Courage at work

Most of you know that this summer I've pretty much devoted my life to this courage-at-work study I'm working on. I think I've now gotten to the point where I know what almost everyone agrees are the four essential elements of courage:

1. It's an act you freely choose, after you think about it. If someone forces you to do something that is terrifying, that's not courage, and if an act is motivated by rage or revenge, rather than a thoughtful choice, that also is not courage.


2. The act itself has to be frightening to you. If there's no fear, there's no courage. (Some experts disagree on this point, including a few who believe courage is the same as fearlessness. I totally disagree.)


3. The act carries a risk, and you're aware of the risk. If there's no risk, that's not courage.


4. It has to be a "noble act," meaning that it has to be based on moral principles like fairness, truth, respect, etc. If the act is based solely on self-interest, or if it has evil intent (like the Oklahoma City bombing, for example) that's not courage, even if it's scary, risky, and freely chosen. The act has to serve the greater good.

Now for a commercial break. These photos have nothing to do with courage, but The Pioneer Woman says you have to have photos in your blog, so here are two. The daylillies are going crazy! They're taking over the yard! And the neighborhood!

And now back to the courage study. I'm going to start coding the data I collected from students in the next couple of days. I got a bumper crop of courage stories submitted by students, many of whom thought it was "a very interesting study." Very interesting! Coding data is the best part of doing a qualitative study, because things you didn't expect to find always pop out. I can hardly wait.

The question I'm trying to answer in the study is how people at work perceive courageous acts, what promotes them, and what inhibits them. I think courage is almost always viewed positively, and a lack of courage is almost always viewed negatively. I also think courageous acts inspire others to be courageous, and that courage results in good things for organizations, like innovation, openness, better decisions, and personal growth. Makes sense, yes? We'll see....

And finally, ducks! Made out of wood! This one is for you, Dunc.