The Courage of the Cowardly Lion
Posted in Do you remember the Cowardly Lion in the
story of the Wizard of Oz? The lion went out
in search of courage.
What was it he learned?
The story ends when he learns the simple fact
that courage is something that is not found
externally, but you have to find within yourself.
Courage means going forward without doubt.
If you believe you have courage, you have
courage. The lion found courage within himself.
So can you.
Today it is a simple fact that we lack so much
courage in the business world. As leaders we
have to ask, “where is the courage”? As leaders,
we should be setting the example for the people
who work with and for us. Where is the courage
that we are suppose to be exhibiting to our teams
and to ourselves?
How can we expect the people who work for us
and with us to have courage, when we don’t have it?
Instead of courage today, what we exhibit is conformity.
As Howard Hendricks says, “The opposite of courage
isn’t cowardliness, it is conformity. A believe is
something you will argue about. A conviction is
something you will die for. You cannot really live
unless there are things in your life for which you are
willing die”.
Yes, Howard does take it to an extreme, but the bottom
line is as Winston Churchill says,
“Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak”.
Courage is also what is takes to sit down and listen.”
If you are a student of Churchill you remember on
of the great lines he said when he was in battle,
“Bullets are not worthy considering… I do not believe
the gods would create so potent of a being as myself
for so prosaic an ending”.
Wow
Where has that courage that Churchill and other
great leaders exhibited gone?
Where has it gone?
What has happened in today’s world that we
don’t exhibit that courage.
We are not cowards.
No one is calling us cowards, but they might
be calling us conformists?
Why don’t have the courage to take on the things
we need to do make the changes we know are needed.
That is one of the reasons we have lost our
leadership in the world.
We no longer have the courage.
We no longer teach courage, but instead we
teach conformity.
Yet people in the rising countries throughout the
world are teaching courage.
They are teaching, “you can do anything you want”
and “YOU can lead the world”.
So is it time we took some courage lessons?
Isn’t it time we set the pace and exhibited the
courage we know we have.
If you have had enough of the bad economy.
If we have had enough just conforming to things.
Then it is time you as leaders put up the courage
to do something. To make something happen in
your business, life, career, health and family.
It doesn’t have to be some super extraordinary thing.
You can exhibit courage simply by standing up for
what is right.
You can exhibit courage by simply making the
decisions that will take you down the right path.
You can exhibit courage by showing your team
consistency of how you operate.
You can exhibit courage to your team by being there
for them and supporting them, backing them,
teaching them and helping them.
I urge you this week to make a new commitment
to courage in your business, life, career, family
and health.
Help them as you move forward. Look inside as
the Cowardly Lion did. You have all the courage
you need inside yourself.
Go out and make it happen.
