In
our society it is often the Lion out of all others in the animal
kingdom that gets associated with courage. Why is that? Lets look at the
facts.
The Lion is an apex predator weighing in at a cool 220kg with enough power to pull down a full grown buffalo.
It
will drive off younger males from the pride as they mature and could
potentially compete for the attention of the females. It has no natural
predators but can be driven off a kill by a group of hyaena’s.
Not
exactly the attributes for courage that would make a Mills and Boon
hero. A little bit more leaning towards being a bully if you ask me!
The word courage has an origin circa.1300, from Old French corage meaning "heart, innermost feelings”.
A
more modern definition is “mental or moral strength to venture,
persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty”. Now let’s look at
this in relation to leadership.
If we take the Lion metaphor for
courage we would play the power card often and hard, and view people
around us as a potential threat to be stood up to.
We would view each interaction as a chance to show our dominance and roar to the world about whose turf it is.
Now I don’t know about you but I’m not sure this is the type of courage that inspires people to follow a leader.
Lets contrast this with a dog. Dogs tend to be by nature, what you see is what you get. If dogs are happy they let you know it.
Likewise
if they are sad or upset they wear their heart on their sleeve. They
are often quick to let you pat them or rub their belly, to be
vulnerable.
They show respect but still like to be playful. And
lots of people follow dogs, I see them all the time around my streets,
the dog out in front with the owner behind, often willing on the end of a
leash!
So coming back to us as human beings, lets review what
takes more courage to do. Is it to use our appearance and body language
to put on a show or is it to dig deep to consistently say what we really
think and feel.
Here’s a concept I use in working with
individuals and teams. Its called right hand and left hand column
conversations. It’s a pretty simple one.
Everything you really
think and feel can be considered a left hand column conversation, i.e. a
conversation with yourself in your own head. Now lets play a little.
Grab
a piece of paper. Yes actually grab one right now. Think of a recent
experience where you were upset with someone or they frustrated you or
left you confused.
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