What’s it mean to be a courageous leader?  For me it’s about doing the right thing for the organization in spite of my personal preferences.

When we choose to be leaders, we need to check our selfishness at the door.  It’s no longer about what we want or how it will affect us.  We need to always put the organization first.  Gallup research shows the best leaders lead with their followers in mind.  Not themselves.

“Successful leaders dare to be unpopular when they have to make tough decisions and they accept that there may be long periods before the rewards of their efforts finally appear.”  Andrew Sherwood, former member of the Arizona State Senate.

Boy, do I know that to be true.  When I took over as general manager of PBS Charlotte, I had a ton of tough decisions that had to be made and the positive results took longer to show up than I would have liked. I had to downsize the staff and outsource some responsibilities to help balance the budget.  This didn’t make me popular but I wasn’t running a popularity contest.  I was hired to take a failed organization and make it a successful, essential community asset.   If you can’t fund the mission, you don’t have a mission.

My mentor New York Times Bestselling Leadership Author John C. Maxwell recently shared things that courageous leaders do.  I’ll share just a few of them with you today.

Accept tough calls as a requirement of leadership.  Don’t I know it.  Nothing worthwhile ever comes easy.  Those first few years in Charlotte I felt like all I did was make difficult decisions.  I didn’t want to lay people off, but I had to right size the ship based on finances.  I didn’t want to change everything about the job that staff were familiar with, but it had to be done. If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve got.  At that time we had no ratings, very few donors and very few grants or corporate sponsors.  Everything needed to change.  Courage and community service became my north star.  I believed the more we served our region, the more our region would support us and time showed me that was the right call.

“Leadership means having the courage to make decisions, not for easy headlines in ten days, but for a better country in ten years.” Brian Mulroney, former Canadian Prime Minister.

Next, Do Your Homework. Make data driven decisions as much as possible.  Look for statistics in other similar organizations and create a scorecard of key performance indicators/KPIs.  Look at organizations bigger than yours so you have something to strive for.  You don’t just want to survive; the goal is to thrive.  Maxwell suggests looking at all the pieces needed to complete the decision puzzle.

• Define the issue.
• Gather the facts.
• Question your first impressions.
• Outline a strategy.

Courageous leaders also set and adhere to deadlines.  This has always been one of the easier leadership characteristics for me.  I started my career as a television reporter and deadlines were drilled into me.  Missing a deadline was NOT an option and I never have.

“Cowardice asks the question, ‘Is it safe?’  Consensus asks the question, ‘Is it popular?’ Consciences asks, ‘Is it right?” Martin Luther King Jr.

That quote leads us to the next characteristic of a courageous leader.  Make decisions on the principles and values you believe in. Never make a decision that goes against your principles and values.  I do my best to live by the “Golden Rule.”  Treat people the way you want to be treated. For me that’s firm but fair with love and transparency.

My final tip for today is to understand the emotions of making the courageous decision. Most decisions mean change which isn’t easy for anyone.  Fear may try to force you back to your comfort zone, fight the urge because life begins at the end of your comfort zone and choose to:

• See second thoughts as normal.
• Take time to mourn what you’re leaving behind.
• Accept the principle of trade-offs.
• Pray for strength and eagerness.

I hope these strategies help you to strengthen your courageous decision-making muscles.  Remember where there’s a will there’s a way.  You’ve got this.