“The cowards never start and the weak die along the way!”

Kit Carson said this. Unless you are a history buff or watch very old Western shows, you might ask who is Kit Carson? He is one of our country’s most famous frontiersmen. True, Walt Disney did not make movies about him like he did about Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett. But any study of the American West, and the movement West, would likely include Mr. Carson. He was a fur trapper and scout for the Army. He led wagon trains on the Santa Fe Trail. He fought Indians and became an Indian agent. He married three times and lived to the ripe old age of 60. He was a hero, a legend and also a Leader. So what did Kit mean here?

Let’s break his brief statement down a little:

-Cowards never start. This occurs every day. You must take a chance and some risk to succeed. I would not be as harsh as to say “cowards”, but we all know people, especially in large organizations, who become afraid to act. In Kit’s ever changing world, you had to keep moving or you were dead.

-The weak die along the way. Obviously, you might see this on a wagon train out West. But it also occurs in companies and other groups. You can be weak in many ways, in your personal conviction about something, or in your own values. Perhaps the worst for any Leader is to be weak, uncertain, or inconsistent in their decisions. Others will see it, and career-wise, at least, you will die along the way.

Now Leadership is the subject of scores of management books. But often when you cut through it all, it can be simple enough to put in a single line that bears repeating, Cowards never start and the Weak die along the way; Thanks Kit.

In my forthcoming book, The Business Zoo, we will look at Leadership and its flip side, Culture, from a number of different views. Sometimes a little historical perspective can help.