Rethink Courageous Leadership: 12 Inspirational Quotes From Martin Luther King Jr. And Others

Rethink Courageous Leadership: 12 Inspirational Quotes From Martin Luther King Jr. And Others As we prepare to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. day today, the Twitterverse is alive with references to the man and his legacy. For me, King is synonymous with courage. Which got me to thinking: yes, it takes courage to inspire others, but we often misunderstand the kind of courage it takes to lead. The courage to lead does not just involve a bold, public-facing bravery, but also a quieter, more introspective kind of courage. With King in particular, we may think of his seminal moment addressing a crowd of 250,000 people from the Lincoln Memorial on a hot August day in 1963. But a moment like that was the culmination of a thousand smaller acts of bravery that came before it. Imagine the first time Dr. King had to step forward, look directly into the eyes of an adversary and say, “I will not back down.” These small acts of courage are where true leadership begins. Strong leaders know that daily acts of showing up, and revealing your thoughts, ideals and principles, are what’s most important.