How Important is Courage in Leadership?
A single guard stands in front of the Custom House in Boston, Massachusetts. It’s a cold night on March 5, 1770, with snow and ice on the streets. A little after 9:00 in the evening a mob begins forming outside the building. The lone guard is reinforced by eight British soldiers with loaded weapons and bayonets affixed. At some point during the confrontation snowballs and other things are thrown at the soldiers. Words and tensions escalate with calls of “Kill Them! Kill Them!” from the mob and one soldier is knocked to the ground[1]. The soldiers, fearing for their safety, open fire on the mob killing five people.
The reaction is immediate with Samuel Adams calling it a “bloody butchery.”[2] The tension in the city over the British soldiers quartering and the Stamp Act left little love for the British Parliament, King George, and British soldiers. Most assumed the worst, that British soldiers had opened fire on innocent civilians, which was further inflamed by the press and by many of the popular leaders of the time.
Despite efforts to find a lawyer to represent the soldiers, none could be found. Eventually, John Adams was approached, who, as David McCullough described, accepted it without hesitation. He believed “that no man in a free country should be denied the right to counsel and a fair trial, and convinced, on principle, that the case was of utmost importance.”[3] He was well aware that taking the case “would be hazarding his hard-earned reputation and, in his words, ‘incurring a clamor and popular suspicions and prejudices’ against him…”[4] He was correct and he was immediately pilloried in the press and accused of being bribed to take the case.
He went to work though, firm in the belief that it is “Better that many guilty persons escape unpunished than one innocent person should be punished. ‘The reason is, because it’s of more importance to community, that innocence should be protected, than it is, that guilt should be punished.’”[5] In the end the captain was found not guilty as were six of the eight soldiers. The remaining two soldiers were convicted of manslaughter.
If John Adams thought public opinion against him was bad before the trial it worsened once the results were published. Adams claimed that because of his involvement in the trial he lost half of his business at the time. As David McCullough notes, “Criticism of almost any kind was nearly always painful for Adams, but public scorn was painful in the extreme.”[6]
Leadership has fascinated me since I took a leadership class during my undergraduate studies at BYU. While I haven’t kept up on the current theories and best practices, I’ve observed leaders in a professional, ecclesiastical, and historical settings to learn from them traits and stories to imitate in my life. I’d like to take some time to share some of the things I’ve learned over the years.
Fortitude is defined as “strength of mind that enables a person to encounter or bear pain or adversity with courage.” When I consider moral fortitude I define it as standing up for those weaker than you when it would be easier to cave to public opinion and take the easy way out of the situation. George H. Brimhall stated, “You can’t tell the character of an individual by the way he does his daily work. Watch him when his work is done. See where he goes. Note the companions he seeks, and the things he does when he may do as he pleases. Then you can tell his true character.” I would add to this that you can see the measure of a person by how willing they are to sacrifice for others in the pursuit of doing what they know is right. It is a rare trait in politicians today. Too often the only ones who are willing to speak out honestly are those not running in the following election.
John Adams did not need to take the case of the British soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre. In fact, he would have been considered wise, by modern political thinking, to not take the case and expose himself to the negative press and pressure he, in fact, faced. In today’s way of thinking this would have been a political death sentence to a possible politician and one to avoid at all cost. Most people in Boston, especially those with similar views of the British as John Adams, were unanimously against the British soldiers. John Adams showed moral fortitude by taking the case of the British soldiers in the midst of a public opinion firestorm that would give most modern politicians nightmares. He knew what he stood for and was willing to put everything on the line for that cause. This is rarely the case with politicians and leaders today.
The fact of the matter is that those who are willing to show moral fortitude in the face of contrary public opinion end up more respected than before. There will be a period of pain, and possibly isolation, but, as with John Adams, the demonstration of moral fortitude will be worth more in the long term than a few cheap political points in the short term scored by sticking with what appears to be the popular opinion at the time. “As time would show,” David McCullough writes, “John Adams’s part in the drama did increase his public standing, making him in the long run more respected than ever.”[7]
Delbert Stapley stated, “Our destiny is determined by our character, and our character is the sum and expression of our habits. Character is won by hard work.” It is my hope that we can be more like the great men who were willing to sacrifice their lives and reputations for the pursuit of a greater goal. They knew what was right and were willing to stand up for it against popular opinion of the day. I challenge you to make the hard decisions in your life to show this same moral fortitude. There are opportunities every day.
In closing, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stated, “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. The true neighbor will risk his position, his prestige, and even his life for the welfare of others.”
[1] David McCullough, John Adams (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001), 68.
[2] McCullough, John Adams, 66.
[3] McCullough, John Adams, 66.
[4] McCullough, John Adams, 66.
[5] David McCullough, John Adams, Page 68
[6] David McCullough, John Adams, Page 66
[7] David McCullough, John Adams, Page 68
