Written by Ronnie Dunn
My previous post spoke about the importance of core values and the crucial role they play in providing direction and anchor as we journey through the seas of life.
Today, I find myself reflecting on two of the qualities I personally admired most among the leaders I’ve had the privilege to work with, courage and integrity.
For me, life is like a big arena. Unfortunately, it is not an arena that we always get to choose, and it is rare, if ever, when we get to choose the competitors.
As we journey through this arena of life, there will be failures, but with courage, integrity, and perseverance, we can also experience incredible victories. To have a shot at those victories, we must first decide to show up.
Showing up isn’t simply getting in your car and driving to work, but it also doesn’t require extreme or extravagant feats. Sometimes showing up simple means being willing to take a decision regardless of the consequences.
I have witnessed so many occasions where people cower in fear at the risk of making a decision and potentially being wrong. They then experience paralysis from analysis and refuse to move forward. This can have a debilitating effect on the people you lead if you are perceived as a gutless fence sitter.
Realize that the pendulum could swing either way on any given day, but courage, courage is that willingness to show up and compete in that arena anyway; to decide to face that next challenge head-on with grit and determination, even when the outcome is unknown, and the future uncertain.
Many of us would rather seek the safety of the stands instead of walking into the arena and facing the unknown. Fear can paralyze a person, cripple their leadership potential, and leave their possibilities unfulfilled.
That fear is the vulnerability of the arena. Out there, people can and do get hurt. But as a leader, the important thing is that you make the decision to show up anyway!
Out there, you will find critics shouting from the stands, and some may say the most hurtful things, but as a leader, you must decide to lead anyway.
Courage and integrity count prominently among the core values we see in many of our greatest leaders. But how does one test courage?
Courage is not sitting in the safety of the stands looking down. Honor is not letting someone else decide because we are too scared. Leaders go first, they take that bull by the horn, and they live with the consequences.
To be courageous, you must also be vulnerable. You must be willing to face the risk of that metaphorical lion coming out the gate on the other side of the arena, and yes, one day it will.
In facing those lions, you must realize that you may not be able to control the outcome today, but most importantly, you have to take the decision to show up anyway.
I found safety at various stages of my career, and it would have been easy to stay there. A lion also finds safety in a cage, it knows where the water is, what time it is going to be fed, and it doesn’t have to worry about competitors; but given the option, it wouldn’t stay in a cage, because it is a lion, and its instinct is to be free, to roam, to hunt, and to live its purpose.
Each success in life only buys us a ticket to a bigger challenge. Are you willing to take that next step? I am not advocating that you take foolish risks and pursue the life of a maverick. What I am advocating is that you have the courage to live your full potential, that you show up when it matters and that you take your rightful place in this world based on the potential of the seed that is implanted in all of us.
We can of course choose to ignore our internal instincts. We can play it safe, sit on the fence … you know …. It is a wild world out there … and I am safe here … but consider this. Would Martin Luther King Jr. have been remembered if he just stayed home? Would Nelson Mandela have achieved what he did if he remained silent and refused to take the stage? What if they simply cowered wherever they were and chose not to show up?
Some of you may point out that they all died, and yes, that is true, but will you not one day die?
Figuratively and literally, none of us will get out of this life alive. People say you only live once, but I offer you this perspective, you live every day, but you only die once. Therefore, it is not whether you live or die, it’s not about whether you win or lose, it is about your willingness to face the fear of failure, and awaken the courage that resides inside of you, by taking the field.
That field, my friends, is where innovation takes place. It is where new ideas are born, and where the vigor of tremendous victories is felt. It is the fertile ground that gave rise to some of our most celebrated institutions, people, and accomplishments in our human history.
For every one of those great leaders, there were at least a thousand critics. Ask me to name 1 of those critics, I can’t, because history never saw their importance, and therefore, saw no need to record them in the annals of time.
You see, it’s not the critic who counts, it’s the person who, notwithstanding their vulnerability, still chose to show up with courage and integrity.
Let’s decide to show up, let’s decide to live to our full potential. We may win, we may lose, regardless … chose to LIVE, choose to keep moving forward, and do it with integrity and courage.
Written by Ronnie Dunn