Robert Louis Stevenson observed “Keep your fears to yourself but share your courage with others”.
In this concise comment he described a quality of leadership.
It suggests having responsibility for others and rightly indicates having influence over outcomes.
It conjures up the principle of a Captain of a Ship or Airline when dealing with a challenge that would panic people.
Business is the same in times of stress.
A problem needs calm attention rather than a statement “run for your life”.
Leaders who lack courage would be weak leaders and would never be reassuring or develop the loyalty of others.
Of course we may never find out if a person has courage.
It’s said that people are like a teabag and you don’t know how strong they are until you drop them in hot water!
Anxiety and fear are disabling and when remaining calm its essential a leader needs to be the first to look in control.
When everyone around you is losing their heads you lose the time and concentration you need to get to grips with an issue.
Whilst it may not seem that way inside it is the ability to appear fearless and part of its motivation is to care for others and bring them through difficulty.
So, being a Captain of Industry comes with responsibility but courage will take you a long way and importantly, people will join you.
No comments:
Post a Comment