Courage and leadership

An essential quality for a leader, and especially an entrepreneurial leader, to have is courage. It benefits them both when starting their business and throughout the life of their business. Here is a breakdown of why courage is essential and some ways to increase one’s courage.

Courage to start

Courage allows entrepreneurs to take the necessary steps to start their businesses. Starting a business is a scary prospect. It is extremely easy for a person to let fear stop them from starting a business due to all the obstacles in the way, and thus, courage acts as a defense against the fear of starting a new business.  Courage also helps leaders stand up for themselves.  When one starts a company, one will often be questioned about their decisions. Entrepreneurs often experience a lot of pushback. Without courage, leaders and entrepreneurs would be unable to respond to the pushback and criticism. Ultimately, courage helps leaders to take the steps necessary to continue the success of their business, even if it is not the standard steps that others are taking.

Courage to lead

The need for courage does not stop once you have started your business but is required constantly. There are many ways that courage shows throughout entrepreneurs' and leaders' days. Challenges will come up every day during the course of one’s business. It takes courage to face all these challenges head-on. It also takes courage sometimes to make the right decisions for your company. Sometimes making the right decision means going against the grain. It also sometimes means upsetting people. Finally, courage helps you deal with difficult people. Difficult people can make you question yourself and the choices you make. They can also make working sometimes unpleasant. Being courageous helps you set your boundaries and ensure that everyone in your company, including you, is treated with respect. 

Boost one’s courage

Courage does not come naturally to everyone, but there are steps one can take to increase their courage and thus enhance their leadership skills and entrepreneurial spirit. When starting a business, the first thing that an entrepreneur should do is acknowledge their fears. If one knows their worries, it will be easier to overcome them than if one sweeps them under the rug. Courage is not the opposite of fear but rather the ability to face one’s fears. Another good step when starting a business is to use positive talk with oneself. Negative talk only inhibits a person. Positive self-talk also helps one see why they have the strengths and abilities to start a business and lead others, thus bringing courage. During one's business, there are also steps that one can take to increase courage. Each day one can do something that scares them. That will help leaders to have the courage to face the scary obstacles that come the company’s way. Finally, to encourage courage both during the creation of a business and throughout one’s course as its leader, one should embrace failure. Failure is probably one of the biggest fears that one has. By embracing the small everyday fears, one can build the courage to face the more significant losses that will no doubt arise.

The be a successful entrepreneur and business leader, having courage is imperative. Courage assists leaders in facing challenges, fears, and critiques that always come with starting and running a business. While creating and running a business is easier if one already has a lot of courage, it is possible to build one's courage to help one be the best leader one can be. Ultimately, making an effort to maintain and develop courage can help support a leader in all his business endeavors.