{"id":37556,"date":"2024-04-16T09:11:08","date_gmt":"2024-04-16T16:11:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=37556"},"modified":"2024-04-16T19:34:35","modified_gmt":"2024-04-17T02:34:35","slug":"courage-dear-heart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/courage-dear-heart\/","title":{"rendered":"Courage Dear Heart"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWhat, if anything, about the way people are leading today needs to change in order for leaders to be successful in a complex, rapidly changing environment where we\u2019re faced with seemingly intractable challenges and an insatiable demand for innovation?\u201d[1]<\/a> This was the question Brene Brown and her researchers started with when conducting interviews with senior leaders. As I listened to her poise the question (audiobook), I immediately answered out loud, \u201cCourage!\u201d I mean, \u201cchanging environment?\u201d \u201cIntractable challenges?\u201d \u201cInsatiable demand for innovation?\u201d For someone with a propensity for safety, responsibility, and let\u2019s be honest, control, these words breed fear.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the thing though\u2026I was correct!<\/p>\n

Brown writes, \u201cThere was one answer across the interviews: We need braver leaders and more courageous cultures.\u201d[2]<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s one thing to study leadership. It\u2019s another thing to actually lead people.[3]<\/a> \u00a0I think this often when I sit at the head of the table spouting off my ideas only to be met with looks of \u201cWhat the heck?\u201d \u00a0by the very people I thought would appreciate my creativity. \u201cHow do I bring them along?\u201d I inwardly panic. \u201cMaybe my ideas aren\u2019t that great? Maybe I\u2019m not cut out for this? I should probably just quit.\u201d Much like Brown in a meeting with her team, I silently spiral into fear and in the past might have \u201carmored up.\u201d[4]<\/a><\/p>\n

Syntopical Learnings<\/strong><\/p>\n

What I am learning through this doctoral program as well as through coaching and counseling is to sit with my fear and to give space for what is appearing as discomfort, discontent, misunderstanding, in those I am leading. My counselor calls it \u201cattunement.\u201d My coach calls it \u201cactive listening.\u201d We, in this program often refer to it as Friedman taught us, \u201cbeing a non-anxious presence\u201d[5]<\/a> or as Simon Walker put it, \u201cleading out of who we are\u201d and \u201cbeing undefended.\u201d[6]<\/a> It takes waiting for the reaction to settle into response, or as Kahneman and Agarwal have noted, waiting for System 2 thinking to take over from System 1.[7]<\/a><\/p>\n

We\u2019ve read a million books over the last year and a half on leadership and each author has given the same but slightly different definition of leadership. For example, Northouse\u2019s definition of leadership is: \u201ca process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal.\u201d[8]<\/a> Kleon wrote that leadership is often \u201cfaking it \u2018til we make it.\u201d[9]<\/a> Beerel notes, \u201cLeadership is about moving people to new places.\u201d[10]<\/a> Brown defines a leader as \u201canyone who takes responsibility for finding the potential in people and processes, and who has the courage to develop that potential.\u201d[11]<\/a> However, Joseph Campbell\u2019s lesson on leadership as Brown states it in Dare to Lead, resonates deeply with me, \u201cwhen you find the courage to enter the cave (of your fear), you\u2019re never going in to secure your own treasure or your own wealth; you face your fears to find the power and wisdom to serve others.\u201d[12]<\/a><\/p>\n

In Woodward\u2019s book, The Scandal of Leadership<\/em>, he used Philippians 2 to illustrate how Jesus, who was God, used leadership to serve us. Instead of using his position for power over, he used his position for suffering with, for love, for serving.[13]<\/a> Digging deep into \u201cvulnerability,\u201d[14]<\/a> Jesus fully shared in our human experience \u2013 and in doing so, showed empathy and built trust. His is the<\/em><\/strong> example of leadership we would all do well to follow. \u201cTo love is to be vulnerable.\u201d[15]<\/a><\/p>\n

Back to Courage<\/strong><\/p>\n

But back to courage in this \u201crapidly changing environment where we\u2019re faced with seemingly intractable challenges and an insatiable demand for innovation.\u201d Brown challenges the common misconception that courage is solely about heroic acts or fearlessness (thank goodness because I\u2019d never qualify), instead framing it as a willingness to show up, be vulnerable, and take risks despite uncertainty or discomfort. Brown asserts that courage is not an inherent trait possessed by only a select few, but rather a skill that can be cultivated and developed over time. The four skills being, learning to \u201crumble with vulnerability, living into our values, braving trust, and learning to rise.\u201d[16]<\/a><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t have word space to go into all of these skills but I am grateful for this doctoral program and for the ways it is teaching me these skills, cultivating courage in me so that I might dare to lead. (Please note: I am feeling pretty proud of how I worked the title of Brene Brown\u2019s book into my last sentence.)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Brene Brown, Dare to Lead<\/em> Brave Work, Tough Conversations, Whole Hearts<\/em>, Random House, New York, 2018, 22.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Ibid, 73.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Ibid, 74.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Edwin H. Friedman, and Peter Steinke. 2017. A Failure of Nerve, Revised Edition: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix<\/em>. 10th Anniversary edition. New York: Church Publishing.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Simon Walker, Leading Out of Who You Are: Discovering the Secret of Undefended Leadership, <\/em>Carlisle: Piquant Editions, 2007, 103.<\/em><\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Pragya Agarwal, Sway<\/em>:<\/em> Unraveling unconscious Bias<\/em>, London, UK: Bloomsbury Sigma, 2020 and Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow<\/em>. 1st edition. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011.<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> Peter G. Northouse, Leadership: Theory and Practice (London: Sage Publications, 2010) 3.<\/p>\n

[9]<\/a> Kleon, Austin. 2012.\u00a0Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative<\/em>. 1st edition. Workman Publishing Company.<\/p>\n

[10]<\/a> Annabel Beerel, Rethinking Leadership: A Critique of Contemporary Theories<\/em>, 1st ed. Milton: Taylor & Francis Group, 2021, 112.<\/p>\n

[11]<\/a> Brene Brown, Dare to Lead<\/em> Brave Work, Tough Conversations, Whole Hearts<\/em>, Random House, New York, 2018, 19.<\/p>\n

[12]<\/a> Ibid, 82.<\/p>\n

[13]<\/a> J.R. Woodard, The Scandal of Leadership<\/em>, 100 Movements Publishing, 2023, 475.<\/p>\n

[14]<\/a> Brene Brown, Dare to Lead<\/em> Brave Work, Tough Conversations, Whole Hearts<\/em>, Random House, New York, 2018, 35.<\/p>\n

[15]<\/a> Ibid, 38.<\/p>\n

[16]<\/a> Ibid, 27.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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