This is the 1st installment in our blog series on Aristotle’s 12 Virtues and how they apply in company culture.
“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.” ― Anais Nin
That quote resonates. Certainly, it is true for personal behavior, but what about for a company? Can a courageous business reap greater rewards? Can opportunities expand for companies that practice courageous behavior? Let’s take a closer look.
The first virtue we are going to talk about in this 12-part series is Courage, which refers to the willingness to face fear and overcome obstacles. In personal situations, we often think of courage being exhibited during an emergency. A courageous individual may risk their own life to save a stranger. They may perform a selfless act that is out of their comfort zone to aid the greater good. We might think of war heroes or someone acting with heroic impulsiveness in a life-or-death situation. The courageous person is the one whose instincts immediately direct them to fight, rather than to flee.
In the workplace, personal courage typically takes a different form. An employee may make a personal choice for the greater good or perhaps voice their sole opinion for what they believe to be right. They might choose to stand up for a fellow employee they think is being treated unfairly, disregarding the potential impact that it could have on them politically. Being true to yourself, regardless of the opposition or stigma that may be attached, is another form of personal courage. In the workplace, these choices are seldom impulsive. Those “courageous” moves may equate to professional life and death, but they are not hair trigger actions. They are typically calculated choices. A company that supports courageous behavior in their employees may encourage employees to do the right thing or follow their moral compass. In environments like that, since they know the reduced chance of negative personal repercussions, employees may be more inclined to partake in professionally positive risky behavior.
For managers, it can be a different story. Those who become good leaders have a willingness to make bold moves, but they also realize that these bold moves heighten their chances of success. After a rough patch, they are confident that there will be a reward. Like personal business choices, they are not decisions that are made impulsively; typically, they require careful deliberation and preparation. Professional courage is not so much an innate managerial characteristic, but a learned skill that improves with practice. In other words, courageous decision makers have a willingness to make high-risk decisions because they know how to strategically think the process through and are confident in the rewards that will be gained.
Companies may also exhibit courageous behavior. However, for a business, courage is seldom a decision that is made in isolation. Much like how a great manager makes courageous decisions, a business may call upon their internal leaders to employ their calculated, learned skills and guide the company into a series of strategic moves that the entity is doing for a clear purpose. Courageous companies may encourage transparency with their employee population, as referenced above, or they make business decisions that their competitors have shied away from. These are not impulsive decisions; rather they are well-calculated gambles. Typically, it is an internal team effort where the courageous leaders draw from their honed skillsets to drive the business as a team to an agreed upon result.
Courage in a work setting should be respected and instilled as a company behavior from the base to the top. If it is inherent in company culture, and supported as a learned skill set, the benefits for the business overall will undoubtably “expand in proportion.”