Courage is Spirited Leaders' #1 Corporate Value.
Why is Courage so valued?
I will use excerpts from James Allen's 1914 classic, 'Men and Systems' to explain.
James Allen described a hierarchy of 3 standards of Courage: all good, for different reasons.
Physical Courage – the lowest standard of Courage
Human Beings are animals. Like other animals - for example, like lions - we possess internal 'workings' that allow some or all of us to have and illustrate physical Courage. Soldiers provide a good example. Soldiers risk their lives for country and comrade. Like lions, soldiers are fearless in attack and in defense. Like lions, soldiers forfeit their lives rather than yield. Soldiers even sacrifice their lives to save comrades. These are common-enough phenomenon...illustrations of physical Courage.
Moral Courage - a higher standard of Courage
People possess Courage above and beyond that illustrated in the animal kingdom. Quoting James Allen, "In moral courage the other person's ideas, opinions, or principles are attacked, one's own idea, opinions, and principles are defended." Moral Courage places Man above beast. Allen described an evolutionary process where Man's brain evolved to the point where it became able to add much texture around thought before action and around 'right' versus 'wrong', and around 'good' versus 'evil'. Put another way - Man illustrates an expanded consciousness, an expanded capability for cognition...reasoning...thinking. And, People began to judge other People's thinking. There is written evidence Moral Courage has existed for millennia. For example, ancient literature tells us, Socrates, the 5th Century BCE philosopher, drank poison rather than concede his principles.
The New Courage - the highest standard of Courage
James Allen described a Courage exceeding physical and moral fearlessness. Here are Allen's words: "He who has the New Courage does not attack other men or defend himself; does not attack their opinions or defend his own; he is the defender of all men, and that from which he defends them is their own folly, their own ungoverned passions. While never seeking to protect himself, he so acts as to shield others from their deadliest enemy, namely, the evil within themselves.” “The New Courage may, indeed, be described as the courage to be silent.” Certainly, the great prophets [the founders of the major religions] possessed 'The New Courage'.
Hero 'Worship'
When I think of some of my heroes...
Nelson, Napoleon, and Alexander the Great led with Physical Courage and Moral Courage.
Lincoln, Gandhi, and Mandela led with The New Courage.