Leading with Integrity: Character-Based Leadership by Alan Kolp and Peter Rea addresses leadership from the perspective of seven classical virtues: courage, faith, justice, prudence, temperance, love, and hope. In defining character-based leadership, they devote a chapter to each virtue. They say “Character is made, not inherited. We are not born with it, it develops.”
Courage—In addition to what I said about courage in Why It Matters, I’ll share what some others have said. Maya Angelou notes, “Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can’t practice any other virtue consistently.” In addition, in Franklin and Winston, Jon Meacham shares comments Winston Churchill made in his last major address to the House of Commons on March 1, 1955: “‘The day may dawn when fair play, love for one’s fellow men, respect for justice and freedom, will enable tormented generations to march forth serene and triumphant from the hideous epoch in which we have to dwell. Meanwhile, never flinch, never weary, never despair.’ No matter how bleak the forecast, courage would carry us forward. For courage, Churchill once said, was the essential virtue because ‘it guaranteed all the others.’” Reportedly, Churchill also said, “Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.” Although it hasn’t been verified, he is credited with saying, “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” Franklin D. Roosevelt said, “Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear.”
Courage can come with a price, but also rewards, as Bennis notes, “Good ideas are only made stronger by being challenged. The subordinate who speaks truth to power needs courage, and may pay the price for candor. But, by doing so, he or she evinces nothing less than leadership. The willingness to stand up to the bosses may not save the candid individual’s job, but it will serve him or her well in another, better organization.”[i]
Kolp and Rea point out courage becomes courage when it’s accompanied by action. Action turns courage into a verb. With action, it becomes real. Without action, courage is a hope, dream, principle, or virtue.
Peter Drucker recognizes the role courage plays with leaders in establishing priorities. He notes, “Courage rather than analysis dictates the truly important rules for identifying priorities:
- Pick the future as against the past;
- Focus on opportunities rather than on problem;
- Choose your own direction—rather than climb on the bandwagon; and
- Aim high, aim for something that will make a difference, rather than for something that is ‘safe’ and easy to do.” [ii]
In Why It Matters, I describe one of the final scenes in the 1939 movie, The Wizard of Oz, when Dorothy, accompanied by Scarecrow, Cowardly Lion, Tin Man and her dog, Todo, return victoriously to the Emerald City with the broom of the Wicked Witch of the West. By bringing the broom, they anticipate the Wizard of Oz will grant their wishes. Recall, Cowardly Lion wants courage. After dealing with Scarecrow’s request for a brain, the Wizard of Oz turns his attention to Cowardly Lion, saying, “As for you, my fine friend, you are a victim of disorganized thinking. You are under the unfortunate delusion that, simply because you run away from danger, you have no courage. You’re confusing courage with wisdom.”
Cowardly Lion isn’t alone in confusing courage with wisdom. Because a leader doesn’t act on a controversial matter doesn’t mean the leader lacks courage. Likewise, because a leader acts doesn’t mean the leader is courageous. Many leaders don’t categorize themselves as courageous. Instead, they consider their decisions to be logical, reasonable, and correct for a given situation. Perhaps others who are placed in similar situations will be afraid to make the same decisions because they believe they lack courage. Why is it courageous to do the right thing? I don’t consider it courage; I consider it leadership.
Perhaps courage is in the eye of the beholder. At a meeting of presidents and chancellors of the Southeastern Conference, Robert Khayat, Ole Miss Chancellor, said I was the most courageous person he knew. I was stunned. I had no idea he thought it, didn’t know why he did, and had never considered myself courageous. I should’ve followed up and asked why he thought I was courageous but didn’t. Maybe I was afraid to do so—proof I’m not courageous! Reflecting on Khayat’s comment, I concluded he was thinking of my action of firing Nolan Richardson, the men’s basketball coach. But I didn’t consider it a courageous decision, I believed it was necessary.
While in high school, my parents gave me a copy of John F. Kennedy’s Pulitzer Prize winning Profiles in Courage. It was mesmerizing and motivating. The opening paragraph grabbed me: “This is a book about that most admirable of human virtues—courage. ‘Grace under pressure,’ Ernest Hemingway defined it. And these are the stories of the pressures experienced by eight United States Senators and the grace with which they endured them—the risks to their careers, the unpopularity of their courses, the defamation of their characters, and sometimes, but sadly only sometimes, the vindication of their reputations and their principles.”[iii]
After reading it, I wondered how many people I’d come to know during life’s journey whose profiles in courage would merit inclusion in a similar book. I also wondered if I’d pass the test and if I’d prove to be courageous when courage was needed. Would I stand up, would I step forward, would I say, “Choose me”?
Fast forward 68 years. Today’s leaders need to read and embrace Kennedy’s Profiles in Courage. Were Kennedy alive, imagine how disappointed he’d be with how few leaders pass his test: “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.”
Next: Leadership Virtues—Faith, Justice, Prudence, and Temperance
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[i] Warren Bennis, On Becoming a Leader, Basic Books, Philadelphia, PA, p. xxii.
[ii] Peter F. Drucker, The Effective Executive, Harper & Row, New York, NY, 1967, p. 111.
[iii] John F. Kennedy, Profiles in Courage, Harper & Brothers, New York, NY, 1956, p. 1.
