CHAPTER 8
LEARNING COURAGE
Courage appears to be one of those qualities, like charisma, charm and beauty, that you either have or don’t have. Fortunately, this is not true. Courage can be learned in the same way that most of the skills and qualities of a leader can be learned. You do not have to be born a leader: you have to work at it.
Bill, the local fire chief, was astonished and offended when asked about the bravery of his firemen. “I never want my firemen being brave. I want them to be effective,” was his tart response to the idea of bravery. And yet to outsiders, firemen are brave: going into smoke-filled buildings with unknown hazards, low visibility and worse is not everyone’s idea of a normal day in the office.
How do firemen acquire ...
