The Brazen Leader

Courageous Leadership.
I’m not talking about hand-to-hand, gun-to-gun, charge the hill type of courage. No, bravery in battle is not the same thing as courageous leadership. And make no mistake about it—leaders need courage to be successful.
Nobody wants to follow a coward. It’s that simple. And yes, cowardice is the opposite of courage, no matter how much that word hurts.
Courage means strength of character; to push forward in the face of resistance. Strength of character for new thinking, new ideas, challenges to status quo. Courage is saying what others may not want to hear, and holding the line on performance and behavior expectations. It’s calling out the elephant in the room, swinging at the 3-2 pitch, shining light on skeletons in the closet, and pummeling any of a dozen other, pithy idioms and analogies. It’s doing the right thing, even when doing right can leave a mark.
It takes courage to lead.
But what exactly does that mean? Is there a “do-this-and-you’ll-be-courageous” guide or pdf we can download? Is there a 12-step program for courage? Well, no. Courage, like leadership, is situational. The answer to every question is the ubiquitous “it depends.”
Courageous Leaders lead. From the front. Setting direction, discussing a vision, charting a course, and making course corrections when needed. But what about specific actions? What can you do—today—if you want to demonstrate real courage in leadership? Well, there are a few things that courageous leaders often do:
• Make decisions. Leaders are decision makers. Period. If waiting for additional information may LIKELY change your current thinking, then wait. If not, you’re just stalling—pull the trigger. See my blog post here at BrazenLeader.com for a related article.
• Set big-ass goals, objectives and personal standards. Your level of excellence and expectation for your product, service, or experience should be damned near unattainable. Safe goals are set by safe leaders. Safe leaders have safe visions. Safe visions produce status-quo. Decidedly NON-courageous. Big goals are set by big leaders; courageous goals by courageous leaders. This isn’t rocket science. Give your people a goal that scares them, and you’ll produce leaders who know what it means to overcome fear.
• Empower others. This takes rock-star courage from a leader. Learn to say YES when subordinates suggest a path. You’ve got to let go, and allow others to succeed. Are some going to disappoint? Yep. That’s why it takes courage. Some will let you down, some will not be up to the task. Still others may take a non-courageous route on your empowered dime. Suck it up, buttercup. It’s what courageous leaders do.
• Learn to say NO. Not every risk is a good one. Be courageous, and courageously disciplined. Aggressively pursue those few things that make sense. Say no to everything else—even if it means saying no more often than you're comfortable.
• Demand failure. You read that correctly. Demand failure. The real road to success isn’t paved with perfection—it’s paved with failures and near-misses. Allow—even encourage—your team to fail as they drive toward success. Reward innovation. Innovation requires taking risks. And bold risks create bold team members. I have a client CEO who consistently and constantly is telling his leadership team to try so hard—get so far in front of comfort—that some failure is almost guaranteed. Embrace it.
Courage is not the absence of fear; it is confronting your fears and overcoming. Courageous leaders face their fears, step up, and charge ahead, knowing that accelerating through the fear is the very cure for fear itself.
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EQ (Emotional Intelligence) is a good thing, right? Goodness knows, all the books, articles and blogs certainly say it is. I half expect to read about Emotional Intelligence ending world hunger, or staving off a devastating hurricane.

I say let’s get a grip, people.

EQ isn’t a do-all-be-all cure to everything that ails us. It’s a personality-based behavior trait with fairly dubious detection methodology (I’ve never met a test/assessment/profile I couldn’t “game”). Further, even if we can accurately detect it, does it always mean something good?

Not in the hands of the wrong person. In fact, it can be downright hazardous to others. Or, at a minimum, a colossal pain in the derriere.

At its core, Emotional Intelligence is about the ability to identify and manage your own emotions and the emotions of others, generally through emotional awareness, an ability to harness and apply emotions, and the ability to manage and/or regulate your emotions to influence others (Psychology Today).

It’s that last part that should concern us. “...and the ability to manage and/or regulate your emotions to influence others.” As my pastor likes to say, let’s unpack that a bit... If you’re really good at controlling your emotions, you are likely adept at hiding your true feelings. About anything. If at the same time you can easily tell what others are feeling, well, the clear line between influence and manipulation can all but disappear.

EQ is simply a measurement—it’s neutral. It can be used for good (to help and support self and others), or it can be used for evil (to advance my needs at the cost of others). In its evil form, EQ is true Machiavellianism-- manipulating others to achieve one's own goals. Selfish, narcissistic. When used in this way, other people become social tools to be used to push oneself forward even at considerable expense to them.

So, what to do? How, then, do we keep Machiavelli at bay while enjoying the potential fruits of enhanced EQ (assuming that’s what we want)? Is there a way to minimize the bad while keeping the good? Here’s a few solutions to consider:

1. Deglamorize EQ. It’s simply a combination of personality traits and coping skills. Lots of EQ research says that 60+% of those with high EQ are successful at their jobs. Well, every U.S. President since Harry Truman has worn black Allen Edmonds shoes. Since I wear black Allen Edmonds shoes, it’s should be just a matter of time before my Secret Service detail arrives, right? Not likely. I’ve got enough skeletons in my closet to do a presentable wave at an NFL game.

That’s the difference between causation and correlation. Just like MBTI and DiSC, simply identifying a set of characteristics or traits doesn’t ensure success any more than my black Allen Edmonds will make me President. My Myers-Briggs ENTJ and my DiSC high-D don’t make me successful... or not. They simply help me and others understand my behavior, as scary as that may be.

2. Closely mentor the high EQs, using proven, positive leadership. If many academics and authors are correct, High Emotional Intelligence could be an indicator of potential, so that’s one reason to mentor them. Another is to make sure that they develop positively. Even well-intentioned pupils will visit the dark side if their role model or example is so inclined. Make sure that doesn’t happen.

