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But observe five cautions.
THESE ARE FEARFUL times. Reading about economic instability, terrorism, and other threats is enough to make you want to lock your doors and stay safely home. But with fear comes opportunity to demonstrate courage. Just observe five realities.
1. Shift from stupid courage to smart courage. When I was a kid, a ferocious dog named King lived down the street. At six years old, I was deathly afraid of King, a jet-black Doberman Pincher. Every time I walked past the house, King would bark viciously. I knew that I would have to confront King to overcome my fear. In my first act of courage, I donned a Superman cape and headed down the street. When I arrived at my neighbor's house, King was sleeping in his doghouse. This was my superhero moment! I tiptoed up to his Spartan sanctuary, peered inside, and was chewed up!
Courage without brains is like ethics without a soul. There's smart courage and there's stupid courage. Just because you are courageous doesn't mean you're applying your courage toward the right aims or in the right way. My moment of stupid courage with King had a lingering impact: for years afterwards even a yelping Chihuahua frightened me.
If you aspire to be an effective leader or stellar performer, you'll need courage, but you'll also need intelligence, discipline, focus and persistence.
2. Shift from incidental to intentional courage. I know that you've done courageous things in your life already. You were courageous the day your parents dropped you off at summer camp. You were courageous as a budding thespian in your high school play. You were courageous in college when you contested the lousy grade your English professor gave you. It took courage for you to say "I do." And it took courage when, after spending years caring for her, you made the gutwrenching decision to put your ailing mother in a nursing home. You are courageous, but perhaps through happenstance. Yours has been an incidental courage. Your courage manifested itself as a byproduct for engaging with fear. Most often you've fallen into your courage as a reluctant participant.
I invite you to shift your...