In Andy Stanley’s The Next Generation Leader, he lists several key areas a leader must master to be effective: competence, courage, clarity, coachability, and character. Last week I wrote about competence, this week we’ll review courage.

As I promised, I asked my former manager to comment on the four questions Andy suggested we all ask leaders who know us well to help us evaluate where our core competencies really lie. His responses were very interesting. A few I anticipated, but one really struck me as interesting. He suggested that my skills and abilities might be better suited to a leadership role in business development and/or technology innovation. I don’t disagree with his suggestion. I just hadn’t thought that I’d be considering such a role so early in my career. Maybe it’s time I stop thinking of myself as “too young” for certain projects or responsibilities. I think this is where courage comes in.

As Andy suggests:

If you don’t conquer your fear, you are going to miss out on some great things in life [p.53].

I have to say the moments I’ve been bold enough to charge into uncertainty have been few. It isn’t that I haven’t enjoyed the outcome when I do pursue new challenges. I’m pretty calculating, and generally take calculated risks that carry minimal risk of failure. I’m beginning to see that I need to push myself a bit harder to allow that calculated risk factor to be a bit higher if I want to grow as a leader. Once the initial plunge is taken, I can begin to minimize that risk again through effective leadership, but I’ll only take small plunges if I keep my acceptable risk factor as low as I have in the past.

Another way to put it, which is encouraging for me, is that “failure to move things forward is the type of failure most feared by the leader [p. 55].” To me this means I need to remember that good is the enemy of great. I need to be willing to challenge the good progress we’ve made as a team in order to push for great accomplishments. Accepting the status quo should be the failure I fear most.

Andy contrasts a leader who is careful with one who is fearful:

• Careful is cerebral; fearful is emotional.
• Careful is fueled by information; fearful is fueled by imagination.
• Careful calculates risk; fearful avoids risk.
• Careful wants to achieve success; fearful wants to avoid failure.
• Careful is concerned about progress; fearful is concerned about protection.
  Source: The Next Generation Leader, p. 63

I fall in the middle on a few of these, and am closer to the ‘careful’ side of the spectrum on most. Permission to be careful, but not fearful is liberating: As I build the courage to leap, it is okay to look down for a landing before I plunge into oblivion.

Andy suggests there are three expressions of courage in a leader:

1. The courage to say no. Opportunity does not equal obligation.
2. The courage to face current reality. “If you don’t know where you really are, it is impossible to get where you need to be [p. 73].”
3. The courage to dream. Dream no small dreams, for they stir not the hearts of men.

I been wrestling with the fact that we must constantly choose between good opportunities and great ones – and the admission that this takes incredible courage. Mediocrity is safe, requires little risk, and even less courage. Greatness requires the internal security to face and conquer risks. Where have I settled for mediocrity? Where can I push for greatness today?

Filed under: Leadership