In one line: Facing hard, risky, or uncomfortable actions directly instead of around them.
Part of the Character cluster of the Engineering Leadership Capabilities.
What it means
Courage in engineering is usually quiet: telling a senior leader the schedule is not real, confronting underperformance, or taking a technical risk others avoid. It means acting in spite of the discomfort rather than without it.
What it looks like
- Delivering bad news early
- Having the difficult performance conversation
- Challenging a popular but flawed design choice