January 14, 2008

Managerial Courage

"All the other animals in the forest naturally expect me to be brave, for the Lion is everywhere thought to be the King of Beasts. But whenever there is danger, my heart begins to beat fast."
The Cowardly Lion, The Wizard of Oz

No fear
Managerial Courage

Managerial courage means strength and conviction to pursue the chosen path and not be intimidated by resistance. It is a key leadership trait since without courage success is limited.

A good example of managerial courage is Al Gore. When he picked up the global warming cause a few years age he was ridiculed and marginalized. But Al Gore believed in the cause and had the courage to define, shape and evolve his vision – in spite of the political fallout, perception challenges and lack of credibility. We all know where he is today and global warming is surely but steady moving to center stage.

So what is managerial courage?

Courage to decide
Ultimately a decision has to be made. Sometimes these are not easy decisions but true leaders don’t relent under the pressure and make the right decision. A leader who vacillates or lacks the conviction to purse the right thing will eventually lose credibility.

Courage to execute
After the strategy and planning comes execution. This is when visions are realized and changes are introduced. Revolts happen, media hysteria takes over and you are epitomized as the ruthless barbarian. As leader of your organization, you have to show courage to execute the right steps to take your team to the next stage.

Courage to evaluate
Results count and accountability has to be established. Courage to evaluate progress, provide honest and objective feedback, and creating accountability completes the cycle.


Subscribe in a reader OR Subscribe via Email

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

To be a adroit human being is to have a amiable of openness to the far-out, an ability to trusteeship undeterminable things beyond your own control, that can front you to be shattered in uncommonly exceptional circumstances for which you were not to blame. That says something exceedingly impressive relating to the condition of the ethical passion: that it is based on a corporation in the unpredictable and on a willingness to be exposed; it's based on being more like a plant than like a sparkler, something rather feeble, but whose mere precise attractiveness is inseparable from that fragility.