Courage in Leadership

“Great courage is not demonstrated by aggression or ambition, which are often expressions of fear or delusion. The courageous heart is one that is unafraid to open to the world.”

This quote was posted on Instagram from one of my favourite mindfulness authors and teachers, Jack Kornfield. It is a simple quote, yet has a depth to it that goes to core of leadership

I, along with many I’m sure, have been challenged by the notion of bringing our true selves into our daily relationships. Often fearful that who you are and what you bring is not good enough. So we then play a role that we think is more acceptable, always living with a fear that someone will find out who you really are. In the meantime, this increases the gap between what we think others should see of us, and who we really are. Over time, this way of being can create a sense of emptiness, frustration and isolation.

Many leaders I have worked with believe that they have to be someone else to be a leader. In their minds they have a perception of what leadership should look like, and cannot accept that what they bring, as themselves, is one of the key ingredients to great leadership.

Of course there are responsibilities, skills to learn and implement. But the challenge of a leader is how to bring their authentic self to each of those functions and relationships.

How then do we become unafraid to open to the world? We must understand our self. To understand our self means we become aware of our thinking, our stories, our emotions and how we create a view of the world that is either helpful to us and others or unhelpful. In order to understand and work with others, we have to understand and accept our self. We have to know that we are okay, and enough, just the way we are.