We have looked at several aspects of courage over the past few weeks, including the need for courage in leadership, the willingness to face and learn from failure, the essential need to develop a heart of courage, the value of friends who remind us to remain courageous, and the direct correlation between Courage and Truth.
There is another point in time when courage is required:
In a group setting it is not uncommon for a situation to arise that needs to be addressed by someone. And often, it is the challenge of dealing with a person in the group who is causing challenges for the rest of the group.
Everyone in the group knows that the person causing the difficulty is in need of correction. Yet in many - if not most – cases, no one wants to be the one to confront the matter.
Doing so would be risky – and it would require courage.
That said, here is an interesting sociological phenomenon: Whoever musters up the courage to address the difficult person in an appropriate and professional manner, often becomes the de facto leader of that group.
And so when the next situation arises where confronting a challenge arises, the person who bravely handled the difficulty the first time will often be approached by others in the group with a request that sounds something like this, “You dealt with so-and-so last time. Now we have another person that is causing disruptions. Will you handle this new situation just like you did before? You seem to be good at it…”
And so leadership is established.
It seems to be the case that leadership and courage go hand-in-hand. Because courage is recognized.
And so is leadership