Avoiding mediocrity with Courage

This short video from Jared Leto got me thinking about how easily we fall into the path of least resistance, forego our dreams and end up living the mediocre life we told ourselves we never would...

 

It takes COURAGE, as Jared says, to follow our dreams, to do what we feel most inspired and compelled to do because we fear that.

We fear failure, we fear embarrassment, in some cases we fear for our livelihood. But don’t we have to do what we believe in?
 Note: for those with sensitive ears, there is some cursing in this video

Fear of Change

So many things inspire us here at Courageous Leaders, and this manifesto, Practically Radical, about leading change and making a difference is right up there.

Leaders, now more than ever, face ever-increasing tension as they strive to absorb information, lead effectively and meet the increasing expectations of all their stakeholders. It’s so easy to just take a traditional route – essentially doing things the same with a little bit of tweaking here and there to stamp their own impression on the process.

So in this era of high competition, to take a new way of viewing what we’re used to seems to be necessary in order to succeed. Apart from it being a difficult thing to do, why else don’t more organisations try to step outside the box?

Fear.

Fear of change, fear of failure, fear of losing control, fear of being blamed.

How does a leader harness their fear? How does a leader use it to strengthen their resolve and transform their organisation and their people to great things?

We believe it’s with courage, with trust and with empowerment – from the top level existing leaders, right down to the foundations of emerging leaders. Courage to make decisions around the changes that need to be made, trust that leaders and their teams will continue the journey of change that has been started and empowerment of people – trusting and honouring the intuition of colleagues and peers as they adapt to the changes that have been made.

What do you do to overcome fear of change?