Why a Leader Must Maintain a “No Guts, No Glory” Attitude Essay Example

are without a strong and good coach. The military will merely be a group of individuals who carry armaments if they are without a leader who will transform them from military individuals into dedicated fighters for a country.

In a nutshell, a group of individuals needs someone to lead them. Supervising or managing is not enough in order to ensure that the goal is done. While there are tasks that need to be managed or supervised by an individual, there still needs to be an individual who leads the people in order to ensure that every single task is consistently and persistently led towards improvement (Lutz, 2003). One of the most effective attitudes a leader can have is courage. Courage is important for it enables the leader to make decisions that may help an organization improve and reach its goals despite the fact that there may be risks to be faced.

If a leader does not adhere to the attitude of no guts, no glory, it simply means that he or she is not able to realize the full potential of his or her organization or team (Lutz, 2003). Having a no guts, no glory attitude is a quality that every potential leader must learn to muster. Being a leader means being on top of everything. Without the courage to lead all those who are below him, everything else will fall apart. Thus it is necessary to focus on this attitude in every undertaking.

Guts refer to courage, confidence, strength, drive, and everything else that can make a person excel, go beyond his ability or achieve more than what is expected of him. It is a term most

often used to define a quality that will enable a person to conquer his fear or insecurity. Every leader must learn how to overcome or at least manage his fears, insecurities, and uncertainties in order to cascade positivity to all those who are under his leadership. When the subordinates, people, or members see the confidence and positivity expressed by the leader, things become more achievable.

The leader, in all its essence, creates the positive attitude and then passes it on to those who are under him to keep the organization strong, inspired, and motivated thereby making everybody feel that everything is possible just as long as everyone shares the same views and beliefs (Green, 2008). A leader who has a no guts, no glory attitude sees the potential in everything. When everyone else begins to doubt the possibilities, the leader stands up to explain how things should be viewed and what is there to gain despite the negative elements. The leader unites the team, pulls everyone together, and guides each one to believe in what they can achieve. This is the challenge that every leader faces. Just when everybody else is facing failure and defeat, the leader continues to keep his team together providing motivation and strength.

In areas where failure is apparent, the leader finds a way to turn things around through proper leadership skills and still aims for success. Earning the cooperation, trust and hard work of the team is extremely important in successful leadership. For this to happen, a good leader must in itself become an excellent follower (Green, 2008). “Effective leaders focused on subordinates, set work standards that were high but obtainable, carefully

organized tasks, identified the methods to be used in carrying them out, and closely supervised the work of subordinates” (Green, 2008, p.10).

Apart from this, a good leader should be willing to take risks in order to achieve development; if the leader is unable to do so, his or her organization or team can be likened to a lake: large and deep, but completely stagnant for the ground beneath it is flat. However, if the leader is strong and has guts, he will be able to cause change, the same way that a river moves freely and is able to produce power because of its tilted landscape which allows it to flow (Lutz, 2003). If a leader is willing to take calculated risks in order to achieve progress, then the leader is strong. Leadership is nothing without strength and if the person leading a group of people cannot be counted on to create strong and wise decisions, then it only follows that the group will eventually fail in what they are doing. There is no other way around it; a leader must be strong enough to take chances in order to achieve progress and change (Lutz, 2003).

According to Oren Harari (2002), despite the fact that there are risks in taking chances for the betterment of the organization or the team, there are most risks when a leader does not take chances. He or she could be forever thinking of what-ifs that could result in nothing. While it cannot be argued that there are risks to every decision, taking risks is better than doing nothing. Doing nothing means that instead of being proactive, the leader is being

passive and just lets things happen without taking the reins himself or herself.

Playing it safe often ends in unaccomplished tasks, which is a sign of a bad leader. A good leader must believe in the no guts, no glory attitude, for this will help him or her in taking “calculated [and] intelligent risks” (Harari, 2002, p. 76) toward achieving the goal. Being a leader is not about playing safe, it is about taking risks, for if the leader does not take risks, then he eventually risks his group or his organization to not attaining goals that are important. A good leader must not shy away whenever he or she has to create tough decisions.

One must be able to process with boldness and courage in order to create decisive actions. It is about taking the shot and being confident that the shot will make it. It is all about taking responsibility for the decisions made: sometimes, the leader has to toughen up and create hard decisions and eventually fail. Not everyone succeeds, of course, but the whole point would be that the leader was proactive, took risks, made mistakes, and now learned a lesson. This is far better than not doing anything, being passive, just because one is afraid of making mistakes.

A no guts, no glory attitude will not immediately lead to glory, but it will surely help pave the road to glory (Ulrich, Smallwood, & Sweetman, 2008). Sometimes one has to fall and learn from the fall in order to achieve the ultimate goal. If the decision that the leader made was wrong, he must be willing to admit it and learn from the experience.

That is what guts is all about: knowing that there are risks but still going for it, making mistakes but getting up, and learning from those mistakes (Ulrich, Smallwood, & Sweetman, 2008).

