price which is why it is inherently scarce!

You will learn to recognize situations that require courageous leadership such as how to give yourself permission to be courageous, confront uncomfortable truths, speak without ambiguity, transcend rejection, and find new solutions during times of uncertainty by embracing your everyday courage. With over 25 years of original research Sandra learned that there is a direct correlation between your success quotient and your courage quotient.