A recent summary of IBM’s 2025 CEO study highlighted five defining leadership trends for this year. Among them: Courageous Leadership.
IBM and the executives they interviewed describe courage as essential in a world where economics and technology move faster than facts can be gathered. Waiting for perfect certainty is no longer an option. Leaders must increasingly dare to take calculated risks. The alternative is paralysis — and falling behind.
This resonates far beyond questions of technology. Leadership requires courage in every domain: the willingness to do what has not been done before, to act despite resistance, to face the real possibility of failure.
Courage is not ease. It is the opposite: the strength to move forward precisely when something feels difficult. Where there is no discomfort, there is no courage. Without risk, fear, or the chance of failure, boldness does not exist.
For those of us in leadership positions, the responsibility is clear. We cannot delegate courage. We must be the ones to shoulder the risks, to make the hard calls, to say: this is the way forward.
And courage grows through practice. Just as fear reinforces itself, so does courage. Step forward wisely, succeed, and the arc can be drawn tighter next time.
At Kommunal, this is what we are trying to embody. Our messages and campaigns carry more force today than they once did. That is no coincidence. The true danger lies not in standing out, but in failing to be seen fighting for our members. That is the path to irrelevance.
We have even written courage into our brand — because it is a decisive factor for success as a union. Courageous communication brings attention, attracts new members, strengthens our hand in negotiations, and, most importantly, delivers real improvements for our members.
But courage is not recklessness. It demands judgment: the ability to weigh risks, to surface all perspectives, to know where the limits lie. To sense when it is the right moment to challenge convention — and when it is not. Without that discipline, courage turns into folly.
Ultimately, courage begins with us as leaders. An organization cannot be braver than those who lead it. We must take responsibility, absorb the criticism, and answer the questions. We must invite bold ideas, make bold decisions, and stand behind colleagues who dare to stretch.
It does not end with us. But it begins with us.