Be Courageous, not Fearless
Tough decisions require a courageous leader, particularly when the future can’t even be forecast, let alone accurately predicated. Unfortunately, too often we misinterpret ‘courage’ as ‘fearlessness’. This simply isn’t what courage is.
Fearlessness, more often than not, is blind. It’s a complete disregard for possible outcomes and consequences. It’s throwing caution to the wind and declaring ‘whatever happens, happens’, without display of thought or bravery. Fearlessness is infact quite arrogant and idiotic.
Courage, on the other hand, is an acceptance of fear. Courage means being okay with being absolutely terrified, but pressing on anyway. Courage means moving onwards with a decision, even when you’re petrified of the potential outcomes.
Courageous decisions might be unpopular.
Courageous decisions might be isolating.
Courageous decisions might piss a lot of people off.
But courageous decisions, when they are based on the conviction that the decision is the right one to make, are often the most formative. This is true not just in leadership, but in life itself. In fact, unless there is some level of fear, courage doesn’t even really exist.
Stop being fearless. Start being courageous.
