Courageous Business Leadership: 6 Strategies for Being the Future the Business World is Seeking

You’re a business leader.

No matter your industry, title, organizational revenue, headcount, or countless other metrics, first and foremost you’re a human being whose fundamental responsibility is to make good decisions. Preferably they are good decisions most of the time (even the best among us aren’t perfect), and increasingly courageous decisions as uncertainty and instability in the marketplace relentlessly increase.

“Heavy is the head that wears the crown.”

Wouldn’t you appreciate a playbook—something short, sweet, and practical—that helps you successfully make and navigate courageous decisions? Something that makes that crown less of a burden? Of course you would. And that’s what this post is about: 40-plus years of professional experience together with decades of B-School research condensed into six strategies you can easily digest and make your own.

Before jumping in, recognize that none of us are born courageous decision makers. Even those who might be considered “naturals” have plenty to learn before they can legitimately make the claim. As in sports, there is no shortcut from beginner to pro. Fortunately, courageous decision making can also be taught, practiced, and refined like any skill. That’s good news. Now let’s jump in.

Strategy 1 - Wellbeing as foundational to courageous decision making

The business world is beyond any reasonable debate regarding the high value of personal wellbeing. Like every professional athlete or artistic performer, if as a business leader you’re not at your personal best, then you’re not going to perform at your professional best. This is especially true regarding decision making. Said another way, wellbeing is foundational to courage and courageous decision making.

Image Credit: American Bar Association

Let’s review the fundamentals of personal wellbeing so you have them all in one place and can work on them as needed. Attending to each and all of these is a continuous, lifelong process.

• Occupational – Cultivating personal satisfaction, growth, and enrichment in work; financial stability

• Intellectual – Engaging in continuous learning and the pursuit of creative or intellectually challenging activities that foster ongoing development; monitoring cognitive wellness

• Emotional – Recognizing the importance of emotions; developing the ability to identify and manage our own emotions to support mental health, achieve goals, and inform decision making; seeking help for mental health when needed

• Spiritual – Developing a sense of meaningfulness and purpose in all aspects of life

• Social – Developing a sense of connection, belonging, and a well-developed support network while also contributing to groups and communities

• Physical – Striving for regular physical activity, proper diet and nutrition, sufficient sleep, and recovery; minimizing the use of addictive substances; seeking help for physical health when needed

Courageous decision-making strategies that build on wellbeing

Professor Ranjay Gulati of Harvard Business School, together with his colleagues Nitin Nohria and Franz Wohlgezogen, examined 4,700 public companies and documented the significant difference that courage makes in businesses that successfully navigated recessions. Since then, Professor Gulati has further investigated what drives courageous behavior among business leaders and how that behavior might be a skill that can be taught.

Drawing from his Harvard Business Review article, Now Is The Time For Courage (Sept-Oct 2025, pp. 40-49), let’s introduce Prof. Gulati’s five strategies for developing courage as a skill, which allows for courageous decision-making.

Lion Image Credit: Adobe Stock

Strategy 2 – Create a Positive Narrative

“Many leaders also draw on their belief in a higher power to find courage in difficult circumstances, with a narrative that says, ‘I have encountered adversity, but I can appeal to God (or fate, or luck, or the universe) to emerge victorious.’ Some people disparage such thinking as magical or irrational, but researchers tend to see it as adoptive, an important way of coping” (p. 44). This strategy rests on the fundamentals of spiritual wellbeing.

Strategy 3 – Cultivate Confidence

“The courageous people I studied benefited from having developed deep competence in their everyday work, which made them feel better equipped to grapple with complex and ambiguous challenges. They also enhance their sense of self-efficacy using three key tactics” … train deliberately, assemble a large toolbox, and focus on what's in your control (pp. 45-46). This strategy rests on the fundamentals of occupational wellbeing.

Strategy 4 – Take Small Steps

“Many people equate bold action with big moves. But the leaders and organizations I studied took small steps into murky environments before making leaps, deploying a strategy that Karl Weick calls sensemaking. Making small moves like this helps you gradually gain more clarity about your situation. You let go of the need for a perfect plan and open yourself to possibilities, trusting that the path will emerge as you proceed” (p. 46). This strategy rests on the fundamentals of occupational, intellectual, and spiritual wellbeing.

Strategy 5 – Find Connection

“The brave leaders I encountered often had great mentors they could turn to in moments of struggle. Others were able to find courage by simply imagining what their allies expected they would accomplish” (p. 48). This strategy rests on the fundamentals of social wellbeing.

Strategy 6 – Stay Calm

“Psychologists have closely analyzed ‘emotional regulation’, the ability to influence your own feelings and experiences, particularly in moments when your ‘freeze, fight, or flight’ response is triggered. Specific moves can help you mute or diminish fear, make it pass more quickly, or change how you experience and express it” (p. 49).  This strategy rests on the fundamentals of emotional wellbeing. “To make good decisions in trying times, leaders need adequate sleep, nutrition, and hydration. You can't think clearly if you are running on fumes” (p. 49). This strategy rests on the fundamentals of physical wellbeing.

There you have it, the short, sweet, and practical playbook for developing courageous decision making on the way to becoming the future the business world will chase.

Ready to go to the next level of courageous decision-making? Ready to bless not just your organization but your legacy? Here’s a bonus strategy: Replace your ethic of ‘maximize profit’ with the better ethic of ‘optimize profit’ (comprising enough and mutuality). Now you’re talking courageous and transformative decision making!

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