From Critical to Courageous

One of the most common dynamics in the Leadership Circle Profile is the dance between Critical and Courageous Authenticity.

Time and again, I coach leaders who score high in both - the pattern is especially prevalent in science or technology-focused organizations.

So how can leaders score high in both Critical and Courageous Authenticity? Wouldn't they cancel each other out?

Courageous Authenticity measures the leader's willingness to take tough stands, bring up the "undiscussables" (risky topics the group avoids), and openly deal with challenging relationship issues.

Critical measures the leader's tendency to take a critical, questioning, and somewhat cynical attitude.

Critical and Courageous Authenticity are both rooted in knowledge, wisdom, and advocacy - but their leadership impact is very different. They are what Buddhist philosophy might describe as "near enemies."

Near enemies are mental states that appear to be positive emotions but actually harm them. For example, pity is the near enemy of compassion, indifference is the near enemy of equanimity, and attachment is the near enemy of love.

Pity can make us treat others as victims without respecting their agency. Indifference causes us to lose passion and purpose. Attachment makes us dependent on external factors for happiness.

Critical is a near enemy of Courageous Authenticity.

Critical compels us to see the flaws, errors, or deviations from our values. Most high Critical leaders are trying to serve the truth, but often take themselves out of relationship in the process. Organizations need truth-tellers, but it doesn’t need to come at such a high price.

I often suggest that high Critical leaders experiment with shifting from always being the ONE who speaks the truth to creating the conditions where EVERYONE can more easily speak their truth.

When truth is expressed only through one individual, they are often experienced as cynical or dismissive. When leaders instead focus on creating cultures where more people share more truth, it unleashes psychological safety, transparency, and excellence throughout the organization (and reduces the burden on the leader to always bring up the undsicusables)

The unlocking move is to transition from solitary, often lonely, truth-teller (Critical) - to championing and role modeling a culture where the truth gets told (Courageous Authenticity).