In the first two installments of this three-part series on the courage required to lead sustainability efforts, we explored the business contexts leaders most often need to summon courage and how we can prepare for moments that require courage on the battlefield or the boardroom. In this third installment, we focus on the key dynamic that distinguishes the development of courage and gives leaders the confidence they need to keep their organizations moving forward in extraordinary circumstances. Finding ways to do right by all stakeholders (e.g., the organization, your people, the community, and the environment) is a daunting task that requires a healthy dose of courage – a quality that is often difficult to summon and only apparent when you see it in action.

Weighty questions face organizations in how they empower leaders to drive decisions that positively impact sustainably goals, position the company to solve global issues that matter to customers, and align sustainability investments with company values. Answering these questions is aided by an inner search for courage and managing conflicting tensions. Research suggests demonstrating a willingness to step into situations that draw on conflicting values and virtues is itself a critical component of leadership. Doing so entails asking tough questions that force oneself to look in the mirror and hold themselves accountable in their organizational ecosystem. However, managing the flow of decisions related to organizational tension and audacious change often comes down to managing a key counterpoint to courage.

We know that our emotions, and how we handle our feelings, play a significant role in both the development and display of courage. The inhibitors of courage include common human experiences: uncertainty, fear, and self-serving instincts. And yet, some are able to break through these vulnerabilities to serve those around them despite personal risks. Outside of more dangerous situational risks, we are all commonly faced with a more ubiquitous inhibitor to courage: reluctance. Possibly the most important tension that builds a leader’s character is the pressure between courage and reluctance. Sometimes our courage stands in opposition to an easier, less fear-inducing path. Courage is often blocked by common feelings that discourage us from ‘rocking the boat’ or driving actions that result in having to experience and manage others’ negative emotions. However, to take truly courageous action, we also need reluctance to balance against rash or miscalculated action.

Bravely Managing Uncertainty requires reluctance. It is not only a healthy inhibitor to rash action that could lead to unsustainable results, but it can also help us sequence actions that manage uncertainty and help us move quickly once an opportunity arises. Leadership reluctance includes a sense of the consequences present in situations and a connection to the high stakes for followers and for leaders themselves. In some situations, reluctance itself can be the more courageous way forward through uncertainty. In others, a sequence of learning from failures can accelerate courageous action. Doing so requires a healthy dose of perspective taking, which has been shown to be more difficult and egocentric when experiencing anxiety from uncertainty. Giving leaders the freedom to communicate a healthy reluctance, and the space to take courageous action when the circumstances are right, helps us move away from self-serving instincts and understand the true costs of stepping into leadership responsibility.

To better understand how leaders can develop courage to meet the most complex business challenges head-on, we sat down with Drs. Rob McKenna and Daniel Hallak to gain insight from their work at WiLD (Whole and Intentional Leader Development).

Beau River: Why is it important to develop leaders who are both courageous and reluctant?

Rob McKenna: Without a healthy sense of reluctance, a leader is out of touch with the realities of what’s going on in their own world and the world of their followers. Reluctance isn’t a weakness, but a necessary connection to the high stakes of leading well. The question we have asked ourselves at WiLD is: What would it look like if we were intentionally preparing a generation of courageous and sacrificial leaders who would bring enough self-efficacy, self-awareness, and confidence to actually step out and lead? We are also convicted that leadership development must push leaders to consider the necessary sacrifices, both personal and relational, that may be necessary to lead well in challenging circumstances. It’s a fundamental paradox that we see as the heart of leadership development. The challenge for us in thinking about developing courageous leaders is first to help people understand fear: their fears, the fears posed by situations and contexts, and the fears of the people around them. We help leaders consider courage that exists in the presence of fear, not the absence of it. Courage with ignoring risks and fear can easily become reckless, just boldness without any kind of an underpinning to what's at stake.

River: How do you help leaders take perspective, become more willing to courageously look inward, and better understand the dynamics that impact their decisions?

McKenna: The tension that we walk into as scientists and theorists and practitioners is there’s the leadership theory that gives us some general handholds and principles that we understand across populations of leaders. But the individual story of a leader is nuanced and customized. So, it’s holding both of those things together that has been the foundation of our work with leaders. The way that we define a leader is someone who goes first. So, what does it mean to develop someone with both the courage and the sacrificial character to go first? We think answering this question is about the development of contradicting opposites. We need leaders who are both vulnerable and bold, open to perspective taking, and yet convicted. To move forward despite fear, a lot of psychological variables challenge leaders on a deep level. We help leaders explore and balance the virtues they bring to the table in challenging moments that help them lead courageously while displaying the balance they need to manage their environment.

River: How can leaders become more courageous in pursuing sustainability goals?

Daniel Hallak: Sustainability inherently suggests a need for a long-term perspective, and we typically think of courage as situational and momentary. We think about how courage can be a process of mustering, that is both fortitude in a moment and gathering for future circumstances. Truly sustainable leadership has to be applicable in a number of circumstances and relevant over a long period of time. Helping people develop this relevance is not a single training or learning; it’s broader and more systematic. In some organizations, leaders are charged with ten to twenty, even thirty-year strategic plans. It’s a bit question to address those kinds of timeframes in a balanced way. Every major movement of change requires leaders with a unique combination of courage and reluctance and leaders who take a whole perspective. Leading sustainability requires a particularly significant amount of wisdom and discernment to remain focused on long-term sustainability goals and not get overly distracted by quarterly earnings or short-term thinking.

River: What’s the impact of organizations investing in developing courage in their leaders?

Hallak: The impact always begins with a leader. We focus on developing someone who can actually stand with wisdom and discernment in key moments. This has a powerful impact collectively. We don’t overly focus on leadership as a topic; we're really interested in leaders and how they impact the environment, people, and the broader issues around them. We ask leaders: “Why are you here? What is the purpose you have as a leader in this situation? What is the stand you are willing to take? And what will be the cost?” Whether it's poverty, the environment, or human trafficking, we believe leaders have to stand for something beyond business results if long-term, sustainable impact is their aim. We help people think about how they can step out of their comfort zone and step into the complexity. Once they are able to do that, leaders are positioned to take their organizations in courageous directions.