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your courage compass
The
Strategic
Sage
You’re the Strategic Sage—the one who sees what others miss, and solves what others can’t.
Your mind is a marvel: observant, precise, and deeply curious. While others react, you reflect. You track patterns, synthesize information, and connect dots others didn’t even know existed. Your leadership is marked by calm clarity and elegant solutions. You’re not here for noise. You’re here for truth.
But that brilliant mind can become a fortress. In your pursuit of mastery, you can retreat from the very people your insights could serve. You may lose touch with your body’s needs, skipping meals, rest, or connection in favor of solving just one more puzzle. And when the world feels too fast or too needy, your instinct is to withdraw—even when your presence could change everything.
Your next level of leadership is grounded in integration. The courage to stay connected to your body, your community, and your heart—not just your mind. When emotional intelligence meets your intellectual capacity, your impact becomes parabolic. And when you care for your whole self and share your brilliance with others, your wisdom becomes a living force—fueling transformation far beyond what you could build alone.
Explore all the COURAGE types further below
Core Courage:
Clarity
Motto:
“I never teach my pupils. I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.” — Albert Einstein
Keywords:
Independent • Observant • Investigative
Gift to the Collective:
The ability to see what others can’t—offering visionary clarity, calm analysis, and elegant solutions when they’re needed most.
Shadow Tendency:
Isolation, over-intellectualization, and neglecting physical or emotional needs.
Limiting Beliefs:
If I don’t have it fully figured out, I shouldn’t speak. If I engage too much, I’ll lose myself. Emotions are dangerous distractions.
Legacy Figures:
Jane Goodall, Socrates, Thomas Jefferson
Growth Path:
Reclaim your energy by tending to your body and emotional life. Prioritize holistic health to amplify your genius. Practice sharing your knowledge before it’s perfect—and let others in. When you combine intellect with presence and EQ, your wisdom becomes exponential.
·
The Myth of Aligned Values
They sat across from each other in the strategy session, arms crossed, nodding politely—but not really hearing. The Possibility Prophet wanted to move. Fast. Propose bold policy. Break the mold. The Guardian of the People wanted to slow down. Anticipate risk. Secure buy-in. Protect the mission. By the end of the hour, both walked out frustrated—certain the other was the problem.
Our culture tells us this is misalignment. That someone failed the purity test. That we should cleanse the team and cut the apostate. That everyone in the party must agree. That we shouldn’t date someone from “the other side.” That difference is disloyalty.
This is bullshit—and it’s dangerous. Every government built on a single ideology has ended in collapse or catastrophe. Groupthink is a cancer, not a cure.
We don’t need shared values. We need shared purpose. And the courage to trust. To see each other as human. To question our own assumptions. To look inward before lashing outward. To hold creative tension instead of retreating into the safety of sameness.
Change that endures doesn’t come from purity—but from friction held in shared mission. Philadelphia, 1776—not Moscow, 1936. The visionary needs the pragmatist. The innovator needs the protector. When the Possibility Prophet welcomes resistance as refinement—not rejection—and the Guardian sees urgency not as recklessness, but as momentum to shape and test, something rare emerges: outcomes greater than the sum of their parts. That’s not compromise. That’s transformation.
How are you complicit in creating the conditions you claim not to want? How is it going? And are you brave enough to consider leadering differently?
Contemplative Questions:
How are you complicit in creating the very conditions you claim to resist? How’s it working? And are you brave enough to lead differently?
Join The Courage Lab & get instant access to:
→ Monthly Lab Sessions
→ Personal Arête Framework
→ Community Voxer Thread
→ Monthly Peer Support Call
→ Practical Tools & Practices
From city halls to global nonprofits, we’ve supported over 1,000 changemakers in becoming better leaders by becoming better humans. We don’t fix broken systems—we train the leaders who do.
Join The Courage Lab & get instant access to:
→ Monthly Lab Sessions
→ Personal Arête Framework
→ Community Voxer Thread
→ Monthly Peer Support Call
→ Practical Tools & Practices
