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| Heroics Not Required |
This is easy right – courage is running into a burning
building, attacking the enemy in the face of a barrage of machinegun fire,
standing your ground to perform you mission in the face of certain death like these
Marines did. (If you have not read
Gen. John Kelly’s speech about Corporal Yale and Lance Corporal Haerter, stop
reading this article, click on that link and read that instead. It will make you cry, give you chills, and
make you proud to be an American all at the same time.)
Yes, those are all examples of courage – physical courage –
bravery if you will. However, this is
only one aspect of courage; the other part is moral courage: standing up for
what is right in the face of criticism, mockery or resentment. You show moral courage when you are willing
to confront a situation for the sake of rightness, independent of the cost.
Both types of courage are captured in the Marine Corps’
definition of courage:
Courage is
the mental quality that recognizes fear of danger or criticism, but enables a Marine to proceed in the face of danger
with calmness and firmness. Knowing and standing for what is right, even in the face
of popular disfavor.
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| Moral and Physical Courage - the most iconic photo of courage in my lifetime. |
The good news is that the vast majority of people will never
be asked to demonstrate physical courage in the face of danger. The bad news is that moral courage is a much
more difficult characteristic to demonstrate.
I have been faced with both, and I would pick a firefight over a weighty
moral decision any day.
Let’s take a moment to look at what is and what isn’t moral
courage. Let’s start with a very current
event - Adam Silver, the NBA commissioner, just dropped the hammer on Donald
Sterling, the owner of the L.A. Clippers for some disgusting racist comments
and beliefs espoused by Sterling. People
are lauding Silver’s decision and his “courage.” I fully support Silver’s decision, but it
wasn’t courageous.
Why? Because everyone
wanted Silver to punish Sterling to the maximum extent possible – doing what
everyone wants and following the popular path (even when it is the right path)
does not require courage.
Moral courage requires a decision that could be costly. Some
examples of moral courage in the workplace include telling a supervisor about
how your co-workers frequently doctor their time sheets, disclosing illegal
accounting practices to an external auditor or releasing incriminating
confidential documents to the media. “Whistle blowing,” the disclosure of illicit
or unsavory business practices to the public, is another form of moral courage. Each of these could cost you friends, jobs,
or public smears. There is a cost to
standing up and taking the “right” action.
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| Atticus Finch - Paragon of Moral Courage |
True moral courage is difficult. It is so difficult, it tends to be lacking in
many people. This is not a new
phenomenon. The great 19th
century American author Mark Twain remarked that it is “curious that physical
courage should be so common in the world, and moral courage so rare.” The famous World War II General George Patton
observed that “Moral courage is the most valuable and usually the most absent
characteristic in men.”
So, we know that we are most likely to get called upon to
show moral, not physical courage, and we know that moral courage is sorely
lacking across our society and can be difficult to demonstrate. Where does this leave us? It leaves us with the type of challenge that
makes a leader, a Leader – the task of modeling and developing moral courage.
So, how as Leaders can we build and demonstrate our moral
courage and instill in our subordinates the necessary moral courage?
Click through for some ideas.
