By CPA George Joseph Muema When Courage Leads the Way Courage is defined as the quality of being confident, not afraid or easily intimidated, but without being incautious or inconsiderate, or the ability to maintain one’s will or intent overcoming fear, frailty, or frustration; or the occurrence of adversity, defeat, or reversal. Without the courage to try, all the other positive traits remain dormant. Courage is what makes a person show up no matter the circumstances, and when you show up, you are halfway to achieving the goal. In essence, courage is the fuel that allows a person to engage in all the other behaviors that lead to success: grit, perseverance, discipline, a growth mindset, and a willingness to learn. A courageous, inexperienced person can go places a timid, intelligent person will never get. It gets to the heart of the idea that action beats inaction, even when the action isn’t perfectly planned. A courageous, inexperienced person may lack the foresight, knowledge, or strategy of the timid, intelligent person, but their willingness to act is their greatest asset. They are not paralyzed by the fear of making a mistake. They try, they fail, and they learn from direct experience in the subject they are focusing on. This is simply because failure is part of, not the opposite of, success. On the other hand, the “timid intelligent” person may have brilliant ideas and a comprehensive understanding of potential pitfalls, but their fear of failure keeps them from ever putting those ideas into practice. Their intelligence becomes a cage. They know all the reasons not to do something, so they end up doing nothing. Their fear of a single misstep robs them of a thousand opportunities. A timid person sees a risk, feels fear, and stops, while a courageous person sees a risk, feels the exact same fear, but takes action