Character Fort Collins is excited to announce...
Learn from Gus Lee how to put Courage into action.
Courageous leadership means inspiring others to be their best selves. Gus Lee advocates courageous leadership as the clear path to equip executives to lead. The 2010 Courageous Leadership Series will enable executives to transform their organizations to produce principled, sustainable results in excellence and quality.
Spend 2010 investing in yourself and your company.
Register for the Series Here
HOW TO COURAGEOUSLY (AND REALLY)
SOLVE CONFLICTS
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
7:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
The Hilton Fort Collins
Download Printable Registration Form Here
Thank you to our generous series sponsors.
CHARACTER
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COURAGE
KUNC
Obermann Opportunities
INTEGRITY
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Download Series Sponsorship Packet Here
Watch the Video Now
Thanks to all who were able to attend the
GUS LEE "Character Takes Courage" Event
on Thursday, November 12, 2009.
Did you miss the event?
Not able to take notes fast enough?
Want to share Gus' presentation with colleagues
and family members?
Click HERE to see Gus' presentation,
courtesy of the City of Fort Collins Cable Channel 14.
Purchase Courage Today
Gus Lee's bestseller Courage - The Backbone of Leadership makes for a great gift this holiday season.
Purchase your copy
today.
Q&A with Gus Lee
Gus Lee answers your thoughtful questions from the
November 12th "Character Takes Courage" event.
QUESTION: What Character Traits should leaders in congress demonstrate?
ANSWER: What a great query! This is the question that tests our national soul and most easily points to the American future.
These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives everything its value.
-
Thomas Paine, 23 December 1776.
The people we send to Congress carry the second grandest moral imperative in the Republic. They must demonstrate the same key character competencies that the Founders demonstrated:
- They must demonstrate moral courage: this one’s simple: to know the right; do the right; teach the right; and hold self and others to the right.
- They must courageously lead: to courageously inspire others to their best selves
- They must act courageously: they must fulfill moral imperatives.
The Founders committed their sacred honor to the service of principles; they risked the hope for the right. Our current culture emphasizes private gain over public good, placing the pursuit of wealth over the pursuit of happiness, and risking moral ruin for short-term advantages.
Courage equips principled commitment. Without a genuine commitment to require right action (see above) by the majority of our 535 members of Congress, we, the voters, are quietly committing 3 rd degree cultural suicide. It is our responsibility. We have to be willing to ask our legislators to do the right thing rather than ask them to serve our individual needs.
QUESTION: How do I know what is right when standing at a fork in the road?
ANSWER: I know that place! Sometimes, we know instantly. But when we don’t easily know, we have three powerful resources at these difficult, moral Points of Decision:
- Conscience . For years, I tried to beat mine into submission to my needs. I find a quiet place to heed the moral, inner voice. If I’m stuck between two competing right answers, I find the one that conscience favors.
- Discernment . With that original compass heading, I undertake the hard moral labor of discerning the higher right. I keep drilling past fear, feelings and wishful thinking. Experiencing headaches is permissible. I record my answer. I weigh it; assess it; test it – not for its probable outcomes or risk to my interests – but for its inherent rightness.
- Discerning Advisors . I then ask the counsel of the most courageous, high-integrity, high-character and principled person or people I know or to whom you have access. I discern with them the most principled course of action. I then commit to that action, regardless of fear.
QUESTION: Integrity, doing the right thing? How do you know what the right option is? Especially when several options seem right?
ANSWER: This is a great follow-up question to the preceding one. First, we can do what’s suggested in the above answer. Second, we can remember the Tier 3 analysis:
- A Tier 1 person will look for the best self-serving answer.
- A Tier 2 person will look for the one that enhances results.
- A Tier 3 person will disregard self-interest and subordinate results-seeking for the principled answer.
Egotists seek to serve the self. Pragmatists seek to serve results. People of courage act in the right regardless of risk to self-interest.
We learn how to argue and seek to win a point through critical thinking. We know the right option through discernment.
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