Today brings a timely and compelling book, Choosing Courage, by Jim Detert, where he shares how to increase the chance of accomplishing something positive when acting with courage at work, while decreasing negative personal consequences.
You’ll learn the tangible and concrete steps to take, using a courage ladder (a personal roadmap of sorts), for how to have difficult conversations, engage in challenging situations, and embrace opportunities for courageous action in your workplace and in your own life.
Detert explains that his new book is a must-read for you if you want to:
- Do more to protect others at work—whether colleagues, subordinates, or customers.
- Do more to solve important problems at work, whether they be inefficiencies that waste time or money, internal processes that sap morale, or product or service choices that lead to dissatisfaction among current customers.
- Pursue opportunities more frequently, whether that means taking “stretch assignments” or pursuing work in a different organization that better fits your talents.
In addition, there are two broad reasons to choose courage are legacy and regret, shares Detert. “Legacy tends to be about what we did. And, your legacy is what endures after we’re gone. It’s about what people say about you, how they remember you, and what they do or don’t do because of the impact you had on them.” And “research show that regrets, in contrast, tend to be about the things you didn’t do but wish you had.” This links opportunities for courage inextricably with the shaping of your legacy and your regrets.
“Admittedly, courage is risky, but it’s also hugely important for ourselves and for others. Choosing courage in key moments helps us build the legacy we want and avoid the regrets we don’t want,” shares Detert.
Some of my favorite parts of the book are where Detert teaches how to:
- Create the right conditions.
- Choose battles.
- Manage messaging.
- Avoid hot button words and phrases.
- Set an example as a leader for taking courageous action yourself.
Detert
answered these questions for me about his book:
Why do you believe your book, Choosing Courage, is particularly timely?
Detert: Everywhere we look these days we see instances where we wish leaders at all levels showed more courage or did so in ways that were more positively impactful. Think of political leaders seemingly unwilling to step out of line with their party’s position or the loudest subset of their constituency, of government agency employees who don’t seem willing to speak truth to power when it counts, or many business leaders not taking forceful public stances about things like racism, mask wearing, or so many other important issues. And think of how many people today report being more angry with and detached from their organizations than ever before. In short, the need for more courageous action, done in ways that aren’t derailing and that might actually spur positive change, is evident all around us.
What is the most important next step you want readers to leave with after reading your book?
Detert: I hope readers will truly accept that courage isn’t the responsibility of a few, but of us all. There’s no innate personality trait that makes competent courage easy for some and impossible for the rest. I hope readers will accept that courage is required from us all, just like any other virtue, and that behaving competently in moments of courageous action comes through practice – just like success with any other skill does. The next step, therefore, is to accept responsibility to do something for a worthy cause despite it feeling risky and to get started now.
How best should a reader apply your book's workplace guidance into their personal life?
Detert: Many
of the core ideas, and especially the tools, in Choosing Courage are
just as useful in our personal lives as in our work lives. For example, the
techniques for managing our own emotions, speaking in ways that connect and
compel rather than offend, choosing our battles and timing carefully, or
following up after difficult conversations are just as relevant for our
relationships outside of work. Similarly, readers could just as easily build a
“courage ladder” comprised on non-work behaviors they’d like to start taking.
The idea that skilled courageous action comes from learning and practicing
specific things related to how we feel, how we think, and how we behave is
equally applicable in any domain of our life.
Thank you to the book's publisher for sending me an advance copy of the book.
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