Courage Under Pressure in the Field and Boardroom

Real courage isn't about being fearless — it's about acting right when pressure mounts and relationships are on the line. Whether you're facing pushback from operators, challenging a team decision, or holding firm with a difficult client, here's how to stand your ground without burning bridges.

Transcript

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Hey, I'm JP Warren. I'm not a pastor. I'm not a theologian. I'm just a guy figuring out his faith and finding out what's in the scripture. Keeps showing up and how I lead. This is Lead with Confidence. Five minutes. Let's go. Welcome back to another Lead with Confidence. I'm your host, JP Warren. We are wrapping up the concept, the concept, the theme of courage with this final one. This is standing up, standing your ground, holding on to your moral compass when everyone else around you is saying no. All right. So what does courage look like to you under pressure? It's not about always being right. I mean, if you if that is your goal about being right and all that stuff, you are in for a rude awakening. All right. It's about doing right when it costs you kind of something, right? It's about doing the right thing when it costs you something, whether it's your relationships, whether it's it might be your reputation at the company or within your group of friends or something like that. What does it cost when you do the right thing? It could be that bonus you're going for. It could be, you know, shaving, you know, that extra uh revenue that you're actually going for. I mean, making the right decision in the right time under pressure, what is it actually costing you? All right. I think I'm kind of like I always do that, I always talk on tangents, all right? So the real problem is this, right? You think standing your a lot of people think standing their ground means planting their fat, planting their flag, patterning their fist on the table and really getting aggressive, right? All right. It's um so you can either cave completely, and what happens? You you either kind of like hold your ground so much you always have to be right where you actually cave, or you damage that relationship, all right? Or another problem is that you you care more about being liked and well respected, and that also r makes you fold whenever kind of things kind of get in the pressure cooker, right? And the third thing is you avoid unnecessary conflict because you think it's unprofessional, all right? Because conflict of and but conflict avoidance kills projects and teams. We talked about this during the Crucial Conversations. How crucial conversations are so worried about the other person's response, how they're gonna perceive us, is it gonna damage the relationship? But it is a growth moment for all if you have these conversations, all right? So here's the framework when it actually comes to standing up, uh, and kind of like on your ethics, on knowing what's right and actually standing up. All right, the framework is stand, bridge, and resolve system, okay? So the stand is stand your position, state your position, right? State your stance clearly without apologizing. You know, I can't approve this timeline because it compromises the safety standards, right? Don't soften the message, soften the delivery. The second thing you can do is bridge the relationship. So once you plant your flag, you see people kind of pull back, bridge the relationship. Acknowledge their perspective. Hey, I get where you're coming from with that. That totally makes sense. But I want you to know I'm not comfortable proceeding this way. I'm not comfortable making or taking action when we should wait until the documents are, you know, uh cross dot I's dotted and T's crossed, right? And the third step is resolve moving forward. Offer alternative solutions. Hey, could we try something like this? Or wh during the delay, could we maybe work on this project? So maybe you're kind of altering um alternative solutions. And honestly, sometimes you're taking a stand might not align with the company's um values or goals, and it might be best for you to kind of take a step and walk away. I think a recent, uh not a recent, but an example with me is that, you know, during one of my previous uh roles, there was a decision made um about how we'd go out and get work. And that decision was not really in line with my ethics. And, you know, I brought that up in a and I stayed the position. Hey, listen, I understand what we're trying to do here. Not my company, it's y'all's, it's y'all's company. I'm not comfortable kind of proceeding this way. You know, this decision was made without me. I'm not really comfortable doing this, right? How's it how's this for an alternative? There was so much pushback and in that I saw that there was no room for a kind of a uh a resolving or a relationship kind of mending and all that stuff. So rather than slam my fist on the table, make a big stink, post on all these social media platforms, I just decided to quietly thank them and kind of walk away. And honestly, that was probably one of the best decisions because without, and you learn that throughout life, right? Without all these challenges and storms that come in through life, these hardships, whether it's you know divorce, whether it's death, whether it's changing of roles, whether it's disagreement with friends, it doesn't matter what it is, you always learn something about yourself after that storm has passed. So I needed that storm to come and for me to be in the season where I'm at in my life. So that was just a story uh about in my life, how I had to kind of like stand my ground on things that I thought was right and what's wrong. So here's an application for you on what to do moving forward, okay? So the next time someone pushes back in your position, acknowledge their pressure before restarting restating your boundary, okay? The second thing you do is stop apologizing, all right? Stop apologizing. All right. It's n it's uh just soften your tone, not your message, right? Again, how we communicate. And the third thing is ask yourself, what would I advise someone else to do in this exact situation? You know, one example of this is, you know, an operations meeting, all right? The team wants to skip the environmental review to speed up the project. Well, the stand is, well, we can't proceed without the environmental clearance. The bridge is, hey, I know the delay is frustrating when we're behind schedule. How do you resolve that? Well, let me call the regulatory contact today and see if we can expedite that. And the result, timeline preserved, relationships intact, and compliance maintained. All right, y'all. I want to thank y'all for tuning in. We are wrapping up the courage aspect of uh this uh this series. And these are daily soft skills to level up your soft skills of communication and your executive presence and crush your imposter syndrome. So I want to thank y'all for tuning in. If you're joining us, please share it, comment, and let me know because it only keeps me motivated to keep putting out this type of content. So thank y'all for being out there. I'll talk to y'all soon. That's all I got for today. I'm figuring this out right alongside. I appreciate you listening. And Ben, come join us at Exec Crew if this is resonating. Link in the description, and we'll see you tomorrow.