It's not easy being a leader. It takes courage and commitment, the willingness to step out of our comfort zone, the need to readily adapt to change, and the obligation to develop our skill set and the skills within our organization. To some this is fearful. Dealing with the unknown or facing a known weakness creates discomfort. Another way to look at it is that courage and commitment are required to become a stronger leader. Embracing both the fear and courage emotions we feel can actually be inspirational! After observing many leaders who have come through PeopleTek programs, we noticed that the ones who are successful both in life and work have a specific set of characteristics and behaviors. Living your life with courage is how it all begins! Courage is the single most important attribute any leader must have in order to be effective and successful. We call this "CourageAbility"(TM). CourageAbility is the ability to live both your dreams and professional life the way you want, while achieving your goals and exceeding in your life's ambitions and objectives. It is taking and empowering yourself and others to go where you or they have never gone before. The 12 CourageAbility factors include: 1. Passion - Having and living your dream. 2. Documenting your goals. 3. Committing to your goals. 4. Understanding your strengths and the strengths of others. 5. Communicating with confidence and clarity. 6. Understanding and managing conflict with a purpose. 7. Developing others. 8. Delegating. 9. Developing a skill. 10. Remaining controlled. 11. Rewarding and recognizing. 12. Succeeding and learning from failure. A CourageAbility self assessment is provided; identify your high and low scores and determine how closely your behaviors align with your beliefs!

12 Steps For Courageous Leadership

Start your Journey now!By Michael W. Kublin Jan Mayer-Rodriguez

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2011 Michael W. Kublin with Jan Mayer-Rodriguez
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4567-1937-1

Contents

Dedications...........................................................................................................viiIntroduction..........................................................................................................ixAuthor's Note.........................................................................................................xiChapter 1 - CourageAbility What is it and how can it help us?........................................................1Chapter 2 - CourageAbility Step 1 of 12 Courage to have and live your dream..........................................5Chapter 3 - CourageAbility Step 2 of 12 Courage to document your goals...............................................7Chapter 4 - CourageAbility Step 3 of 12 Commit to your goals.........................................................9Chapter 5 - CourageAbility Step 4 of 12 Understanding your strengths and the strengths of others.....................13Chapter 6 - CourageAbility Step 5 of 12 Communicate with confidence and clarity......................................15Chapter 7 - CourageAbility Step 6 of 12 Understanding and managing conflict with a purpose...........................19Chapter 8 - CourageAbility Step 7 of 12 Grow and develop others......................................................23Chapter 9 - CourageAbility Step 8 of 12 Effective delegation.........................................................27Chapter 10 - CourageAbility Step 9 of 12 Develop a skill.............................................................29Chapter 11 - CourageAbility Step 10 of 12 Remain controlled..........................................................31Chapter 12 - CourageAbility Step 11 of 12 Reward and recognize.......................................................35Chapter 13 - CourageAbility Step 12 of 12 Succeed and learn from failure.............................................39Chapter 14 - CourageAbility Putting it all together..................................................................41

Chapter One

CourageAbility

What is it and how can it help us?

"To succeed, one must possess an effective combination of ability, ambition, courage, drive, hard work, integrity, and loyalty." - Harry F. Banks

It's not easy being a leader. It takes courage and commitment, the willingness to step out of our comfort zone, the need to readily adapt to change, and the obligation to develop our skill set and the skills within our organization.

To some this is fearful. Dealing with the unknown or facing a known weakness creates discomfort. Another way to look at it is that courage and commitment are required to become a stronger leader. Embracing both the fear and courage emotions we feel can actually be inspirational!

We have identified 12 areas that can de-rail our ability to be successful. This can be due to fear, or lacking the courage to:

1. Passion- Have and live your dream.

2. Document your goals.

3. Commit to your goals.

4. Understand your strengths and the strengths of others.

5. Communicate with confidence and clarity.

6. Understand and manage conflict with a purpose.

7. Develop others.

8. Delegate.

9. Develop a skill.

10. Remain controlled.

11. Reward and recognize.

12. Succeed and learn from failure.

You may say we are missing an important one: risk taking. I've thought about this long and hard and if you have the courage and commitment to have and live your dream you will demonstrate enough risk for a lifetime.

While working with individuals I often ask a question with the intent to determine what they're passionate about: "If you could do anything you wanted in your career and life what would it be?" With the follow-up question "What are you willing to do to live that dream?"

Many of us would say we will do anything, work unlimited hours, and be willing to encounter failures to have our dream come true. Having the ability to identify our dream is the first step, this then needs to be followed with applying daily actions to achieve and live it.

This is not easy and requires you as a leader to take risks and maybe fail. You must get up, dust yourself off, and take more risks until your dream is realized. The real courage comes in taking the necessary actions to overcome the barriers you are faced with.

Whether leading in the corporate world, in private business, a public sector, or as an entrepreneur, we hope the 12 Steps For Courageous Leadership serve you well!

Chapter Two

CourageAbility Step 1 of 12

Courage to have and live your dream.

Why do you think this is problematic for some? To start with, not everyone allows themselves to envision or identify their dream. They conduct day to day activities, are almost on "automatic pilot", do what they need to do to be moderately successful, but don't take the time to reflect on what really makes them thrive and feel valuable.

Some individuals dream only small dreams afraid of dreaming "big". What if that dream comes true? Why not make it all it can be? Some let others tell them what their dream should be rather than creating their own. How can others know what you truly want? Only you understand and have unlimited vision to your dreams; don't let others squelch your enthusiasm (even if it's someone you respect and appreciate).

What is your dream? What would make you truly happy? What would it take to begin to make progress towards achieving this dream? Have you established steps and a timeline? Some dreams take decades to achieve. Be realistic and realize that nothing happens overnight and that obstacles are not unusual but certainly can be overcome.

I attended a conference and a very special person, Dr. Myles Monroe said, "There are many in the cemetery who have not lived their dream". He said some individuals want to but always have excuses or other things they are doing. We can choose today not to be one of those people and put out our dream and take steps towards living it.

Write down your dream, summon the courage to take action,

Chapter Three

CourageAbility Step 2 of 12

Courage to document your goals

"People who have goals achieve far more than those who don't, and those who have written goals achieve the most of all". -Robert McGarvey

Forrest H. Patton, a motivational speaker and author of Force of Persuasion, provides the following about having goals:

"A study was made of alumni 10 years out of Harvard to find out how many were achieving their goals," explains Patton. "An astounding 83 percent had no goals at all. Fourteen percent had specific goals but they were not written down. Their average earnings were three times what those in the 83 percent group were earning. However, the three percent who had written goals were earning 10 times that of the 83 percent group."

Why? Goals keep us moving forward. They help us focus and track progress towards what we'd like to achieve. No one knows why a written goal is more...