By Merilee A. Kern, Fast Company
A wide-ranging cohort of CEOs and executives weigh in on what courageous leadership really means.
While some contest, or outright refute, whether or not former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill said, “Success is not final, failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts,” it has power and is rather prophetic amid the wildly unforeseen fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.
It speaks to prosperity not being taken for granted and the notion that failure in and of itself isn’t a death knell. Relative to business, specifically, it also evokes many questions about the very nature of courage—a concept oft characterized by the demonstration of “strength in the face of pain or grief.”
Of course, it’s presumed that successful leaders can and should inherently be courageous, but in what exact regard is courage a mission-critical managerial quality? To what extent should a leader exude courageousness versus humility? What actions, or results, exemplify how courageous–or not–a leader is? Can a wholly well-intentioned show of courageousness backfire and end up doing more harm than good?
Read more – including input from Women Presidents’ Organization CEO Camille Burns – here.
