It was christened by Aristotle as the first of all human qualities because he felt it guaranteed the others. Dr. Keshavan Nair called it the “foundation of integrity.” And still Hemingway described it as “grace under pressure.”

What magical virtue were they referring to? Why courage, of course. It’s the mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty.

It’s 2018, and just like 2017, nothing ever lasts forever. One minute you're here and the next you're gone.

Wow, another year of blogging is in the books! A big thank you to the guest bloggers who took the time to share their wisdom with us in 2017. And thank you to all of our readers who keep coming back for more!

Here are the most popular #WhatsTheRisk blogs of 2017:

Exactly twelve years ago, around four o’clock in the afternoon, our Suburban came to a stop in front of Leighton Plaza, on Main Street in South Bend, Indiana. My wife had picked me up at Midway airport and driven me to South Bend. With the setting sun, it was already getting dark outside. I opened the door and a gust of cold wind swirled in. I put my foot down into the slushy mixture and looked up through the hazy sky at the Gibson offices on the fourth floor.

Only seven hours prior I had awoken to the blue skies and the radiant sun of Scottsdale, Arizona. After six years in the Southwest, we were returning to Indiana. I left behind great friends, a good career, and awesome co-workers based on a pitch from Dave Gibson and Greg Downes. At that moment, only one question was on my mind, “What did I just do?”

The South Bend Alumni Association recently honored a couple, Greg and Mary Downes, inducting them into the Community Hall of Fame. This is fitting recognition for a lifetime played at a hall-of-fame level by Mary and Greg.

It got me thinking about my own legacy. Twenty-five years from now, will I be hall-worthy? If not, it won’t be because I was missing an example of leadership, duty, and compassion in the community. It won’t be because I didn’t have the opportunity to regularly and consistently observe the lesson – as President Kennedy borrowed from Luke 12:48 – that “to whom much is given, much is required.” And it won’t be because I didn’t have someone challenging my thinking and wondering if I’ve done my part. That’s because I’ve had the honor and good fortune of working for and alongside Greg for the past dozen years at Gibson. Luckily, this meant I also had a number of moments to engage with Mary, too.

Not long ago, I wasn’t having much fun at work. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but something was off. I was frustrated with my team and things felt out-of-control. In spite of much growth and success, it seemed like we had hit a ceiling.

I didn’t know exactly how to describe my situation. I wasn’t sure what the reaction would be. Who would feel sorry for me, someone given the great privilege and opportunity to lead an amazing team at a great company? But that didn’t change the internal conflict I was feeling while trying to perform two important roles in our organization: Visionary and Integrator.

There are plenty of book lists out there. This post is a little different. While I’ve got examples of specific books for you, more importantly I want to emphasize the kind of books you should read. As Japanese author Haruki Murakami has written, “If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.”

My brother Jon has meticulously planned the trip of a lifetime for us. It’s a “coming of age” experience for his son and my two boys. Two forty-something brothers and their three teenage sons.

Where we’re going, the living standards are definitely not on par with the United States. Therefore, we’ll be on a combination of planes, trains, and automobiles being flown, conducted, and steered by outfits that aren’t regularly reviewed on Yelp or TripAdvisor.

We’ll be on the move, traveling light, and staying in hotels, lodges, camps, and personal residences. He assures me that at worst it will be “gentleman’s camping” and I’ll "survive."

Do employees bring a renter’s bias to the job? Or is that bias fostered by leadership, compensation and rewards, structure, or other factors common to the job? It’s the question Harvard Professor James L. Heskett posed in a 2017 Harvard Business School article. Professor Heskett is seeing a trend of employees increasingly becoming renters.

“While CEOs obsess over getting big-banged out of existence, odds are good that their companies will suffer a more pedestrian fate: they will simply cease to matter.” - Inc. Magazine editor Leigh Buchanan

How relevant is your organization? Have you asked yourself that question recently? It goes something like this: In 3 years will the services we’re providing still matter? The best companies ask themselves this question every year. I’d bet many have never asked it.