Have you read Brené Brown’s – Daring Greatly or seen any of her Ted Talks or documentaries online? If you haven’t, I highly recommend – especially now. One of the key things she notes is that – in any circumstance where you need to courageous, by definition you’re also being vulnerable at the same time. If you already knew that the outcome was going to be in your favor, it wouldn’t require courage or bravery to step into the situation. When you’re vulnerable, and you don’t know what is going to happen next, that’s when you must summon your courage. Courage is a choice we make to do the uncomfortable. It’s not something we are naturally just born with.

I see this principle playing out daily with companies that are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. These companies/leaders are boldly stepping up, committing significant resources to finding a solution. They are stepping into the media spotlight, whether intentionally or not, because of the leadership role they’re playing in the solution. Ultimately, their solutions may succeed, or they may fail. And they may even get blamed if their solutions fail. When people are desperate and things start getting REAL (bad), it’s easy to point fingers at people trying to help.

So what is the alternative to daring greatly? Daring a little? Playing small? 😂 How would you like to be remembered by your employees, your customers, and the public after this is all over? Even if you stumble or fall flat on your face, I submit taking courageous, vulnerable action is the best course of action. We need leaders whose brave example we can follow.