Courage in leadership isn’t instinct. It’s trained.
Courage is forward motion, but not the kind most people think
There is another response to perceived danger.
It’s often labelled bravery, but in leadership, it has nothing to do with bravado.
Courage at senior levels is forward motion that stays present under attack. It looks like:
remaining oriented to the questioner
keeping the breath available
holding a neutral, open posture
gesturing congruently rather than defensively
responding with structure instead of reaction
This is not dominance. It is a regulation. And it is not accidental.
Courage is not instinct. It is trained.
Many leaders assume that when the moment arrives, courage will appear. Often it doesn’t. What appears is the default.
In high-pressure environments, leaders do not rise to the occasion; they default to their training. That is why some leaders appear unshakeable under fire. Not because they are fearless, but because their bodies have been conditioned to stay present when challenged.
This is biology, not morality. It is not your fault that your body reacts first. But if you lead others, it is your responsibility to train the response that follows. Who knew a fruit shop was leadership training?
Ahmed al Ahmed is, for many of us, the hero of a lifetime. Who knew that being a fruit shop owner was exactly the training needed? Early mornings at the market. Standing behind a counter all day. Dealing with complaints, impatience, unpredictable customers and constant scrutiny. That kind of pressure teaches one thing very quickly: how to stay present while being challenged.
Not because it’s dramatic but because it’s relentless. And pressure, repeated often enough, becomes practice.
Why presence under pressure is now a leadership capability
In boardrooms across Australia, perceived danger is common.
Leaders are challenged publicly, interrupted, scrutinised and tested often in compressed timeframes with reputational consequences.
When leaders retreat physically, cognitively or vocally, decision-making shifts. Confidence erodes. Authority weakens.
Presence, on the other hand, stabilises the room.
Leaders who maintain trust under pressure have trained three things consistently:
Breath - because breath collapse is the earliest signal of threat
Body orientation - because posture and openness communicate capacity
Structure - because clarity under fire creates reliability
This is why experienced leaders don’t “wing it” in hostile moments. They rehearse. They practise. They programme their responses.
Sometimes that training includes deliberately unglamorous techniques such as maintaining facial mobility under stress. A simple nod, blink, smile (loose jaw) sequence can keep the face workable when the nervous system wants to shut it down.
This is not performance. It is preparation.
A Christmas challenge
So the leadership skill is not pretending to feel calm. It is training yourself to move towards danger, physically, vocally and cognitively when your system urges retreat.
In the boardroom, courage is not instinctive. It is deliberate. It is practised. And it is visible.
As we head into Christmas, consider this a quiet challenge rather than a resolution:
Use the break to prepare for pressure, not escape from it.
If staying present under fire is part of your role and it is, this is a skill worth revisiting, rehearsing and refining. Gravitas was written precisely for this purpose: to translate timeless principles of presence, confidence and authority into behaviours leaders can practise long before the heat is on.
Because when pressure arrives, it is already too late to wish you’d trained.
Let me know your thoughts.
Love,
Dr Louise Mahler