Yesterday marked my second session as a Junior Great Books leader for my daughter and seven of her third-grade classmates. I was really, really nervous. I am not generally nervous as a teacher, or as a public speaker. I groove on it. In this case, though, I know how fickle these kids can be, I didn’t want to embarrass my daughter, and I didn’t have any confidence in my ability to predict what might embarrass her. Okay, I’ll level with you: I was dry-mouth scared.
I never would have predicted that reaction. It took more courage than I would have expected to meet the class, and to conduct the lesson. Of course it went fine, but it revealed an important feature of courage: we don’t know when we might need it, and more important, we don’t know when others are exhibiting it. It may have taken enormous courage for one of your co-workers to speak up in a staff meeting, respond to an angry customer, or apply for a new assignment.
I read John F. Kennedy’s Profiles in Courage as a high school student; it made absolutely no impression on me. I read it again as an adult, and was quite struck by the accounts that Kennedy (and his uncredited co-author, the late Minnesotan Ted Sorensen) provided of nineteenth-century senators who risked their careers for their convictions. Kennedy and Sorensen offer remarkable stories of real people facing fears with courage. From them, we can see some factors that promote courage:
- Clear vision
- Belief in an organization or institution
- Self-confidence and self-regard
- The moment
We might also realize that we can set about being more encouraging for ourselves, and for one another, by creating organizations that tolerate honest mistakes. I have worked in organizations that were unforgiving, where people were punished for mistakes, or even for speaking out. Not surprisingly, workers took few risks, and performance suffered in all respects. I have also been a part of organizations that were led with vision and driven by meaningful missions, and where people were held accountable but also supported (even, at times, forgiven). Remarkable things happened in such organizations.
This week, I was surprised by what scared me. I suspect I’d be even more surprised to know what scares those around me. In truth, we don’t always need to know, so long as we are consistently encouraging and supportive, and focused on what is truly important. There’s more than enough courage to go around.
