Page 140 - Fearless Leadership

Changing Your Direction and Taking a Bold Stand 127

Finally, let’s examine the counterintuitive thinking needed to take a
bold stand and decisive action. Your courage to take a bold stand is what
galvanizes others and ends the “will we or won’t we” debate. Your decla-
ration is what moves people into pure focused action. The moment you
take a stand, you personally gain freedom and power because it moves you
out of questioning yourself. Until you fully commit, you live in the ques-
tion “should I or shouldn’t I” and you are unable to act. Later in this chap-
ter we talk about how taking a stand—a bold and public commitment—
is the first step in transforming people and organizations.

THE PRICE OF ADMISSION: FIVE REQUIREMENTS
TO BECOME A FEARLESS LEADER

At this point, it should be clear that there are no half measures in fearless
leadership. This is not a spectator sport where you can sit on the sidelines
and watch the game. Being a fearless leader has a price of admission that
requires staying in the game and playing at all times, even when you would
like nothing more than to crawl back into the stands, grab a hot dog, prop
your feet up, and yell at the referee.

You’re either in or in the way.

—MUSICIAN OZZY OSBOURNE
Fearless leadership is a big game; it has a higher purpose and operates
with a different set of rules. The price of admission is based on five choices
only you can make:

1. Take 100% accountability and act as an owner.
2. Take a bold stand and act decisively.
3. Be courageous and openly discuss your blind spots.
4. Build committed partnerships to achieve business results.
5. Be unreasonable and make the tough calls.

Choice 1: You Must Have the Courage to Take
100% Accountability and Act as an Owner

Fearless leaders have an extraordinary level of ownership and account-
ability. In defining themselves as part of the whole enterprise, and not as
a separate entity, they see themselves as more than their role, function, or