Forbes Business Council official member Merilee Kern, MBA is an internationally regarded brand analyst, strategist and futurist who reports on noteworthy industry change makers, movers, shakers and innovators across all B2B and B2C categories. Kern is founder, executive editor and producer of “The Luxe List”, as well as host of the nationally syndicated “Savvy Living” TV show. Connect with her at TheLuxeList.com

While some contest, or outright refute, whether or not former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill famously says “success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts,” the power of that statement looms large irrespective of origin. Amid the wildly unforeseen fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, this quote is rather prophetic. 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?

We’re living in an unprecedented, decidedly challenging point in time when courage seems to be the order of the day. In an attempt to garner some crystal clarity on how this is actually defined and perceived when in practice, I took these and other questions to an assortment of experts and leaders in the business community.

Stick to Your Guns

By its very nature, the notion of courage connotes danger and evokes a sense of fear. To this point, Douglas A. Hicks, dean of Oxford College of Emory University, underscores that courage not only enables someone “to take risks that others fear in order to achieve something important,” but also that doing so requires a backbone. “Courage is not about sticking one’s finger in the air to see which way the wind is blowing; what others are saying. CEOs show courage when they commit to keep employees on the payroll in the face of recession and do whatever it takes to create long-term profitability,” he says.

Stacy Caprio of her.ceo concurs, offering that “a courageous leader has the ability to look at the data and make decisions, even when these decisions go against the grain of public opinion, the media and general public panic.”

For those businesses that aren’t exactly linear with some kind of denotable beginning and end, instead operating as a continuous, ever-evolving process — like health care, education and financial management — John Nicola, Nicola Wealth chairman and CEO, urges that “courage comes from the consistency of your message, your ability to support it, and the loyalty of your people delivering it in all environments.”

Amid the ever-unfolding coronavirus-driven challenges and during prior catastrophic events like the “dotcom crash” and the Great Financial Recession of 2008, Nicola has leaned on corporate ideology for sustenance.

How important are these kinds of instincts? Dustin Hillis, CEO of Southwestern Family of Companies, knows all too well, lamenting a time at the company when he had doubts about the sustainability of the business model. “Instead of having courage and actually boldly testing new models, and at the risk of my own income and reputation, I went against what my instincts were telling me. As a result, we went $1 million in debt and almost had to shut the business down. Making the pivot to change the model to what we ended up ultimately doing with coaching and consulting was twice as hard as it would have been two years earlier when I first had the thought. But, I did not have the courage to actually take action on what the numbers, the feedback and my instincts were telling me.”

Jennifer McCollum, CEO of leadership development firm Linkage Inc., further substantiates that courageous leaders stick steadfast to their personal standards. McCollum cites her firm’s research findings, which she says are drawn from 100,000 leadership assessments with data from more than 1 million leaders, revealing behaviors that make a leader courageous. McCollum says that, through her firm’s study over 30 years on what the most effective leaders do, “we know courage is a critical leadership practice that differentiates the most effective leaders from the rest.”

Embrace Vulnerability

According to Aaron Velky, CEO of Ortus Academy, courageous leadership includes the decision to be truthful and vulnerable. “Whether or not the truth is easy to share and whether or not you know what speaking the truth will create as an outcome, courage is the ability to offer up where you are and what is real so that someone can process it individually.” Bravely delivering hard messages is not enough, however.  Velky goes on to clarify by saying, “When we share truth we have to be prepared to listen, but listening is vulnerable, and that’s important too. Courage is owning what we are experiencing. Vulnerability is sharing it — the good, bad and emotionally jarring.”

In fact, Velky says that the decision to acknowledge not only what is truthful and known, but also the unknown, is another distinct decision a brave leader makes.

One business leader who’s walking that highly-exposed walk of vulnerability is Mylen Yamamoto Tansingco, CEO of Cropsticks Inc. — a social and environmentally-minded B Corporation operating in the food service and hospitality industry. “I do not have all the answers and I’m not going to pretend I do either,” she’s refreshingly quick to admit. As case in point, Tansingco publicly shared what Cropsticks is currently going through amid COVID-19. In her YouTube video titled “Can my business survive?” she shared her company’s small business story in endearing, unguarded and highly personal form. “I’m hoping to keep our community motivated and feel seen during this time. I hope it doesn’t become a ‘courage fail’ after this all over,” she says. Yet, she took the leap of faith into that unknown anyway.

Fortune 500 speaker, writer and coach Heather Coros contends that courage is contagious. She emphasizes that curiosity and innovation is only accessible in the brain when a sense of safety is present. “If you’re expecting your team to lean-in, then they need something that feels safe to lean against. By being that safe space, you give the gift of strength and vulnerability to the entire team. And, as we know, vulnerability is essential to highly preferred skills like transparency, clear communication and team cohesion,” she says.

Be Undaunted

Uniquely drawing on her experiences as a stand-up comedian before entering the corporate world, Jennifer Jay Palumbo, CEO of Wonder Woman Writer LLC, feels that being a courageous leader is accomplished by having unwavering poise. “You have to believe in yourself and your idea no matter how the person in the room reacts or not,” and “trust that you’re talented and smart enough to figure it out and still accomplish the task at hand.”

Mike Zaino, president and CEO of TZG Financial, likens this kind of requisite resolve among organizational leaders to that of an underdog continuing to fight with relentless persistence despite prior outcomes. It’s “getting knocked down seven times and standing up eight,” he says.

The idea that courageous leadership requires a willingness and ability to fail and “get back up again” no matter how many times it need be performed is one that’s shared by Chris Field, Mercy Project Inc. CEO. What particularly captures my imagination is Field’s belief that, for courageousness to be a leadership asset, it must be a concerted choice — a daily decision — rather than happenstance. “Courage is a muscle, one we must exercise and grow by being courageous . . . one decision at a time,” he submits.

While conveying courageousness certainly takes chutzpah, Camille Burns, Women Presidents’ Organization CEO, cautions that it’s important to exude confidence without arrogance. “I think people often confuse risk-taking with being courageous,” she says. “Taking a risk is a bold move. But it is even more courageous to fail, to accept that something you tried did not have the outcome you wanted or expected.”

Even so, risk-taking does certainly take its fair share of bravado, and duly illustrates leaders with this attribute. Tim Chen, co-founder and CEO of NerdWallet, points out the prospect for growth moments during times of crisis, namely the one in which we’re currently immersed. He appreciates the extent to which COVID-19 has ushered in a defining time for business leaders, offering, “Even though we’re navigating unprecedented uncertainties, I see this as a huge opportunity for the type of courageous decision-making and smart risk-taking that leads to immense personal and professional growth,” he says. “In fact, I can track most of my greatest periods of personal growth to a prior crisis.”

All told, it’s apparent that courageous business practices are guided not just by guts and grit, but also by focused and unwavering guidance that keeps a leader on course. Just ask Field, who muses, “Courage is knowing our North Star and regularly checking to make sure we’re still headed there.” | AC&F |