The Courage Playbook

Five Steps to Overcome Your Fears and Become Your Best Self

Gus Lee

• Publisher: Wiley
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9781119848905
• eBook ISBN: 9781119848943
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Personal Development
• Subtopic: Mentoring & Coaching

A practical pathway to a meaningful life and courageous leadership

In The Courage Playbook: Five Steps to Overcome Your Fears and Become Your Best Self, Gus Lee, bestselling author and leadership expert, delivers an astonishing reveal that with moral courage, we can overcome our fears. This is a practical guide to gaining your courage to live rightly, treat others without bias and lead inspirationally. Readers will acquire Five Steps to Courage, 3 NO's, 3 GO's and Courageous Communication Plays. These lend deeper meaning to life, strengthen our character, improve relationships and allow us to help others for the common good. They lead to contentment, love and even happiness.

The Playbook is a practical, behavior-based "Other-Help" guide that equips us more effectively than the worried "self-help" approach. The Courage Playbook includes:

• Skills and strategies for healthfully and authentically deploying courage in your life
• Ways to actually solve tough moral problems and conflicts at their root cause, genuinely help others, model strength and close the "Courage Gap"
• Methods for courageous and inspirational communication and leadership for all manner of situations – professionally, personally, relationally and organizationally

Designed for people in all circumstances, to include young professionals, executives and leaders, The Courage Playbook belongs on the desks and libraries of business organizations, government agencies, healthcare, education, non-profits, military units, public safety organizations and on the bedside table of all people who want a seriously effective pathway to deeply improve themselves.

PART I
The Courageous Self

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”

—Ralph Waldo Emerson

“My heartache,” said Dr. Gary Persons, “is Dr. Aiden Bellevue.¹ He's brilliant and wins Blue Ribbons for loving himself. When he's not ticking people off, he's threatening them. He's Teflon‐coated against HR counseling, discipline, and pay cuts. The more I try to correct Aiden, the harder he fights me. I love his brain but hate his character and he's hurting a mission‐essential project. If I keep him, I fear key folks will quit. If I fire him, he'll tie us up in litigation and probably wreck the project. So, what's your wise counsel?”

Our responses to discomfort and tough questions say much about where we are and how well we cope with challenges in a highly competitive world.

Dr. Persons is a tall and trim science leader who looks like an ambassador to a very important place. Impeccable apparel suggested attention to detail. A sharp, unblinking gaze said he didn't suffer fools and didn't want to hear about an easy, shiny‐object, quick‐fix idea. He'd heard those before from consultants whom he concluded had mostly tried to make him feel better without helping find the fix.

What is wise counsel? Upon what do you usually base your decisions?

We often rely on feelings to make decisions. Feelings are emotional states that can overcome rational thinking and do great damage. Luckily, conscience and experience can mitigate impulses and prevent us from giving in to blame and anger.

Dr. Gary Persons owned a 200‐pound brain, command of the Scientific Method, and success in career advancement but was stymied by Dr. Bellevue. Gary had tried many clever, quick, expedient, short‐term options which had only made matters worse.

I asked, “Where do Dr. Bellevue and your heartache begin?”

He hesitated. “I was going to blame Aiden, but truly, my heartaches are mine. Ergo, it's very possible that it begins with me.”

I was impressed with Dr. Persons’ speed in moving from blaming others to courageously looking at his opportunities to improve as a colleague, a leader, and as an individual.

Note

1. 1. Non‐historical names are pseudonyms unless otherwise indicated.

1
Step One: Where Am I? I Assess Myself

“If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.”

—Lao Tzu

The first step in the Scientific Method is to objectively observe phenomena. To advance our courage, we must first calmly assess ourselves.

I said, “Gary, as we discussed earlier, we begin the journey to courage with the Biography Form to figure out our starting point. It gives us insights about how we can better handle ourselves and relate to and even lead others. Those insights might link your personal life history with your Aiden Bellevue heartache.”

Gary completed a biography form and we now jump in so you can do the same.

The LOC Biography Form 5

An Army buddy was a brave and brilliant wounded combat veteran with a PhD. Conditioned to face discomfort and tough it out, he ignored persistent chest pains. Candid as a professional, he wasn't honest with his VA physician or his friends, so he'd survived the terrible and constant dangers of deadly close‐quarters combat only to let heart disease kill him as he was peacefully gardening.

Looking at ourselves often involves discomfort, and we feel like using denial to get a momentary illusion that we can avoid unpleasant feelings. Denial is the opposite of courage.

Thus, I want you to be brutally honest in filling out the Bio. Doing the Bio is a once‐in‐a‐lifetime opportunity to get candid and highly useful information on where you are, what you value, and how you treat yourself and others.

The Bio uncovers key data. We then leverage your honesty about your past and present to build your courageous abilities for the future.

After each question you'll see a general courage‐based comment in italics.

Do your best to not read the comment until after you've thoughtfully answered the question.

Ready to be totally and courageously honest with yourself? Take a deep, diaphragmatic breath, slowly exhale completely, begin, and enjoy!

“Courage doesn't happen when you have all the answers. It happens when you are willing to face the questions that you have been avoiding your whole life.”

—Shannon L. Alder, author¹

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LOC Biography Form 5^©

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Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Foreword
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• PART I: The Courageous Self
• PART II: Courage with Others
• PART III: You Decide: Choosing Your Core
• Epilogue
• Appendix: Cut‐out Memory Cards
• Glossary of Acronyms
• About the Author
• Index
• End User License Agreement