When Patrick Stewart was completing his two-year acting course at the Bristol Old Vic, the director of the Theatre School admonished the young actor. “Patrick, you will never achieve success by insuring against failure.”
Decades later, as Stewart (now Sir Patrick) revealed to Sam Briger on NPR’s Fresh Air, “I'm braver than I was when I was 35. I am not averse to risk-taking. And I don't judge myself. I used to do that so much. Ah, Patrick, that's not good enough. That's not good enough. You could've done that differently. You could've done it better. That gets in the way of spontaneity and real feeling coming into something. So I'm braver now than I was when I was much younger.”
In this quote, Stewart reveals how bravery enables individuals to take risks and overcome self-doubts.
Brave choice
Discussion of bravery among actors may strike some as silly. After all, they are hired to play characters, fictional or real. What's so tricky about that? As every actor knows, there are many ways to play a role. The best actors look deep into themselves to find some connection and then utilize their technique to evoke the part – either once for a film or TV show or months in a stage production.
Bravery involves the choices an actor makes. And indeed, there is something leaders can learn from such choices. Leadership, at its core, is an act. It is not dissembling; it is getting to the truth of the matter through words and actions. Leaders, like actors, achieve little by themselves; they need the company of others to achieve great results. [Even solo performances require a team of others to produce.]
Giving life to choices
When it comes to making big choices, leaders must assert bravery in the face of self-doubt. Second-guessing oneself, as Stewart revealed in the above quote, erodes self-confidence.
What needs to be done? Leaders read the situation. What must be done forms the basis of strategy regarding what an organization must do to serve its stakeholders? What a company does is in response to the needs of others.
How is it to be done? Wise leaders step back from execution on one way. They delegate the how to the people who are doing the work. Failure to do so is micro-management.
What do we do next? The combination of what has been done and how it has been done dictates the next steps. If one or both are failures, then it is time to revisit assumptions and modify execution. However, wise leaders continue to evaluate to ensure continued positive outcomes even in success.
Self-evaluation
It is always essential to examine your decision-making. Doing so with a trusted colleague can be enlightening. Such evaluation, however, cannot drift into “analysis-paralysis.” It is the role of a leader to push one.
Whatever the choices are made, it is up to the leader and others to execute. Time will tell, as it does in acting, whether the choice was the right one or not. But in the moment, it requires the leader to make the best call she can and live with the consequences. Bravery, indeed.
Famed acting teacher Stella Adler once said, "The word theatre comes from the Greeks. It means the seeing place. It is the place people come to see the truth about life and the social situation.” Revealing the truth often requires bravery. And that’s what leaders must do. Deliver the truth as best they can through their words and their actions.
