Posted by Howe Q. Wallace on Monday, July 7th, 2014
Mark Miller, a human resources leader at Chik-Fil-A, says this:
“Their willingness to respond with courage, time and time again, makes leaders different from followers.”
Do you respond with courage?
Courageous leadership is seeing what needs to be said and saying it. I speak often of the virtue of courageous communication. So many times, big problems would have been smaller if those who saw the problem arising would have had the courage to address it.
Courageous leadership is seeing what needs to be done and initiating action. So many times a problem or opportunity is awaiting us, but no one acts.
Courageous leadership is being willing to try new things or innovations. So many times we choose “safe” or “conventional”, because no one criticizes the way the crowd would do it. Trying to do something new is risky. But, courageous leaders know it takes new steps to make progress.
Courageous leaders don’t let setbacks paralyze them. Acting time after time with courage causes us to learn that setbacks are just moments of learning that help us move ahead. It creates a confidence that inspires ever growing courage.
The more you act with courage, the more you learn it’s the way to go.
Since 2005, he has been sharing his thoughts on the organization, leadership, and communication in an online daily note to teammates called Daily with HQ.