John Wayne.  An iconic man’s man.  I remember the first time I saw a John Wayne movie when I was a boy.  True Grit.  It was the late 60’s and my dad took us to the 17^th St. Drive In, in Calgary.  We had an old wood paneled Ford station wagon – sleeping bags in the back for when we fell asleep.

I’ll never forget watching John Wayne fearlessly gallop across the clearing toward his enemies: the reins of his horse in his mouth, lever action Winchester blasting away in his right hand and his six shooter blasting in his left.  Wow.  Now that’s a man.  Fearless.

At least I thought he was fearless.  I have since learned John Wayne’s definition of courage:

“Being scared spitless, but saddling up anyways.”

It’s been said there are two kinds of people in this world:  those who are afraid and those who are afraid.  No one is fearless.  You see, it’s what we do with the fear that matters.  That’s where we separate the men from the boys.

Fear is the prerequisite for courage.  Courage is not the absence of fear, but the willingness to keep going in spite of it.  Courage is not a gift or ability; it is a decision to keep going even though you are afraid.   You might say that courage is ‘true grit’, that willingness to keep moving forward in spite of the opposition.

I think that the greatest quality that a business leader needs to succeed is courage.  Business can be terrifying at times.  When you have leveraged yourself to accomplish the lofty objectives that you have set; when you are leading a staff that is dependent on you doing what you say you are going to do; when you know that you have to bring in an enormous amount of revenue each month to ensure all the lights stay on and everyone gets paid; when you have to continually adapt and adjust to change in order to stay ahead of the competition; when you have to make difficult decisions in the midst of horrible market conditions ensuring that the needs of the many out way the needs of the few – that demands courage.

The good news is that we all have an equal opportunity to be courageous, because courage is an act of our will.  The greatest gift we have been given is our ability to choose – our will.  Even though you’re afraid, maybe terrified, you can choose to keep going.  You can choose to press through your fears.  Don’t let them stop you.  Press on.  If you’re afraid, then you have the opportunity to be courageous.

Countless decisions we face every day require us to be courageous.  Refusal to make decisions can be cowardly.  When we refuse to make decisions there is an impact on those we lead.  The reality is, all the decisions we make will not be good.  Settle the issue, we will make some bad decisions.  However, we can then learn from our mistakes and move forward more intelligently.  Failure isn’t defeat, it is merely delay.  Henry Ford said that failure is an opportunity to begin again more intelligently.  Fear of making mistakes, or fear of failure, can stop us from making the decisions we need to make.  Giving into those fears can be the difference between winning and losing in business.  Wholehearted leaders must be courageous.

I spoke with a business leader in his 60’s whose business was worth millions of dollars.  He said this to me, “I can’t remember a day I didn’t go into work afraid.”

In other words, he chose not to run his business “safely”, he was always pushing his comfort zone.  His comfort zone is actually outside his comfort zone – and that takes courage.  If you are afraid and intimidated then you are perfectly positioned to live courageously.

So jump in.   Let go.  Open up.  Reach out.  Hold on.  Don’t stop.  Speak up.  Stand up.  Get up.  Decide.  Lead.  Whatever you are facing, choose courage and go for it.

Leading your business well, and living life well, demands courage – and you can choose that.