3. Finally, call out errant behavior. High EQ folks are sharp. Most have above average intelligence (not the emotional kind), and are adept at fending off those who question their actions. You’ve got to call them out, simply and swiftly, when you see the negative behaviors. Be specific, and explain why the behavior is unacceptable.

Be Brazen, remembering that Grace and Accountability can coexist.

Thanks for listening.

Recently, I mentioned the concept of tracer rounds in a LinkedIn post. I received a surprising handful of emails asking to flesh that out a bit, so abracadabra, here we are. I think the concept of tracer rounds fits today’s decision-making model perfectly.
Ready, aim, fire
Even though it was used in the movie Ben Hur (along with that other period gaffe, the red sports car), the phrase Ready, Aim, Fire! was probably made popular in the 18th century sometime to help infantrymen with musket practice and dueling colleagues be civil with their killing..
Think about it... “Get ready,” means just that – assume posture and preparedness; “Aim” is to align the weapon’s barrel with the target; and “Fire!” means to set fire to the musket powder, sending a musket ball downrange toward the intended target.
Of course, it was also used in those unsavory firing squads, but the original principal held true.
Get ready, take aim, and fire.
And in all fairness, this was a practical analogy for business decision-making for decades. Get ready (identify the problem); Aim (use available information to make a decision); Fire (execute the decision).
Makes perfect sense. Except we would usually screw up the order of things.
Sometimes it was “Ready, aim, aim, aim...” as we kicked the can down the road with cowardly stalling tactics, always “fixin’ to do something (Texas vernacular), irritating every competent employee within shooting distance. Too often, NO decision became THE decision.
Other times it was “Ready, fire, fire, fire...” as we made rapidly successive decisions void of any appreciable thought, knee-jerking our way to abysmal failure and more frustrated employees who had to clean up our collective messes.
Then, there was “Ready, fire, aim...” This one got an unwarranted bad rap. Too often it was considered the impulsive act of a manager not needing (or wanting) input from anyone else; s/he had all the information needed to do whatever s/he wanted. I think it was wrongly placed since likely, that manager never did take aim. At least not with any appreciable thought.
Ready, fire, aim actually works pretty well, as long as we use a feedback loop to keep it going. Something like Ready, fire, aim, fire, aim, fire... where each successive “Fire!” acts a decision-maker’s tracer rounds (tracers). Used in machine guns, tracers allowed gunners to see the ending point of the fired round, and adjust their future shooting based on that new information.
Thanks for listening. Always remember to Be Brazen, remembering that grace & accountability can coexist.
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Ok, as Forrest Gump so adroitly quoted his mother, “Stupid is as stupid does,” and I certainly don’t mean to call anyone reading this “stupid,” per se, but leading in challenging times isn’t hugely different from day-to-day leadership.
But, it’s not the same, either. Some priorities shift.
We know for certain that burying our head in the sand and pretending that nothing is going on is positively insane. It’s like your 2 year-old child closing his or her eyes and saying, “you can’t see me.”
Though many leadership skills are timeless, and probably should be exhibited anyway, there are always times when certain skills have more value than others. Leadership is, after all, situational.
If you find yourself between two slugs arguing, it’s probably not the time to haul out your skills at articulating your leadership vision. A necessary skill, to be sure, but at that moment, conflict resolution knowledge would be really helpful.
Situational, see?
There are 5 keys to leading effectively during these times; they aren’t necessarily difficult, but to ignore them will certainly make your life more difficult.
1. See and be seen. Visibility is a big deal. Now’s not the time to hide out in your office, pining away the days or lamenting for better times. Get out, be seen, be available, and most importantly, be heard. High visibility coupled with credibility is a near-guarantee of success in uncertain times. People need to see you and see you frequently. Hopefully face-to-face, if your environment and social distancing allow. Otherwise, lots of phone calls, zoom calls, videos and texts.
2. Want cheese with that whine? No open complaining, commiserating, or whining. Not now (assuming it was ever ok, which you know, of course, that it isn’t) especially. Your folks don’t need to know that you feel as out of control as they do. It doesn’t help them, or you, to believe that things are hurtling out of everyone’s control. I can’t promise that your positivity will always result in their positivity, but I can promise that any negativity will spread like wildfire.
3. Remember, you were young once. Put yourself in employees’ shoes; this is uncomfortable, and there are plenty of unknowns. Lots of things are changing around them, and they are neither fully aware of the rationale, nor in control of, any of those things changing. They need you to chart a course, plan, devise a strategy, set courses, directions, goals and objectives. Make sure all are aware of them, and why they exist. This is a big deal.
4. Ask and ye shall receive. Now’s the time to ask for input, comment, and feedback from all, and do so frequently. Help people understand as best you can, explaining why things are happening (when you know), and why we’re taking this specific action. But in the end, they’ve got to do what’s necessary to help your organization (and themselves) weather this storm.
5. Execute. No, I don’t mean public hangings or firing squads, as tempting as they may be. I mean taking decisive action. A key component in motivation and employee trust – in helping employees see that all is not lost, that forward progress isn’t stalled, and that someone is in charge – is the act of action. Think, decide, act. A cornerstone of exemplary leadership, and a management skill that serves us all very well.
Thanks for listening. Always remember to Be Brazen, remembering that grace & accountability can coexist.

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Welcome to the Brazen Leader, a podcast where we will explore typical leadership topics and some non-traditional leadership advice. Kevin Berchelmann is an executive coach, consultant, and CEO and Founder of Triangle Performance LLC.

Link:

• BrazenLeader.com