You can not take your same old self into a bright new future. Change is the ingredient to get more out of life. So many people keep doing the same things the same ways and expect a different, better result! What stops people from creating lasting change, lack of courage, or better said the lack of ability to bring courage to the surface. We all have the courage at hand we just need to bring it out.

The problems we face today can not be solved at the same level of thinking that created them but it takes courage to address the root of the problems. Great leaders have the ability to muster the courage necessary to do what is right when it is needed.

Orrin Woodward, best selling author of Leadershift shares on the topic of courage. Orrin has not only displayed courage to do whats right, but has developed an incredible LIFE Leadership team that practices courage on a daily basis.

God bless,

Dan Hawkins

Courage is the choice to get involved in defending one’s highest held principles, even when one’s personal interest isn’t at stake. Gus Lee, author of the inspiring book, Courage, wrote, “But courage doesn’t depend on practical outcomes, risk versus gains analysis, or collateral impact on others – that’s pragmatism.  Pragmatism is the application of practicality, utility and consequences to decision making.”  Courage, on the other hand, is principle based, causing a courageous leader to sacrifice personal benefits in order to uphold the greater principle on the line.  In fact, Winston Churchill, the legendary English Prime Minster who stood up to Hitler, said, “Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities… because it is the quality which guarantees all others.”  Lee writes, “Courage is addressing wrongs in the face of fear, regardless of consequences, of risk to self, or of potential practical gains. That’s why everyone practices pragmatism and risk balancing. . . Courageous leadership is about utilizing all of our brains, character and spirit to advocate principles regardless of the odds, heedless of fear, apart from collateral impact, and independent of personal career needs.”  Les Csorba, in his book, Trust, concurs, writing, “When we follow leaders without a moral compass interested in only results, get ready for the ditch. The ditch into which modern leadership has fallen is the pit of pragmatism.”   Many confuse compromise and pragmatism, but Stephen L. Carter, Yale Law School professor, discerns the key difference, “Compromises that advance high principles are acceptable; those that do not advance high principles are not.”  Pragmatism is compromising our principles for the short term personal advancements, but noble compromises entail sacrifice of personal gains to advance the highest of principles.  Lee writes that, “Courage is manifested in courageous communication, courageous leadership, courageous problem-solving, and in resolving high-end conflicts.”   Sadly, most people will do anything except address the underlying issues, avoiding the perceived conflict because they suffer from a lack of courage, thus lack character to produce consistent leadership results.  Simply put, without practicing courageous actions in communication, leadership and problem solving, one cannot be a successful leader.  David, without the courage to face Goliath, would still be known as a shepherd of sheep, instead of the King of Israel.  In the same way, people, without the courage to confront their Goliath’s, will not achieve leadership mastery.  Courage, in today’s pragmatic world, is a lost virtue that must be re-birthed in order for character based leadership to thrive again.