A Courageous Leader Defined (and Advice on How to Become One)

The Nordic Business Forum 2024 is approaching, and soon we’ll dive into the theme of courageous leadership with the help of 12 world-leading speakers. To get you warmed up, we asked our speakers to share their key ideas on what courageous leadership means to them and how they advise leaders to rise to the challenge. Here’s what they said!

Speak Out

Firstly, Brené Brown and Kim Scott highlighted that courageous leaders stand for their people and dare to speak out. In today’s world, leaders are required to have the courage to step into the uncomfortable zone and lead difficult conversations.

“Brave leaders are never silent about hard things. What differentiates leaders from others is their ability and willingness to unearth the unsaid.”

– Brené Brown

 

“Courageous Leadership is about the willingness of leaders to demonstrate what psychologist Jennifer Freyd calls Institutional Courage. This goes beyond personal courage. It is about having the courage and the discipline to create management systems that encourage respectful behavior and create consequences for disrespectful behavior. If we design such systems consciously, we can have a positive impact on our workplace culture; if we don’t, systemic injustice is the inevitable result.”

– Kim Scott

Make Tough Decisions

Several of our speakers emphasized that it’s essential for any courageous leader to be able to make difficult decisions. They also mentioned that leaders should always take their own principles, company values, and long-term benefits into account when making decisions.

“Courageous leadership, to me, means having the boldness to make decisions that may not yield immediate benefits but are right for the long-term satisfaction of customers and the sustainability of the business. It involves taking risks, challenging the status quo, and leading by example in putting customer needs at the forefront of business strategy.”

– Steven Van Belleghem

 

“Courageous leadership is choosing to do things that are hard but right over those that are easy but wrong. My best advice for becoming a courageous leader is to reflect on the costs of failing to live by your principles.”

– Adam Grant

 

“Braveness—and it is up to you individually. A bit provocatively said: everybody can become a better leader, yet world-class leadership is not for the faint ones. Leadership is all about making and taking difficult decisions. Everyday. In both private and business lives.”

– Sanna Suvanto-Harsaae

Be There for Your Team

Will Guidara and Chris Voss emphasized that a courageous leader is genuinely available for their team. Truly caring for people and really hearing people out requires vulnerability but is extremely important for leaders.

“Courageous leadership means that you understand that your energy is meant to impact the people on your team, not the other way around.”

– Will Guidara

 

“Understand how you look to other people. Hear them out and let them know you’re concerned for them. Be courageous in your concern. You’re going to find that it’s going to go a really long way to people being willing to follow you, if they just feel heard and cared for. Just take the time to check on them on a regular basis and let them know that you really care about them as human beings.”

– Chris Voss

Be Your True Self

Leaders can sometimes feel the pressure to be perfect. What Bozoma Saint John and Liz Wiseman suggest, however, is that courageous leaders are not afraid to admit their flaws and ask for help.

“Humans are flawed. There’s no perfect human. And so courageous leadership means that you show up fully, with your flaws and all. Nobody asks for a perfect leader. No one. Courageous leaders are those who make mistakes, who own up to those mistakes, those who use their personal experiences to help make decisions for the masses. And can do so in a way that is transparent and real. That is courage.”

– Bozoma Saint John

 

“I think one of the most courageous things a leader can do is to admit what they don’t know. And I’ve seen this behavior change organizations.”

– Liz Wiseman

Trust Your Team

It also takes courage for leaders to delegate and let go of micro-managing, but trusting your team can go a long way. Liz Wiseman underlines that brave leaders trust their people, and Chris Voss advocates for a coaching leadership style.

“Mentor your people as much as you can. Don’t take a correcting approach, take a mentoring approach and you’ll find that it lands much better.”

– Chris Voss

 

”So much of what has been studied and written about leadership is how do you get other people to trust you as a leader. And I think it’s the wrong way to look at it. I think courageous leadership is having the courage to trust the people around you. When people are trusted they do amazing and bold things.”

– Liz Wiseman

On the 25th and 26th of September, we’ll explore the topic of courageous leadership more through the perspectives of business strategy, talent development, and customer experience.

Don’t have a ticket yet, but want to learn more? Join us for Nordic Business Forum 2024 in Helsinki or online!