As a leader of a company, you have many responsibilities. You must create and foster the company culture. You must ensure that each department and function of the company is running smoothly, and of course, you must make hard decisions that (you hope) will be beneficial for the bottom line. While there are many traits that define a successful leader, one that’s not talked about often enough is the ability to be a “courageous” leader. Being a courageous leader doesn’t mean acting without fear—it means have the courage to make decisions with conviction, to speak the truth even it’s hard to do so, and to have the courage to look in the mirror and hold yourself to account. These emotional management skills are just as important as technical management skills.
In teaching the concept of courageous leadership to my clients, I often reference the book Dare to Lead by Brené Brown. In the book, Brown posits that the most effective leaders are those who are willing to be vulnerable. This doesn’t mean oversharing or being weak—instead, it’s about having the courage to be authentic, take risks, and engage with others in an honest way. Sounds simple, right? In reality, courageous leadership can be difficult to achieve. Things like perfectionism, insecurity and fear of failure can hinder one’s ability to lead courageously.
How to Become a Courageous Leader
Courageous leaders are leaders who are open to feedback (and criticism), leaders who are not afraid to make decisions with confidence, and leaders who are not afraid to change course when the facts on the ground call for it. But the path to courageous leadership starts with vulnerability. If a leader allows themselves to be vulnerable, they will gain trust from their team and family, which will in turn allow them to become the type of leader that the organization needs. In Dare to Lead, Brown lists seven frameworks that make up trust in leadership, which I summarize below:
- Set Boundaries: Being vulnerable doesn’t mean being constantly exposed. Set firm and clear personal boundaries to define the rules for feedback.
- Be Reliable: Model the behavior you want to see from your team. Consistently deliver on your commitments and set clear expectations for the team.
- Be Accountable: When you make a mistake, be transparent about it, and own it. You can build trust through mistakes if you handle them correctly.
- Be a Vault: Don’t share information or experience that are shared with you in confidence. Be the type of leader that the team isn’t afraid to talk to.
- Don’t Judge: Create an environment in which people feel accepted, trusted and be free from criticism. Of course, this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t hold your team accountable. Just do it in a way that doesn’t feel like an attack.
- Have Integrity: Be genuine. Be honest. Act morally. Do the types of things people expect out of a great leader.
- Be Generous: Simple acts of kindness go a long way. Having genuine concern for those around you is essential to building trust.
Courageous Leadership When You’re Not the Leader
In my work as a family business consultant, I generally work with two generations of leaders—the current leadership, and the next generation of leaders who will eventually take over. For the current leaders, all of Brown’s points above apply. But the next generation may need to develop courageous leadership skills from a different starting point. While one might think that courageous leadership in a family business should be intuitive, the dynamics of a family business can amplify the issues of fear and perfectionism—especially for the younger generation of leaders. As they prepare to someday lead the company, they can become paralyzed by trying to be the perfect protege, which prevents them from speaking up when they have a concern or an idea. And without courageous leadership at the top, that silence can damage the culture, the succession plans, and the bottom line.
While a next generation leader can’t always manage up—especially when there is resistance at the top—they can manage down. Managing your team with courage and creating the kind of culture that will ultimately help the company succeed, can be done at the team level. And when the team starts showing success, it can create a groundswell that goes all the way to the top, helping the current leaders to become more a more courageous leader by osmosis via proof of concept.
If you are a business leader—be it of a family business, a public business or other—learning to hone the skills of a courageous leader will help you drive success in your business and your career.
