Courage is our company’s Key Value.
In summary, we have chosen Courage for our Key Value because:
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Courage enables Self-Knowledge and
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When it is backed by Courage, Self-Knowledge can be the foundation of most, if not all, other major values, traits, qualities, and attributes that contribute to character.
If our personal value systems are like dominoes then Courage must be the first domino of desirable character. When it comes to personal character, no other domino can take the place of Courage.
Dominoes fall in sequence…
Courage
Self-Knowledge
Self-Confidence
That domino sequence was simplified…in practice, it would be a more complicated sequence:
Courage
Self-Knowledge
Self-Education
Self-Confidence
Here I mean ‘Self-Education’ in its broadest sense. It includes other dominoes like introspection and [if we want it to] autosuggestion [self-talk]. The main point is, when Courage is present Self-Confidence can grow. If we remove Courage then Self-Confidence cannot grow. Courage enables Self-Confidence. With dedication, Self-Confidence can be self-taught. Coaches can help us understand the dominoes but they cannot give them to us. We have to create our own dominoes and we have to use them regularly.
The process of developing Self-Confidence only works if it is backed by Courage.
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Self-Confidence is a ‘great enabler’.
Courage is the ‘great enabler’.
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We may have different views about the routes the dominoes of personal character take.
But, we should agree Courage enables some very-positive things…
Action
Decisiveness
Enthusiasm
Faith
Hope
Inspiration
Leadership*
Optimism
Persistence
Self-Confidence
Self-Knowledge
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Considering all these dominoes linked to Courage, it is easy to see...
Courage enables positive Change
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Footnote: In his 1937 classic, ‘Think and Grow Rich’, Napoleon Hill selected ‘Unwavering Courage” as the #1 attribute of Leadership.
Reader comments (24)
Comments from the original blog platform, 2008–2021.
Rick Baker ·
"With courage you will dare to take risks, have the strength to be compassionate, and the wisdom to be humble. Courage is the foundation of integrity." Mark Twain
Rick Baker ·
"Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees the others." Aristotle
Rick Baker ·
“Courage! I have shown it for years; think you I shall lose it at the moment when my sufferings are to end?” Marie Antionette
Rick ·
"Courage is the great invigorator." Ralph Waldo Trine 'In Tune with the Infinite', (1942, 45th Anniversary Edition)
rick baker ·
According to the Merriam-Webster on-line dictionary, GRIT is defined as - firmness of mind or spirit : unyielding courage in the face of hardship or danger. Spirited Leaders place Value on GRIT.
rick baker ·
“Courage is victory, timidity’s defeat.” Orison Swett Marden 'Pushing to the Front', (1911)
rick baker ·
"There is an animal courage which can calmly face the fire of an enemy in battle, or the fierce rage of wild beasts, but which fails in the battle of life, and breaks down when confronted with the beasts that rage within one's heart. It requires a higher, divine courage to remain calm in the hour of deprivation and calamity than in the heat of battle, to overcome self than to overcome another." James Allen 'The Life Triumphant', (1907)
rick baker ·
"Nothing that is of real worth can be achieved without courageous working." Samuel Smiles 'Self-Help: with Illustrations of Character and Conduct', (1859)
rick baker ·
"Courage and presence of mind mean the same thing. Presence of mind implies command of mind." Prentice Mulford 'Thoughts are Things', (1889)
rick baker ·
"Relentless pursuit of self-knowledge is the key to happiness, which derives from the successful use of a life." Robert Collier 'The SECRET of The Ages', (1926)
rick baker ·
"True courage is cool, calm and collected, and is never foolhardy, quarrelsome, ill-natured or contentious." Charles F. Haanel ‘The Master Key’, (1912)
rick baker ·
"Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute! What you can do - or dream you can - begin it! Courage has genius, power and magic in it." Johann Wolfgang von Goethe German Writer, Politician, & Philosopher, (1749-1832)
rick baker ·
“Courage: the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can't practice any other virtue consistently.” Maya Angelou, American Author & Poet
rick baker ·
“Courage isn't having the strength to go on - it is going on when you don't have strength.” Napoleon Bonaparte
rick baker ·
"To be like the rock that the waves keep crashing over. It stands unmoved and the raging of the sea falls still around it." Marcus Aurelius Roman Emperor
rick baker ·
"You cannot build character and courage by taking away a man's initiative and independence." Abraham Lincoln
rick baker ·
"Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure... than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat." Theodore Roosevelt
rick baker ·
"The ideals which have lighted my way, and time after time have given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been kindness, beauty, and truth. The trite subjects of human efforts, possessions, outward success, luxury have always seemed to me contemptible." Albert Einstein
rick baker ·
"Often the difference between a successful man and a failure is not one's better abilities or ideas, but the courage that one has to bet on his ideas, to take a calculated risk, and to act." Maxwell Maltz American Cosmetic Surgeon & Author [PsychoCybernetics]
rick baker ·
"How few there are who have courage enough to own their faults, or resolution enough to mend them." Benjamin Franklin
rick baker ·
“Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.” Andre Gide French writer, humanist and moralist, 1947 Nobel prize for literature (1869-1951)
rick baker ·
"Courage is the main quality of leadership, in my opinion, no matter where it is exercised. Usually it implies some risk-especially in new undertakings. Courage to initiate something and to keep it going-pioneering and adventurous spirit to blaze new ways, often, in our land of opportunity." Walt Disney
rick baker ·
May you grow up to be righteous May you grow up to be true May you always know the truth And see the lights surrounding you May you always be courageous Stand upright and be strong May you stay forever young Bob Dylan
rick baker ·
"Courage is that power of mind which manifests in the love of mental conflict; it is a noble and lofty sentiment; it is equally fitted to command or obey." Charles Haanel 'The Master Key,', (1917)