James M. Kouzes - Finding the Courage to Lead

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Copyright 2013 by James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner.

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Leadership doesnt happen without courage. In fact, leadership might be defined as courage in action. But the truth is that courage is both poorly understood and not what you typically think it is.

Courage is one of those big, bold words. Courage has the reputation of being something way out there on the edges of human experience, commonly associated with superhuman feats, life-and-death struggles, and overcoming impossible odds. It gives rise to images of daring acts of bravery and nerves of steel. It has such a mystique about it that many think the concept doesnt apply to them. But when you look beyond the headlines, you find out that this account of courage is certainly not the whole story. Its not even most of the story. And its definitely not what we uncovered in our research on courageous leadership.

Surprisingly, there is very little relevant discussion of courage in the leadership literature. For all the talk about how leaders need to be courageous, there is next to nothing written about what it really means for leadership. Thats not to say that no one writes or talks about courage. The dialogue on courage is ancient. Its just that those who have written and talked about it are generally philosophers and historians, and for most people philosophy and history are subjects they stopped reading after those mandatory classes in school. Its our intention with this short book to offer a perspective on what ordinary leaders tell us about what courage is to them, and what their courageous experiences mean for the daily practice of leadership.

But first, lets reflect on what some of those early deep thinkers had to say that is relevant to a contemporary discussion of courage.

The ancient Greek philosophersSocrates and Aristotle, for examplethought of courage as one of four cardinal virtues that made for a civil society (the others are prudence, temperance, and justice). Courage, though, sat at the head of the table. These philosophers saw it as the grand virtue that made possible all the others, just as did Winston Churchill, who called courage the first of human qualities... because it guarantees all the others.

They spoke of courage as being on a sliding scale between cowardice and foolhardiness. To them, acting courageously is not an extreme sport. Its the disposition that gives one the capacity to face danger without being overcome by fear. Its the capacity to persist under highly adverse circumstances. Its not being fear less so much as it is being able to control ones fear. There is a willful crossing of a limit.

There is such a thing, according to the Greeksand most of us would agreeas excessive fearlessness. A person who exudes too much confidence when he or she should be fearful is considered rash. These folks are the maniacs among us, and they can be very dangerous. At the same time, fear might be so overwhelming that people run away from what is difficult. These individuals are considered cowards.

The Greeks recognized that people differ. People dont all fear the same things. Therefore, courage is not an absolute. Its relative to the situation and the person. Courage takes many different forms. What requires courage from one person might seem easy for another. To the Greeks, courage wasnt necessarily demonstrated only by the heroic actions of a warrior in battle. It could also be the determined actions of an ordinary citizen in the pursuit of a better life. The Greeks believed that courage wasnt a purely emotional experiencewhat many call guts. Courage, they said, had a rational component. Courageous acts werent just something that you did without thinking. Courage required making a choice in the face of adversity. In other words, courage is situational, and courage is personal. What you consider courageous, another might consider just part of the job.