Lead Like a Viking: Courage

"Fear not death for the hour of your doom is set and none may escape it." -Volsunga Saga C. 21

Vikings have been glorified, vilified, and mostly misunderstood throughout history. This newsletter will not be a history lesson but will be taking wisdom based on Viking history and mythology to help you become a better leader. A leader, with the wisdom of the old age, ready to courageously tackle the problems of the new age.?

The Vikings lived in unsettled times, much like the times we find ourselves in now. They had to be brave, bold, and breathtakingly strong to not just survive but thrive. More than any other attribute bravery was the thing that set them apart.?

This stemmed from their belief in Valhalla. As Vikings only the brave who righteous fought in battle would make it to the hallowed halls of Valhalla. Bravery wasn’t just a character trait, it was their way towards a better afterlife.?

While we don’t need to adopt this belief in modern times to lead like a Viking, we can look at how we have set up our organizations in regard to bravery.?

Are people allowed space to be brave and speak their minds? Or are they afraid and playing internal politics??

Have a real open-door policy. Encourage and be available to your team to speak with you about problems. Have regular one-on-ones with your team and hold space for them to share problems, get customer feedback, and understand the dynamics of the team. When they share problems listen and don’t try to assign blame or figure out the political optics. It’s important that people feel safe enough to point out problems even ones they did themselves so that you can identify them more quickly and work together to fix them.?

Are people allowed to take risks or are they afraid to fail??

Encourage experimentation and allow space for failure where people can learn from it. If people are expected to be perfect they won’t take any risks, they will be too scared. Perfect is also the enemy of done, so productivity will suffer in the environment. Encourage bravery on your team by rewarding risk-taking even when it didn’t work out, highlighting the attempt and the lesson learned. In our world of KPIs, we focus so much on results and not on how we actually achieve them, by learning lessons and taking risks.?

What happens when a mistake is made??

Do people try to blame others, hide the problem, or ignore it? Or are they taking responsibility, open to learning from it, and working together as a team to make sure they do a better job next time? Vikings had to take extreme ownership and agency for their mistakes. If they sailed the boat incorrectly it could sink a ship and literally leave the entire team dead in the water. In organizations, we make wrong decisions and it’s often just those at the bottom who pay the price. They face layoffs, cuts in pay, the reduced benefits. Meanwhile, the ones at the top are protected and too often don’t face the consequences of their actions. In Viking times everyone literally had skin in the game so everyone worked together to learn from mistakes, come together to find solutions quickly, and prevent the same mistake from happening again. Accountability for all, learning lessons together, and moving forward as one. That’s a team bravely working together.?

Bravery comes from the heart. Not from the ego and not from the mind. So many leaders have their heart centers completely shut off or have so many walls up there's a disconnect. But the mind is the smart ass and the ego is the dumb ass, this is especially true when it comes to courage. So take some deep breaths into your heart center, awaken the courage within, and lead like a Viking!

How would you rate your organization on its conditions for courage? How could you show up more courageously as a leader? Stay tuned for more Lead Like a Viking Content and reach out with your thoughts and share with those who will find this helpful.?

If interested in diving deeper into being a better leader, please reach out directly or go to https://leadlikeaviking.com/