According to Karl Walinskas (2001), an effective leader should demand and be able to get results for their initiatives by the power of their personalities. If the leader has courage and guts, he or she can be counted on to follow through a particular project especially when problems occur. For example, if a manager decides to launch an event, and then suddenly abandons it because he or she finds it to be difficult and that he or she has found something else for the organization, then he or she is a coward, for he or she does not have enough conviction to push through with his or her previous decision (Walinskas, 2001). Why would a leader suddenly abandon a project when it becomes difficult? Is it because of fear of mistakes or pressure? Regardless of the reasons on why a leader will do such actions, it is necessary to assert that by doing such, he or she will be perceived by his or her employees as a wishy-washy coward who is ineffective; thus, they are less likely to follow his or her decisions, for it has already been established that he or she does not have the capacity to face difficulties in projects. Apparently, such kinds of leaders are indecisive and base his or her decisions on whatever is new, rather than following through with the original plan (Walinskas, 2001). It is stated that a good leader must always maintain his or her absolute

integrity.

This means that there should be a form of trust between a leader and his or her followers. If there is no trust between a leader and his or her followers, then he or she will be forever under the distrustful, scrutinizing eyes of his followers. If he or she does not have their trust, they would always question his or her decisions and even talk about him or her behind his or her back. They will forever mistrust the leader, for they know that there is nothing to be gained by trusting a leader who does not have integrity (Cohen, 2001). If a leader suddenly jumps ship at the time a difficulty arises, he or she hurts his or her integrity. No one wants a leader who does not have enough guts to stand strong for his or her decisions.

Apart from this, abandoning a project for a new idea when problems begin is only a sign that the leader does not know what he or she is doing. Followers want to be led by someone who knows what he or she is doing because they want someone who knows what to do in order to get a job done (Cohen, 2001). It is necessary to state that such leaders who abandon projects as soon as trouble seems brewing are the kind of leaders without guts. They do not see beyond the wall of difficulty and failure and are most likely to regard failure as nothing more but failure compared to other proactive leaders that see the opportunity to learn in failure.

To a leader with a gutsy attitude, there will always be success and opportunity

waiting beyond failure. To them, failure is but another step that can help them recognize what should and should not be done (Walinskas, 2001). Commitment is important in a leader, and if he or she cannot commit to his or her original plan by abandoning it as soon as problems occur, no one else can commit. It is important, to begin with, oneself — for change cannot be facilitated if the leader cannot commit to the plan. If people see that a leader cannot commit, why should they commit themselves to it? They would think that it would be a waste to commit to something which is likely to be abandoned by their indecisive leader. If the leader has a no guts, no glory attitude, then he or she would be committed to what he is doing and this would show in his or her actions, which, in turn, would encourage his or her followers to also commit (Cohen, 2001).

Apart from this, it is important that the leader should always aim to push the envelope. It does not help if the leader is unwilling to improve things and aim for the next level; this often results in unused ideas and skills of various team members or organization members which could actually help the team or the organization in projects and other goals (Harari, 2002). Perhaps it is fear of creating mistakes that stop some leaders from creating gutsy decisions amidst risks. This paralyzes them and stops them from creating good decisions that will benefit their team or organization.

According to William Cohen (2001), a good leader must always put his or her duty first before himself

or herself. This means that even though he or she is afraid of mistakes or failures, the responsibility of taking good care of his or her followers should be his or her primary interest. This being said, it is then, necessary to state that by refusing to create decisions that call for courage and guts, the leader is depriving his or her employees or followers of various opportunities to be attained from trying despite risks. If he or she puts his or her own needs or fears first, then he or she is not a leader. One must be able to sacrifice one's personal interests in order to ensure that his or her followers are able to attain success.

A leader with a no guts, no glory attitude must always be ready to create decisions for the betterment of his or her organization despite the associated risks, for he or she is concerned with his or her organization's welfare. Lastly, a good leader must maintain a no guts, no glory attitude for it will help him or she be a real leader who stands in front of the line, rather than behind. He or she must not be afraid and shy away from challenges, for the only way he or she can lead his or her followers would be by pulling them, and not pushing them. If the leader is always in front, not only will he or she become fully aware of everything that occurs in their organization, those who follow him or her will also be aware of his or her commitment (Cohen, 2001).

SummaryAs seen in the aforementioned discussion, maintaining a no guts, no

glory attitude is important for every leader. This is because a leader must be willing to take risks and learn from mistakes in case they occur. Apart from this, a leader should be ready to show his or her followers that he or she is committed to his or her decisions; leaders who stand by their decisions are respected, for not only do they show guts and commitment, they also show humility, for they are willing to make mistakes for their organization. In a nutshell, a good leader is one who is not afraid to take risks and make mistakes. A real leader would not falter in case problems occur in projects or decisions he or she has made, instead, he or she will face the problem head-on rather than hide from it and abandon it in order to avoid problems.

Problems were meant to be solved, not abandoned. In the end, the leader with guts will be the one reaping the benefits, for his or her employees' trust and support.