Experts talk courage at Eagle Harbor Books

Eagle Harbor Book Company will host an evening of inspiration and forward thinking at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 22 when Shelly Francis, from the Center for Courage and Renewal, talks about the book, “The Courage Way: Leading and Living with Integrity.”

Also on hand at the evening event will be center co-founders Marcy and Rick Jackson.

Leadership demands courage.

You have to make good decisions while balancing inevitable tensions and knowing when to take risks. You need to keep your values in sight regardless of the pressures around you. At its core, leadership is a daily, ongoing practice, a journey toward becoming your best self and inviting others to do the same.

And that’s where “The Courage Way” comes in.

It’s a guide to leadership that shows how to access and draw upon courage in all that you do. It has its roots in the work of Parker J. Palmer, who, in 50 years of teaching, speaking and writing, has explored the human spirit — what he has called “the inner landscape” — and its role in life and leadership.

Francis will identify key ingredients needed to cultivate courage, the most fundamental being trust — in ourselves and in each other. She describes how to build trust through the Center for Courage & Renewal’s Circle of Trust approach, centered around 11 “touchstones,” poetic and practical operating guidelines for holding the meaningful conversations vital to trust building.

Each chapter features true stories of how leaders have overcome challenges and strengthened their organizations through touchstones such as “Extend invitation, not demand”; “No fixing, saving, advising, or correcting”; and “When the going gets rough, turn to wonder.”

Francis has been the marketing and communications director at the Center for Courage & Renewal since mid-2012. The common thread throughout her career has been bringing to light “best-kept secrets” — technology, services, resources, ideas — while bringing people together to facilitate collective impact and good work.

The event is free and open to the public. Visit www.eagleharborbooks.com to learn more.