We’ve talked a lot about getting hired at a position the last several weeks, but what happens if you decide to venture out on your own? Surely, you’ve done your homework to see if there is space for you in the marketplace, whether you’re looking to be a plumber, therapist, or give music lessons to little kids. We could make a list of 101 different issues you’ll face as someone launching their own business, but first and foremost, you need one key element. Courage.
In early October 2008, just weeks before the US Presidential Election that would see Barack Obama become the first African American President, then-President George W. Bush stood in front of America and explained that we were on an economic cliff and unless something was done to pull us back, we may fall off.
The crisis was caused by a collapsing housing market and shortly thereafter an automobile industry on the brink of failure. Stock prices across the board plummeted and other global economies faltered. Many companies were casualties of what became known as The Great Recession.
Deloitte released a report in 2016 after studying the rebounding, yet not exactly robust, Canadian economy for six years. It found that there was one major factor lacking in the leadership of companies of all sizes: Courage.
It’s almost as if many of the decisionmakers at the 1,200 organizations examined suffered a kind of PTSD from the economic fallout. The irony is that the organizations that were deemed courageous (11%) or evolving into courageous (30%) were also the ones who were seeing the best results and most success. Cowardice does not create cash.
Deloitte identified five qualities that make a business leader courageous:
Be provocative and challenge the status quo
Take calculated risks
Do what’s right
Start with yourself
Unite to include
I’d take this even a step further and say that in a world where technology is changing the rules and methods of how we do business, it’s important to create a culture where change is seen as a positive challenge, not an anchor leaving a business slow-to-change behind.
A 2018 article on Inc.com highlights this idea, stating: “Pain will often come, not from the changes but from your resistance to those changes. By shifting mindsets, opportunities are created for both people and business to thrive.”
Courage comes from inside
As a leader, you have to be a courageous person for your company to thrive. If you’re holding on to ways of the past, believing that things “will come around” you haven’t been paying attention to the world. Despite people wishing for “the good old days” be it in the economy, social realm or political world, it doesn’t happen. It never happens. Progress always wins the war. Always.
One of Deloitte’s indicators of courage is to start with yourself and I believe that’s where the culture of courage within a workplace is going to succeed or fail.
In 2011, Peter Voyer wrote in the Ivey Business Journal: “Leadership must start from within – from within the leader’s heart – where real courage resides. It is not simply a case of memorizing a list of do’s or don’ts and applying them to a particular situation... It’s hard to argue that other traits such as integrity, honesty, altruism, communications skill and decisiveness are not qualities of a good leader. But leaders could not display these traits if they didn’t have courage.”
I could bombard you with 1,001 quotes on leadership and courage, but ultimately, it’s up to you to look inside your heart and determine what you are made of in there. Do you find a person who is willing to “saddle up” as the cowboys used to say and see what’s out there on the open range known as the marketplace, or do visions of 2008 still haunt your dreams and affect your decision making? That answer may be what determines your success as a leader.