Courage is being afraid...

Courage means being afraid and doing it anyway.

We don’t often think about needing courage in our leadership so I want you to think about the last time you needed to have an uncomfortable conversation.

Maybe it was an employee who wasn’t performing to expectations. Or maybe it was having to advocate for yourself in some way.

It takes courage to dive deep and have those types of conversations.

It takes courage to stand up and say “yes” I will accept a leadership position.

It takes courage to speak up when something isn’t right, especially when we’re not in a leadership position.

It takes courage to move our vision forward, especially when those around us don’t understand it or worse, don’t agree with it.

Courage is a mainstay of leadership. And we won’t go very far without it.

When thinking about courage, Dragana Djukic has written about several types:

• Physical Courage: to keep going with resiliency, balance and awareness. 

• Social Courage: to be yourself unapologetically.

• Moral Courage: doing the right thing even when it's uncomfortable or unpopular.

• Emotional Courage: feeling all your emotions (positive and negative) without guilt or attachment. 

• Intellectual Courage: to learn, unlearn and relearn with an open and flexible mind. 

• Spiritual Courage: living with purpose and meaning through a heart centered approach towards all life and oneself.

 So, I encourage you to do a little self-reflection. As you read the description for each type, where do you see that form of courage showing” up?  Are there some forms you are better at than others? Where can you use support?

 And as always, a reminder… you don’t have to go it alone. If you’re struggling with your personal leadership, feel free to reach out to me at deidre.harris@teamagreements.com.