Conviction and Courage Have Consequences

We talk to our kids about courage often. We talk to them about doing the right thing even when it’s hard. We talk to them about standing up for others.

Our son Titus was in Kindergarten and rode the bus home from school. A boy a year or two older than Titus was constantly bullying the girl across the street on their bus rides homes. They told him to stop and over and over again the boy would get worse and worse. Finally my little man had enough of his friend getting bullied. Titus reared back and punched the kid in the back of the head. We received a call from the school later …

I’m not a fan of physical violence, I am a fan of kids not letting other kids get bullied. I am a fan of my son acting with courage and conviction to help someone in need. Consequences happen when you do the right thing, sometimes in your favor, sometimes not … but we still need to lead with conviction and courage.

We don’t always lead with conviction and courage do we? We know the consequences don’t always line up for our favor. We can put our reputations, our jobs, our career path in jeopardy when we do what’s right. At least thats the narrative we tell ourselves in those times.

During chaos, under pressure - we can lose our conviction and courage in an effort to make something work, but what I hope we realize is that when we lose our conviction and courage - we lose ourselves. We lose our identity, we lose our purpose and passion.

When we lack conviction and courage

The stories play out often. Under pressure the lines of right and wrong get more and more blurred. We justify the grey areas because we are “working hard” and “trying our best”. We justify the blurred lines because, “it’s just this one time” and “it’s the only way it will work”. That mindset overtime leads to something worse every time.

We’ve heard the stories:

The Wells Far Fiasco

Remember Wells Fargo in 2014? Think fake accounts, incentive payouts, a culture rich with ethics violations. Watch the video to refresh your memory. Read more here.

Where was conviction at Wells Fargo?

A Financial Investment Firm and Church Leader

A well known Investment Firm made a huge mistake and worked hard to cover it up. The managing director was a leader in his local church. A church member trusted him with his retirement account and it didn’t go well. An employee in the firm traded without consent and lost 50k of the church members investment. Self-preservation mode kicked in for the managing director. His license, his job, his credibility was on the line. Conviction and courage were nowhere to be found and the church member was left with a choice to sue and ruin the managing directors job or move on with a major loss. The church member felt convicted to move on, but always wished that managing director (church leader guy) would have done the right thing.

A Director and His Team

The project was off track and not going to plan. The pressure was mounting for the Director to get it back on track. Every check-in the team was getting blamed. One team leader, one employee at a time becoming the scapegoat for the Directors incompetency. The VP of the department was a frat brother with the Director. He knew the employees were losing opportunities due to the Directors poor leadership, but stayed quiet. The VP watched good people lose promotions and bonuses that impacted their families and future while his frat brother continued to drive the ship into the ditch.

We’ve all seen it, experienced it, and let’s be real - we’ve lacked it.

We can do better.

During chaos, during pressure - we can lose our conviction in an effort to make something right, but what I hope we realize is that when we lose our conviction, we lose ourselves. We lose our identity, we lose our purpose and passion.

We can do better. We need to do better. We have to do better.

Our spouses, our kids, our friends, our communities, our teams, our organizations depend on it.

In a society with more and more “conviction” on social media you would think we would see more conviction in our relationships. Just speaking our minds with a thumbs up or sharing a post … isn’t the definition of courage and conviction. It doesn’t build community or relationships. It leaves everything a bit short.

It’s like wearing Toms shoes and writing on your resume that you help an organization provide shoes to kids in third world countries. I’m not saying don’t post on social media and I’m not saying don’t buy Toms shoes, I’m just saying we do can do better. We can lead with conviction and courage.

Be Committed To Your Convictions

What do you believe? What do you stand for? What do you sacrifice for? What are your convictions? It’s one thing to say you value something and it’s another for your values to be seen by your actions. Need help finding what you value who you aspire to be? Work through the Insight Action Guide.

• Do you value having a healthy culture in your organization? What steps are you taking to intentionally create it.

• Do you value healthy team relationships? Would your team affirm that?

• Do you value your family? How much time do you spend focused on them?

• Do you value your spouse? Do they know?

I’m not trying to make you feel bad about anything, but if you do, I’m hoping you make a shift. The shift to align your values with your actions. The shift to lead with conviction and courage, not just work for the result.

We need to be committed to our convictions and that’s how we are going to lead with courage.

Lead with Conviction and Courage

We’ve all seen it. We remember vividly when we saw a leader lead with conviction and courage.

It was almost Christmas and the CEO was ready to make me the scapegoat. The project had been on plan according to our Fortune 100 client. They had reviewed all the content and our CEO had given approvals at all the checkpoints. Then when it was game time we learned our CEO read it for the first time and decided it was good enough. This was after two months of preparation and approvals. You can imagine my frustration and lack of empathy for our CEO as I showed him the emails with his approvals and kudos for doing a good job. The “proof” and happy client wasn’t making a big difference. My job was now on the line and I was ready to walk back out on my won. My boss stepped in on my behalf. He acted with conviction and courage when he could have let me become a scapegoat.

When have you seen it? (drop a line in the comments)

When have you done it? When you have led with conviction and courage?

Lets do this

When you lead well, you love the feeling of knowing you did what was right. You are energized and you came alive. We need for of that from you. The world needs that from you.

Can you imagine a world of leaders who lead with integrity and do the right thing? Can you imagine a world where ethics violations weren’t the norm? Can you imagine a world where team members are treated with respect and dignity through all circumstances?

Our hope is for you to be a leader worth following so you are a leader leaving a legacy worth remembering.

1) Remind yourself of your convictions

2) Be determined to lead from your convictions

3) Have the courage lead with conviction

We tell our kids that having courage doesn’t mean you aren’t scared. It means we don’t let fear keep us from doing what is right.

When you are under pressure and feeling out of control - that’s when conviction and courage should take a precedence over self-preservation. That’s when we should rise up, be leaders worth following, dig deep, and say, “I’m going to be proud of who I am” and lead forward.

If you want to work on being a courageous leader join our courageous leadership cohort kicking off February 4. Bring your team along with you.