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Learning Leadership from Dogs Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 June 2025
What Is Courage?
Before embarking on a journey by ship, it is after all vital to understand where the ship is sailing to. If one aims to go to Tibet, it would hardly be worth the effort to sail to Tasmania. Similarly, unless we truly know what courage stands for, it would be a bit odd to delve into an entire chapter on the topic. Most people would define courage with a synonym—some would say that courage stands for bravery or fortitude. But those are not definitions! I would define courage as a quality that allows a person to willingly pursue a course of action that could be risky, but the person does it anyway because there is a purpose behind that action.
The title of this chapter pretty much provides what the end journey is going to be.
Indeed, I will focus on courage, and talk about some dog breeds that absolutely reflect courage. While the title suggests that I will be spending a major chunk of this chapter relating the exploits of Bulldogs, today's modern Bulldog does not bear a whole lot of similarity with its earlier ancestors. The Bulldogs of yesteryear were used for bull baiting (a cruel sport), which has luckily been outlawed since. Ever since, Bulldogs have more or less become cute charismatic Churchillian dogs. However, the expression “Bulldog Spirit” while frequently used to talk about tenacity, can also apply to courage. Think about it—Bulldogs were used to bait Bulls, who are much larger animals. That itself speaks volumes about the courage aspect inherent in Bulldogs. In this chapter though, apart from the Bulldog, I will focus on discussing several livestock guardian dog breeds, who are renowned over the world for their courage.
Courage is something that humans could do to improve themselves. Far too often, you will see leaders (and followers, it must be said) wilting under strenuous or high-pressure circumstances. They lack the courage to do the right thing, and they often end up behaving in ways that are contrary to how they ought to. Think about the individuals who agree to engage in unethical activities just because their supervisor or boss tells them to.
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