Eight Courages of Leaders

Trends change and new ideas emerge. When discussing leadership skills, an "old" concept is back in the spotlight: courage.

The reason is simple: Businesses are facing more and more competition; customers are demanding more and more; shareholders and employees are expecting more and more. There are more and more times when decisions need to be made bravely.

Therefore, "courage" has become one of the most important factors for companies looking for leaders. According to business consultant Peter Koestenbaum: "When judging a leader's thoughts and actions, people often use four words to praise a leader's greatness. That is - vision, pragmatism, ethics and courage. "

So, when the word "courage" is used in the context of a leader, how is it defined? According to FedEx, a good leader has nine qualities, one of which is "courage." The company also defines courage in detail:

"willingness to make one's own opinions, even if they are not popular; not giving in to pressure or the opinions of others in order to avoid conflict; doing what is right for the company and its employees even if it would cause him trouble personally."

When companies look for courageous leaders, they evaluate candidates for their level of self-confidence, intellectual and emotional integrity. John Thompson, vice chairman of the executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles, showed an assessment form the firm uses. "Can he stick to what he thinks is right? Can he make improvements to his thinking and thinking based on reality? Can they admit to their mistakes and be willing to take responsibility for their actions and thoughts, And delve deeper into this mistake?"

Plus, it's easy to spot a leader who lacks courage. Thompson describes these people as having "less emotional integrity and less willingness to correct bad decisions and mistakes." They often say, "That's the way to go," "This is what a competitor did," or "We can't get the share we want." Obviously, these are all excuses to excuse themselves.

As you can see, it's easy to define, and it's relatively easy to identify objects. The real difficulty is that, like other leadership qualities, courage is not an individual act. It is not only seen in the leader, but must also be reflected in the behavior of the followers. One of the favorite sayings of scholars of ancient Roman history is: "When Cicero opens his mouth, people are amazed; when Caesar opens his mouth, people march in line." If you want people to follow your mind, just It takes great courage.

In many situations, people need courageous leaders. Listed below are some of the more important examples, I believe it will bring you some inspiration.

Inspiring Vision

Japanese products were once considered synonymous with poor quality, and Sony hopes to change this perception and build its own corporate image. Boeing's goal is to dominate the commercial aircraft industry and bring the world into the jet age.

The presentation of these visions, as well as the detailed description of the visions, required a great deal of courage.

Leaders must have the courage to formulate and present these visions and work with other employees to translate them into reality. To some employees, the company's vision seems never to be realized. As a leader, then, it is your responsibility to motivate these employees and help them overcome the obstacles on the way to achieve their vision.

Experienced leaders do these things with such ease that it's hard for people to realize how brave they are. All people are concerned about is what to do to make the vision come true. Courageous leaders are able to sort through the chaotic work situation and focus on the things that deserve attention. This way, they can anticipate possible troubles at work in the future. In addition, because they can foresee long-term success, they are less concerned about short-term uncertainties.

Leaders today often use their imaginations to find breakthroughs when designing their vision—and the effect is quite obvious.

In the development history of Pfizer, IBM, General Electric and 3M, the vision design often originated from the imagination of some genius entrepreneurs. At IBM, it is not Lou Gerstner that is mentioned the most, but Thomas Watson Jr. and his IBM360 structure. McDonald's is also returning to the corporate philosophy of Ray Kroc. Today's leaders are asking, "What are the core qualities of our business, and how can we maximize them?"

Leadership lessons: Identify the core qualities of the business; focus on what matters most; Looking ahead to future goals, don’t be tied down by the current difficulties.

Discover new markets or industries

When it comes to vision, very few CEOs are considered visionary leaders. They have the courage to stand by their judgment and discover markets that don't yet exist or that others don't see.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt is one of them. Before finding him, the company had approached many CEO candidates, but none of them could tell where Google was going in the future. Schmidt, on the other hand, showed his ability to be different. His vision for the company's future surprised even Google's two founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

Schmidt said that when he initially communicated with the two bosses, "they disagreed with everything I said." For example, they couldn't understand why the company couldn't stay small -- in Schmidt's vision, Google's future had to be big. Later, the company underwent a drastic overhaul under Schmidt's leadership.

The numbers are perhaps the most telling: When Schmidt first joined Google in 2001, the company's annual sales were just $86.4 million. Under his leadership, Google now has more than $3 billion in annual revenue, with net income soaring from $7 million to $400 million last year.

Leadership lesson: Think about the core benefits your product or service brings to customers, and how large those benefits will be, and then resolutely pursue change.

Going upstream

Henry Sy of SM Group, one of Asia's largest mall developers, recalls when he spent millions of dollars buying a tract of land to build the largest store in the Philippines Criticisms are heard endlessly. It was in the 1980s. Due to the turbulent political, economic and social situation in the Philippines, it was almost impossible to attract foreign investment, and even domestic investors were pitiful.

Everyone said Shi Zhicheng was crazy, but he was the only one doing it. "I found out from the income of my own store that people were actually quite rich," he recalled. "So, who do you think I should listen to—the income figures of my own store, or someone else's opinion?" Simple: Shi Zhicheng insisted on completing the project, which brought him great success. Since then, he has made persistent efforts to create a larger merchandise store.

It takes courage to go "upstream". For Shi Zhicheng, insisting on the judgment of the future, supplemented by clear data, enables him to easily move against the trend.

Howard Schulz, the founder of Starbucks, is another example of success. At first, he was told by experts not to take Starbucks internationally—after all, the company has a 10 percent share of the domestic U.S. market.

But Schultz doesn't see it that way. He believes that Starbucks has every opportunity to enter the international market. It turns out he was right. Not only that, but he seems to have a huge appetite in the international market. "We don't have the word 'saturated' in our dictionary," Schultz said. He cites a huge growing market, China, as an example: "Our stores have been hugely successful there." Leader Lesson: Follow the basic laws of the market---not the basic laws that others say, but the data. Therefore, as long as there is enough evidence, you should stand by your own point of view.

Winning Trust

There is a famous saying in management circles: People should not be managers, but should be led. If you want your subordinates to follow your leader, you must gain their trust.

When IBM was a small company, then-CEO Thomas Watson Sr. adopted a unique leadership style that laid the foundation for IBM's subsequent success. His son Watson Jr., the heir to the company, recounts how his father earned the trust of his subordinates.