A single-speaker YouTube monologue (uploaded Dec 13, 2023) arguing that courage is the central quality of leaders and that integrity requires courage. The speaker compares leadership to parenting—both are difficult, often thankless and lonely, but occasionally yield small, powerful rewards ("glimmers") that make the hardships worthwhile.
The one characteristic that I'm very, very comfortable saying that all of the leaders I've met have is courage.
And you know, you could rank integrity there. But I think it takes courage to have integrity, you know, to do the right thing in the face of overwhelming pressure, to do something different, to speak truth to power, you know, all those integrity things, that takes courage. It is very difficult to lead. You know, I think we, we, we celebrate it, but I don't think people realize just how hard it is.
The only analogy I would offer is parenting. You know, having a kid is so fun, but raising a kid is so hard, excruciating. Sorry, did I say that? Yeah, it was a little too quick. You were a little.
It's really difficult. And it's often thankless and it's often lonely and it's often exhausting and it's often infuriating, it's often frustrating and you screw it up on a regular basis and you're like, that's it, I've screwed up my kid for life. You know.
And yet for some reason, it's one of the most rewarding, if not the most rewarding thing you'll ever do in your life. For these unexpected glimmers, you know, when you catch your five year old sharing with your four year old, when you check to make sure your eight year old is sleeping, to find out that they're under the blankets with a flashlight reading, you know, the first job, the first school play, you know, all of these unexpected glimmers make all the sacrifice and exhaustion worth it. And leadership is the same. You know, leadership is lonely, very often thankless, very often unfair. Like if everything goes right, you have to give away all the credit and everything goes wrong, you have to take all the accountability. Well, that sucks. But it is. Those unexpected little glimmers, like when your team rallies around, help them to help each other. When someone, when somebody's struggling or when they solve an unsolvable problem and you sit back and you be like, yeah, that's my team. You know, and it makes it all worth it.
