Leadership occasionally involves making unpopular decisions which requires a certain level of courage. You might feel fear and anxiety, but instead of reversing course, you stand your ground and stick to your guns. This may seem cut and dry, but what will you do when your unpopular decision makes you the most hated person in your entire school community?
Bravery can be a lonely road
What will you do when friends and family members give you the cold shoulder because they disagree with your stance or new policy? You won’t know until it happens to you. Hopefully, you will stay the course and do what is best for the students in your district. It might take some time for people to come around, but once they see the positive effect that your decision has on academic achievement, they will come around.
If you want to be brave, you need to try new things, trust others, as well as be able to confront problematic issues that others would leave unresolved. Also, you should never hesitate to have crucial conversations with your peers and subordinates. These types of discussions are awkward and uncomfortable, but if you don’t have them, the individual in question will never grow, and you will never grow as a leader or live up to your potential.
Concluding thoughts
When it comes to self-improvement, I find that a lot of people say they want to become a better version of themselves. However, when it comes to putting in the hard work that it takes to make it a reality, they reverse course. Nothing in life comes easy, and if you think it does, then you don’t have what it takes to be a leader. Stick to your convictions, and the rest will work itself out. The people who questioned your leadership will all of a sudden laud you as a hero, someone who had the guts to the right decision, even though you knew it would bring you grief.
