Leadership Courage: Desired, Yet Elusive

We are steeped in the process of gathering evidence to prove (or disprove) my hypothesis that what leaders need now are compassion, courage, and humility. Part of that work involves an assessment of leaders of varying levels across diverse industries. At the time of this writing, we have 183 fully completed surveys, and there are patterns emerging. Today, leadership courage and its interplay with the power dynamic at work is on my mind, and I thought I would share some emerging data along with recent client stories that illustrate the findings.

We asked the leaders taking the assessment to tell us how important it was to them that their leaders take courageous action when warranted. As an executive coach, this is something clients often lament—will “they” do the right thing—take a stand on an important issue, refuse to accept intolerable behavior, tell the whole truth, etc.? Eighty-two percent of respondents said it is “very important” that their leaders do this. Yet when asked if their leader does take courageous action when warranted, only 39 percent strongly agreed (see Figure 1). By the way, these same leaders self-reported taking this same action themselves “almost always” 20 percent of the time and “usually” 52 percent of the time.

I recently asked three executive-level leaders to participate in a panel discussion before their full business unit’s leadership team. Their task: Tell a story in which you demonstrated leadership courage at some point in your career.

Two shared stories about making decisions to uphold their own personal values and those of the organization for which they worked. Both decisions held short-term financial downsides for the company, and both had opponents from peers in powerful positions. But both decisions protected customers and the long-term health of the business. One leader’s courageous action involved flagging a poor decision outside of her function. She was told by a peer to “stay in her lane,” a concept that is counter to highly cohesive teams that welcome constructive feedback and input into their area of responsibility. Despite the pressure, these courageous leaders were compelled to make the right decision.

The third leader recounted a time, early in her career, when she stood up to a bully boss, her own leader’s boss. She could’ve jeopardized her job. She learned a great deal about how one goes about this type of thing and would do things differently a second time around. Yet her courage was supported by her leader. The confidence she built then has been foundational as her career has grown.

This third leader’s story reminded me of a common developmental goal of leaders I work with as a coach: Speaking truth to power. We asked about this in our assessment, and I also asked Dr. Tiziana Casciaro, author of Power for All, about this during our recent podcast interview. I find the data fascinating in light of what Dr. Casciaro had to say. It seems we want to be able to speak up—90 percent strongly agree that it’s important to speak honestly and share views on important issues with leaders. Yet only 50 percent strongly agree they have the ability to do so (see Figure 2).

Where does the limitation lie? The leader I described previously had no inhibition and spoke her mind openly to her leader’s boss. Yet many of us feel we can’t do this. For the answer, Dr. Casciaro invoked the personal development work of the great Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. She said: “In order to speak truth to power, one must develop a sense of ‘somebody-ness.’ Don’t let anyone tell you that you are no one… you have to be strong inside and believe in your value to find the courage to speak up.”

So… I wonder if those answering our question, “I have the ability to speak honestly and share my views with my leader on important issues” were considering the word ability from the perspective of their internal “somebody-ness”—or, how receptive they thought their leader might be? How about you?

I shared the courage data with a client who is a retired Army officer. He recalled an acronym, LDRSHIP, used in leadership development in the Army.

L – loyalty

D – duty

R – respect

S – selfless service

H – honor

I – integrity

P – personal courage

He said they were asked, “Which of these traits are the hardest to live?” While the response varied, in the end, the consensus was “personal courage.” This might come as a surprise among a group of people willing to literally risk their lives daily in combat. My client said they would risk their lives yet often didn’t have the personal courage to, say, call out a peer for inappropriate behavior, or hold a subordinate accountable for their actions.

Our emerging research bears this out. While we want our leaders to address behavior issues that are counter to the stated values of the organization, the perception is that this is not the norm (see Figure 3). In my experience, this is an issue of leadership courage.

Whether you are a leader in your company, your community, or your family, clearly people want to see courageous action from you. And it’s likely that you expect it from yourself. Consider a real issue in your personal or professional life that involves taking an unpopular stand, speaking up to power, or providing necessary feedback.

  • Remind yourself of your inherent value – your purpose in the role you serve as a leader in the context of that situation – and assume the “somebody-ness” Dr. Casciaro quoted.
  • Remind yourself of your core values, those ideals that you live your life by, or strive to.
  • Remind yourself that others are looking to you as their role model. Whom do you wish to inspire?

Then, decide: What small step can you take today?

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