True Tilt Leadership: On Bravery

Blog re-send:  Part of the previous blog-post was misplaced in the body of content, so pardon the duplication.  This one should read more smoothly.  Pam

What, SPECIFICALLY, do GREAT leaders DO differently?   

LESSON FIVE on Bravery in the Tilt Leadership Model

Category: Courage Meta-Factor

Definition of Courage:  The ability to face risk with confidence and integrity, creating momentum for fair and just action.    

Proficiency #2.  Engages respect through personal will.  (Strength=Bravery)

The leader who commands respect, does so through a vitality and energetic commitment to what they believe strongly in their conscience.  Bravery always includes some form of vitality, boldness and persistent strength in the face of risk.  

The Two Sides of Instinct

Bravery is a guttural and often swift act that has some kind of risk, is usually instinctual and comes from a deep knowing of what is right in the moment.  Stories about bravery are usually heroic stories about someone who had a split-second instinct that caused them to do something that advances good, but much more clearly about learned character and a commitment to doing what is right that comes from a deep place inside oneself that is already there. If you don't have solid character, the ability to do the brave act in that split second will not exist. So, the brave person has been prepared for the event long before it presents itself. 

I am reminded of two stories that illustrate both sides of this point. I was recently reading an article about sailing in one of our cruising magazines and read a story written by a man who had NOT done the brave thing in the moment of crisis. While sailing in the dark at night, he had gone below decks to fix a cup of coffee and when he came up he saw that a huge carrier was passing directly in front of them and a crash into the the huge vessel was imminent. He screamed below to his son who quickly scrambled up to the deck, but the son's girlfriend was asleep in her bunk tucked behind a lee cloth and did not come up in time for the sidelong crash into the carrier. The captain, in a moment of fear, dove off of the sailboat before it crashed into the carrier without a second thought to what would happen to the other two aboard. Thankfully, his story ended well, and all of them survived, but as he swam back to the broken sailboat, he described the agony of guilt swarming his soul and I doubt he will ever be the same again.

The other story that always comes to my mind when I think of bravery is a story reported in the news a few years ago about a heroic event that happened on the Chicago subway.  A young man tumbled onto the track from an epileptic attack of convulsions.  Another man saw the danger to the young man, saw the subway approaching and decided he had to take action.  In a split second he made a decision to risk his own life to save the young man who would have surely lost his life if not for the bravery of this heroism. He flung himself on top of the young man to pin him down in the middle of the tracks while the subway raced ahead over them. Both survived. In a final testament to his solid character, the hero would not accept credit for his decision as anything other than a decision to do the right thing. I found myself wondering if I would have made that choice and I am not sure that I could have. I was recently in Atlanta and decided to take a good look at the tracks, pondering the choice I would make given the same set of circumstances. These stories make a person think.

The Core Principles of Bravery:

1.  Principle of Vitality:  Demonstrating bravery always includes a form of strong energy that emanates from the gut of the individual.  It comes from a primal and physical instinct that promotes survival of the strongest.  That goes without saying. Yet recently, I've been thinking that bravery can actually be even more powerfully demonstrated through a more quiet brand of strength.  It takes even more fortitude and commitment to exercise internal strength as it does to act outwardly.  Think of the strength of Victor Frankl, Nelson Mandela or Gandhi whose inner bravery demonstrates the power of choice most profoundly.

2.  Principle of Bold Morality:  Bravery also implies that the action is taken in the face of personal risk of some kind through bold choices taken to advance the greater good of something meaningful.  It includes a morale implication because we would not consider someone brave when they do something that is not good, but is instead promoting self-interest. One can be bold in pursuing self-advancement at the expense of others but this would never be considered an act of bravery.  This shows up through actions that demonstrate unbridled vices, like greed, vanity, envy or pride.

3.  Principle of Persistence:  Inherent in every form of bravery is the consistent commitment to tenaciously moving the greater good forward in ways that may fly in the face of popular opinion.  Tenacity is required to trust one's gut that you have an idea or view worth sticking with, despite the discouragement of others.  This quality of bravery is more like a slow boil and often grows stronger over time as one invests personal energy into the endeavor. 


So, how does the leader demonstrate bravery in climate & culture? 

Bravery can be demonstrated through leadership in both short-term and long-term momentum toward some mission.  The leader who needs to be popular will not do well in this strength, by virtue of the fact that one must be willing to put approval from others aside to advance what is right and good.  I am reminded of the last two decades of discouragement that came my way as I posed my ideas for Tilt to others.  Most people in corporations and even in the psychology domain were not interested in exploring how building virtues and mitigating vices through balance could be connected with performance.  But because I had tested my theories in practical implementation through my own leadership and experience a remarkable phenomenon connected to innovation produced by my teams, I forged forward despite the lack of support from others.  They would say "No one will be interested in measuring character strengths like integrity and trust."  I would think to myself "Well, we are all in trouble then, so I have to stay after my work...one day we may care and I will be ready." That day has come.  And it was my brave and bold persistence over two decades of work that will help change the world in some way.  Even if my research only makes a dent, then I will have the knowledge that I did my part.  I can't explain the tenacity inside me, but I always know what I need to do next and that it is a long process that has unfolded in remarkable ways over time. 

The Systemic Challenge:

In most organizations today, bravery is critical.  In the 1990s I once learned from a wise futurist named Dr. Kami, that we should "learn to love the gorillas in our organizations".  He said that they are the only ones who are willing to tell us when we are wrong or that we need to change direction. I am still an advocate of that advice today.  If we don't reward those who give us bold input to our decisions, we put ourselves and our leadership agenda at great risk.  We need feedback anywhere we can get it and should place high value on those who are willing to take personal risk for the good of the whole. 


Interesting Learning for this lesson:  (Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway, Dr. Susan Jeffers)

In her popular book, Dr Jeffers presents 10 Dynamic Techniques for Turning Fear, Indecision, and Anger into Power, Action, and Love.  I am still reading it, so the ten steps will be added later! 

Quote by Thucydides, ancient Greek philosopher. 
"The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding, go out to meet it. 


Questions for thought:
Think about the last time you were faced with a high risk decision. Did you do what is right, or did you do what protected your own selfish needs? We all need to keep thinking about that one so we are prepared for the split second moment when our character will be required to call the shot.

NEXT time: 

Meta-Factor of COURAGE and Proficiency #6:  Confidence.


Pam Boney, Lead Instructor
Tilt Academy for Innovative Leadership
pam@tilt360leaders.com
Copyright, 2010