Category: Business/Investing Publisher: Winning Your Way, Inc.
ISBN-10: 1932203168
Type: Non-Fiction
Pages: 202
Copyright: Jan 1 2003
From paralyzing injury to 2001 Judo World Silver medalist, learning to apply the valuable lessons from sports competition to Corporate America.
The Courage of Character
The case for courage
“There is no pivotal moment, only small acts of courage for the right decision.”
Jim Carrick
We often think of courage in terms of one-time heroic acts of war or in the bravery of the firefighters who risked - and too often gave - their lives on September 11th.
But courage in the large acts comes from courage built from a series of small acts. James Bregman, 1964 Olympian, says, “The real courage is what you do on a daily basis, how you conduct yourself to the standards you have set. That will lead to doing the right thing and the next right thing. The more times you do the next right thing, the more ingrained proper conduct becomes. It starts with little things and ends with big
things.”
Over 100 interviews with business leaders showed clearly that this type of courage is essential for long-term career success and personal satisfaction. Without courage, you live a less full life. You don’t go as far in your career or last as long. But just as some people aren’t sure if they have an identity apart from their job title, some aren’t sure they have values apart from what the company has given them. Others simply aren’t strong enough. It takes courage to follow your values and be unwavering. But a career without courage flattens out because it is not built on a solid foundation.
It is critical that courage become a core value of the company because the organization pays the price for the misconduct of a few: lawsuits, front page scandals and punishment of the price per share. Putting aside Enron, which seems corrupt throughout its culture, most companies would welcome the opportunity to correct problems before they hit the headlines giving the organization a public black eye and besmirched reputation. It is in the company’s best interests to develop courage in its leaders because only the largest organizations can afford to staff ethics officer positions and ethics hotlines. The rest must rely on their employees to do what is right and report what is wrong.
Organizational integrity begins with the organization’s framework of values and ends with individual accountability. Nine in ten employees say they expect their organizations to do what is right, not just what is profitable. The same percentage say the people they work with believe in the organization’s standards and values.1 As their leaders, we must live and breathe our values, modeling them in everyday behavior.
Once walked, the path of the Inner Compass leaves everyone transformed. Uncover a future with unlimited leadership possibilities. Master your ego
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09ZRRPFW5/
