How Your Lack of Courage can Undermine Your Success in LeadershipOne of the questions we keep asking ourselves throughout our careers in management is, “what makes a good leader?” And there are many answers to this question, including traits and behaviors such as integrity, empathy, accountability, vision and ability to influence others. Today, I want to focus on a leadership trait that does not always make the list but which I consider foundational. And this is courage as, for me, lack of courage is incompatible with true leadership.When we think about what organizations need from a leader, it all boils down to achieving the company’s business goals. To do that, leaders need to drive results, create and implement visions and engage and motivate their teams. And the lack of courage can prevent any and all of these from happening.Let’s see how courage intertwines with each of those areas of leadership.WHAT HAS COURAGE HAVE TO DO WITH ACHIEVING OUTSTANDING RESULTS?On the most basic level, a leader’s job is to achieve certain results. And we may wonder, where is the courage in that equation. It looks pretty straightforward – you use the available resources, take specific actions and get results.And it would be if you had all the resources you needed, the necessary support, clear priorities and operated in a stable environment. But that literally NEVER happens. And if it did, your company would not really need a leader there, just a coordinator of sorts.About ten years ago, I was whining to my father about my job – what problems I had, how difficult my clients were and so on. He stopped me at some point and asked: “What is your job?”. I paused, puzzled and started explaining what HR was (ever since I started working in HR, I have not been able to describe to my parents what it is precisely that I do). He stopped me again and said:“YOUR JOB IS TO OVERCOME OBSTACLES. THAT IS WHAT WORK IS.”To be honest, I was rather annoyed. How could he dismiss my worries so easily? But then I thought about it and started seeing the truth in that statement. I looked at my day-to-day activities in all the various jobs I had had, and I realized: work is indeed about overcoming obstacles. And leadership even more so.Our attempts to achieve results are hampered daily by limited resources, unachievable or unreasonable deadlines or targets, uncooperative partners, human errors and underperformance. And each of those obstacles requires negotiations and sometimes confrontations.TO GET RESULTS, LEADERS NEED TO SPEAK UP, FIGHT FOR WHAT THEY THINK IS THE BEST APPROACH TO ACHIEVE THE COMPANY OBJECTIVES, AND SOMETIMES PUSH BACK OR SAY “NO.”All of which requires courage.It takes courage to accept that you may not be liked by all. Courage to risk annoying your boss by disagreeing with their idea. And a whole other type of courage to take unpopular actions within your team to handle underperformance. And on, and on.Achieving outstanding results is never possible if you only take the easy way and try to please everyone.INNOVATION REQUIRES BRAVERYThere are multiple wise quotes and memes about leaders taking the road less traveled and claiming untrodden ground. But no matter how irritating, clichés exist because they are usually accurate.In today’s fast-paced world of fierce competition, no company would ever say, “We are fine with what we do and have. Let’s keep things stable and not strive for anything more.” Nope. We are constantly trying to transform and improve. To find new ways of doing things and new products to offer our customers.Today’s successful leader must be a visionary and an innovator. But coming up with new and original ideas takes particular courage of the mind. Not everyone can challenge themselves in the way they think or the way they do things.And even if you manage to overcome your mental blocks and produce this bright, innovative idea, you still need to be brave enough to present it in front of others and defend it. Knowing full well that it mig...