Courage is Fear Holding on, Even When You Don't Feel Like Leading

I have been thinking about courage the last few years, but especially the last few days, a lot. We have all persevered through this pandemic, worked, built and rebuilt our businesses, raised and nurtured our families. In some cases, we have buried our dead loved ones.

The last few weeks we saw the Freedom Convoy Protest all over Canada. Whether you agree or disagree with the protest - the fact is that in Ottawa, our Prime Minister left the city for almost 10 days and went into hiding instead of leading and doing his job.

Contrast that action and behaviour with that of Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine, who when offered escape from Joe Biden, said, " I need ammunition. I don't need a ride." That is a strong contrast in leadership between two different men, in two entirely different situations where the stakes in the latter situation are life and death.

This got me to thinking about the nature of courage, how we find it, how we become inspirational leaders, even amidst our most overwhelming dread and fear.

During these life-changing moments, we often have to look for inspiration or examples of others who have overcome insurmountable odds. The courage quotient is obviously a function of how dire the consequences of failure are. Case in Point - Ukraine, and the leadership by example of Volodymyr Zelenskyy. These real-life examples provide proof that someone else had the temerity to take a chance and succeed, most of the time against insurmountable odds. This kind of inspiration can fuel all of us on the path to finding our own power.

Which leads me to the question - how do people find epic courage? Victor Frankl, psychiatrist, Holocaust survivor and author of Man’s Search for Meaning, argued that anyone can survive anything - even the threat of death, as long as they can find meaning in their suffering and sacrifice. So, finding meaning and purpose is a prerequisite to building the muscles of ferocity.

I believe that another element of courage and leadership is the ability to persevere on a path even though the adversity and odds are very much against us. Overwhelming determination and stubbornness for that matter is very much rooted in a person’s character. How much suffering and failure can be tolerated is very much part of the way a person is hard-wired. This tenacity is also a product of two other traits of strong leaders, that of confidence and faith. What is interesting about the coupling of confidence and faith is that if you are low on one trait, the other characteristic balances things out.

Zelenskyy’s commitment to his people, no matter what, reminds me of Winston Churchill’s leadership journey. Having accomplished a modest political career, Churchill landed as Prime Minister of England in 1940. There was enormous pressure on Churchill from the opposition and his own party to negotiate surrender with Hitler. Added to this pressure, was the unwillingness of Roosevelt to provide military assistance to him in 1940/41. I’ll never forget what Churchill said when he made the very difficult decision to continue fighting against Hitler. He said, “You cannot reason with a?tiger when your head is in its mouth”. Churchill had confidence, faith, and a firm sense of purpose in continuing fighting, rooted in never giving up and realizing that appeasing a bully will never go well for the potential victim.

Another key characteristic of finding courage and leading ‘epically”, is to always lead by example. People will follow and rally behind a leader who is willing to get their hands dirty and fight tooth and nail to achieve a goal. This level of humility and walking the talk, are some of the most powerful leadership traits that inspire uncommon achievements and sometimes success in the face of the impossible.

So what can we take away from all of this and apply today to our businesses, families, and ourselves especially as we face coming out of a pandemic and attempting to mitigate geopolitical instability?

1.????Leaders can be born but they can also be made based upon unique circumstances. The best leaders are sometimes those who are thrown into crises and rise to the occasion.

2.????Those leaders who show inspiring courage and optimism are those people who have a strong sense of purpose and understand their “WHY” fully. These leaders are also able to clearly articulate and communicate their vision and why people should rally around their mission. They are willing to pay whatever price is necessary to achieve their goals.

3.????The direct result of having a clear understanding of why you are doing something coupled with stick-to-it-iveness, failing many times, and yet staying optimistic and faithful until you achieve your goal. Without persistence and the ability to withstand sacrifice and sometimes outright suffering, inspiring leadership is not possible.

4.????The most powerful leaders are those who lead by example. An organization, people, and family rally around someone who consistently shows the ability to “do as I say and do as I do”. This trait is rooted in respect for self and ultimately respect for other people.

5.????Finally, faith and optimism, the belief that no matter how bad it gets, that things will always get better and they will turn around is probably one of the most distinguishing attributes of relentless and successful leadership.

?May God bless Ukraine and protect all those who are in harm’s way. May wisdom and humanity prevail over insanity and brutality.