The Courage Quotient E-Book

Robert Biswas-Diener

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 295

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2012

Beschreibung

The keys to understanding and developing courage This groundbreaking book reveals that courage is more aboutmanaging fear than not feeling it, and that courage can belearned. The author explains that most courageous people areunaware of their own bravery, and all of us have some form ofcourage in our lives now, to start with. The book is filled withillustrative examples, studies, and interviews from Greenland toKenya, and defines the types of individuals who demonstrategeneral, personal, and civil courage. The author includes clearguidelines and suggestions for increasing our ability to becourageous. * Includes guidelines that show how anyone can ramp-up theircourage quotient and develop the qualities that strengthen personalcourage * Contains a wealth of examples and anecdotes of real-worldcourage from a variety of cultures * A prolific writer, the author has a popular blog PsychologyToday The author extols the virtues of personal courage and shows howto overcome fear and stand up for what is right.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Praise Page

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Introduction: How I Found Courage

Part 1: A Crash Course in Courage

Chapter 1: Your Courage Quotient

What Is Courage?

Your Courage Quotient

Can Courage Be Learned?

The Courage 50

Heroism by the Numbers

A Call to Action!

Do We Really Need a Cash Prize for Courage?

To Sum Up

Chapter 2: Measuring Courage

Can Courage Be Measured?

Courage Is Cultural, Like Food and Language

To Sum Up

Part 2: Increasing Courage by Controlling Fear

Chapter 3: Ride the Emotional See-Saw

Fear: By the Numbers

The Function of Fear

Ego: Where Fear Comes From

Let Go of Your Ego or Boost Your Ego—Three Ways to Control Fear

Challenge

To Sum Up

Chapter 4: Think Magically

Magical Thinking Is as Common as Black Cats

Inside Magical Thought

Magical Thinking as a Gateway to Courage

To Sum Up

Part 3: Increasing Courage by Boosting the Willingness to Act

Chapter 5: Try Defiance

A Dramatic Case of Collective Defiance: United Flight 93

Choosing Our Roles for Bravery

Understanding Obedience

The Willingness Not to Act

To Sum Up

Chapter 6: Be Out of the “In Crowd”

“I Would Never Do That!” and Other Situational Fictions

Conformity and Obedience as Enemies to Action

The Bystander Effect

Out with the In-Crowd

To Sum Up

Chapter 7: Be Willing to Fail

Success

Goals: Making Progress or Being Derailed by Fears

Running Toward, Not Away from, Failure

Giving Up the Goal

Building Failure into Your Performance

To Sum Up

Part 4: Conclusion

Chapter 8: From the Research Laboratory to Real Life

Physical Bravery: Skydiving

The Courage Quotient

Decide to Act

Appendix 1: Test Your Courage Quotient

Appendix 2: Locate Your Own Brand of Courage

References

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Index

More Praise for The Courage Quotient

“I love this book! Robert Biswas-Diener brings courage to life, showing us all how we can overcome our fears and achieve what is important to us. Grounded in the latest research and illustrated with Robert's interviews with the Courage 50, as well as his own stories of courage, he shows us just what courage is, how we can develop it, and how life can be so much better when we do. In the modern world, we need people with the courage to stand up and take action to improve the lives of all. Robert Biswas-Diener shows us how to do this in his latest groundbreaking book.”

—Alex Linley, PhD, founding director, Capp (www.cappeu.com); author, The Strengths Book

“In his book, Robert Biswas-Diener teaches us valuable lessons about courage. As a leader, you need courage: courage to make yourself vulnerable to others. Leadership takes making bold and sometimes unpopular decisions. Courage is crucial in a wide range of work situations, and anyone in a company can demonstrate courage leadership.”

—Heinz Landau, former chairman and managing director, Merck Ltd., Thailand

“Dr. Biswas-Diener has a deep understanding of and empathy for the human condition and the willingness to engage forthrightly with challenging issues that most people would rather not have to think about. This book is the most fascinating and accessible exploration of courage since The Right Stuff, with the critical advantage of being based on rigorous and thorough scholarship and research. Engaging, witty, and incisive, the book offers a wealth of insight and practical advice on how to be braver, how to accept being different from the herd while doing so—and why this matters to you. Every person in a leadership position should read this book, because as Winston Churchill once pointed out, ‘Courage is the quality that guarantees all others.’”

—Sunny Stout-Rostron, executive director, Sunny Stout-Rostron Associates; author, Business Coaching International: Transforming Individuals and Organizations

Copyright © 2012 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Biswas-Diener, Robert.

The courage quotient : how science can make you braver / Robert Biswas-Diener. — 1st ed.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-470-91742-8 (cloth); ISBN 978-1-118-20683-6 (ebk.); ISBN 978-1-118-20684-3 (ebk.); ISBN 978-1-118-20685-0 (ebk.)

1. Courage. 2. Fear. I. Title.

BF575.C8.B57 2012

179′.6—dc23

for the inspiring passengers of united flight 93

Introduction: How I Found Courage

I learned much about courage—and much about myself—on one of my first jobs out of graduate school. I got my start in academia as a researcher in happiness. That's right—happiness. I have spent about a decade of my professional career studying what makes people happy. I have lived and worked with a number of fascinating groups from around the world, including Amish farmers in the American Midwest and seal hunters in the far north of Greenland. With each group I try to get a sense of what is good about local life, where people find their personal fulfillment, and how happy people are in general. In this particular instance I was looking forward to studying the happiness of the Maasai tribal people of southwest Kenya. In many ways the Maasai are the poster children for tribal Africa. Anyone who has been on safari in that part of the world has likely come across the Maasai in tourist shows (they perform huge vertical leaps), in crafts markets (what are you going to do with that club once you have brought it back to your home?), or in postcards. The Maasai are a visually striking people. They tend to be on the skinny side, and elongate their earlobes and wear bright-red wool cloaks. Local lore holds that lions recognize the red color and become afraid because they know the Maasai are so dangerous. And it's not far from the truth—on a walk one day deep in the African bush I pointed to a small tree some distance away and a young warrior heaved his metal-tipped spear through the air and split the tree right through the base of the trunk.