Courage and Confidence Overcomes Reluctance to Lead

I found a Harvard Business Review article titled: Why Capable People are Reluctant to Lead by Chen Zhang, Jennifer Nahrgang, Sue Ashford, and D. Scott DeRue. They surveyed over 800 working adults and MBA students working on consulting teams. While the article was published in December 2020, I thought the insights were rather interesting but singed with personal powerlessness. Leadership requires personal courage and self-confidence in your ability to lead.

Three Kinds of Perceived Risk

• Interpersonal Risk – fear of leadership muddling up personal relationships with peers and others was one of the most consistent themes.
• Image Risk – leading might make others think bad of them.
• Risk of Being Blamed – fear of being associated with and blamed for failure.

In my lived experience, these finding are on point. However, I see all three perceptions really do come back to a lack of self-confidence in your ability and the courage to navigate these waters. My father once told me that a smart man doesn’t know all the answers but is willing to put in the work to find the answers. Thus, leadership is not about knowing the answer but being willing to explore until you find the solution.

Mitigating the Perceived Risk

The article goes on to identify three proactive steps organizations can take to help those who avoid stepping up to lead.

• Go the extra mile to support risk-sensitive colleagues
• Manage conflict and how people interpret it
• Find low stakes opportunities for people to try out leadership

Let’s take the first point. The article points out that “prior research has shown that minority gender or ethnic groups are also likely to be more risk-sensitive in many professional leadership contexts.” As a minority ethnic person, I say nonsense. That’s being reliant on other people to help you find your own courage and self-confidence. All minority gender and ethnic groups can point to people within their group who were and are leaders. No one other than you, can be responsible for bringing out the leader within you. Remember, leadership requires personal courage and self-confidence in your ability to lead.

I do wholeheartedly agree with the suggestion that organizations should find low-stakes opportunities for people to intentionally practice their leadership skills if possible. Use volunteer activities outside of work to practice your leadership skills or volunteer to organize the next team retreat. I go even further to say that leveraging 3rd party coaching for high-potential future leaders will also help them build their confidence and courage to lead. Those who have experienced coaches who can inspire them and be there to guide them to step outside their comfort zones are more likely to do so.