Why Courage Is the Key to Leading Through Uncertainty
Courage isn’t something you’re either born with or without. And believing it is can quietly hold you back—especially in uncertain times. While we still have more to learn about how the brain processes courage, science already shows it’s something we can cultivate through action and awareness.
Consider the example of Alex Honnold, the world’s most renowned free-solo climber.
In 2017, Honnold became the first person to scale Yosemite’s 2,700-foot El Capitan without ropes. The vast majority of the climb took place in what’s called the death zone. One mistake and he would have been dead in ten seconds.
Few people, other great climbers included, can imagine doing this.
So, why could Honnold? Clearly, he has the physical skill and intellectual problem-solving capabilities that rockclimbing demands. But is he also simply more courageous than most of us?
Neuroscientist Jane Joseph persuaded Honnold to allow her to put him in an MRI tube to try to find out. While there, she and her team showed him 200 mostly disturbing photographs.
“At least in non-Alex people, these [photos] would evoke a strong response in the amygdala,” Joseph said, referring to the part of the brain that processes emotions including fear and anxiety.
But in Alex Honnold’s brain, nothing happened.
And this raised an important chicken-or-egg question: Did his courage precede his climbs, or did his climbs fuel his courage? (Dr. Rowan Hooper writes more about this in The Wall Street Journal.)
Lessons for the “Non-Alex” People Among Us
While researchers continue to sort that out, there are some practical lessons for the “non-Alex people” among us—by which I mean those striving to lead with courage and compassion in mission-driven organizations, purpose-driven corporations, and well-meaning communities, schools, and families.
We Can Cultivate Courage.
Deborah Finfgeld-Connett, PhD, RN, FAAN, a Professor Emerita of the Sinclair School of Nursing, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, USA, is a pioneering researcher in the cultivation of courage across the age span.
More than 20 years ago, she studied the courage of individuals from the age of 14 to 94 and published her findings in a study that continues to be cited by the National Institutes of Health and others.
Her conclusion: “The ability to be courageous develops over time and includes efforts to fully accept reality, problem solve based on discernment, and push beyond ongoing struggles.”
Teaching Courage as a Leadership Skill
Among the reasons courage matters in leadership is the power it holds to strengthen adaptability, relationships, and problem-solving.
And organizations have a key role to play in activating courage in the workplace—and not only for occupations typically associated with risk, such as firefighting or law enforcement.
The point is: While courage has long been recognized as an important trait for leaders, the extreme uncertainty and challenges of our day make it not only practical but vital that we normalize courage throughout the workplace.
One might even suggest that workshops on courage should be as big a focus as, say, productivity or project management. And it certainly should be a growing cornerstone of leadership development programs.
After all, as a study published in 2022 in The European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education concluded: activating courage benefits both employers and employees.
“In a world characterized by transitions and insecurity, in which prominent features are risk, uncertainty, frequent changes and transitions in working experience, and the instability of future perspectives,” the authors wrote, “intelligent risk management and courage can be positive resources to deal with feelings of fear and to respond effectively to demanding work (and life) contexts.”
Put simply, teaching more people what it takes to develop courage just might provide the fog lights we need to see through the current clouds of uncertainty.