Courageous Work isn't just about swinging for the fences, though it certainly encompasses that. In addition to taking risks and pushing to meet stretch goals, courageous work also requires that employees:
Now, ask yourself this: how likely would any employee be to take those kinds of actions if they did not feel that their leadership was perceptive, fearless, loyal, and open?
Answer: none.
No employee is going to provide push-back or honest feedback to a boss who won’t be emotionally open to it. No employee is going to abandon maximization of her performance metrics to improve team performance, if she suspects she’ll have to personally pay for such a sacrifice due to the cluelessness of her boss.
This is why fearful leaders — managers and bosses who lead through an emotional face of fear — inspire CYA actions, a play-it-safe careerism, and office politics.
Fearless leaders not only act with courage themselves, but they drive out fear in their team, especially their direct reports, by:
This is how these leaders set the stage for a command climate that fosters courageous work. In fact, from our results, we've seen that a fearless leader can positively impact people she interacts with on a daily basis, including direct reports and colleagues.
While a single fearless leader can create a command climate that inspires courageous work, it takes changing a significant percentage of an organization's leaders to really affect the overall culture.
Then again, that's really the best way (and fastest) to change a culture -- one leader at a time.
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Fearless Leaders grabbed hold of me and wouldn’t let go. It’s the most practical book I’ve read on how to heighten mindfulness and ignite personal courage. It’s a powerful book, tough at times, tender at others. From her own fearless experiences, and those of leaders she’s studied, Dr. Cathy Greenberg offers revealing self-assessments, intimate first-person examples, and engaging applied exercises. Follow the steps she outlines and they will enable you to achieve higher levels of performance and greater awareness of yourself and your environment. With Fearless Leaders as your guide you’ll make better decisions and lead a more passionate life. You can’t ask for more than that from any book!
—Jim Kouzes
Fearless Leaders tackles (and teaches) one of the most complex attributes of outstanding leaders throughout history, moral courage.
—Amy Edmondson
That's a tough one, moral courage is hard to teach and it's such an important quality for leaders. If we could get more people to step up to use moral courage more often - we would see better results.
—Jerry Boykin
After having the pleasure of recording an On Demand Seminar with Dr. Cathy Greenberg, I was astonished by her ground-breaking perspective on leadership, and the role she takes herself as an inspirational leader. Not only did I learn to sharpen my focus, she also showed me how to achieve greater confidence and courage to become an inspirational leader myself. She was truly a pleasure to work with, and I am thrilled that she accepted to be a faculty at the Gazelles Growth Institute.
—Daniel Marcos
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