day 2535: Bold Moves – Part 5: Courage And Conviction

“But when Daniel learned that the law had been signed, he went home and knelt down as usual in his upstairs room, with its windows open toward Jerusalem. He prayed three times a day, just as he had always done, giving thanks to his God.

Fast Company Magazine recently ran an article about 10 CEO moves that changed business. We can learn from each of them.

We take it for granted now that the press and media will go to no lengths to uncover a story and challenge the government. That wasn’t always the case and it was Katharine Graham in 1971 as the Publisher of The Washington Post for having the courage to print The Pentagon Papers alongside The New York Times. The difference between Ms. Graham and the New York Times is that printing the papers when she did was just prior to her IPO and it could have messed up everything for the paper and her. But, she felt such courage and conviction that she was doing the right so deeply thing that she risked it all.  We don’t always know, or actually end up doing the right thing, but to have deep enough conviction and strong enough courage to do what we think is right, gains us, if nothing else, respect.

How many times have we read or hear the story of Daniel and how he had both conviction and courage to continue to practice his faith, even when not just his livelihood but his life was on the line and take the story too lightly for what it was?  As I write this, there is someone and probably many across the globe who are making that same decision today with the same life consequences in mind. They don’t look to Daniel as a role model, they look to Daniel as a promise of what God will do if we stand up for Him. Courage and Conviction are part of our faith journey and both will be tested when what we think is the most important thing we will have going on in our careers and lives. That voice inside telling us the right thing to do, that is likely God giving us a subtle reminder to lean back on Him to get us through what is coming.

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