I remember the first flight I took from New York after 9/11.

For days, no planes had left the city. When they finally did, air marshals watched every aisle. The flight crew's faces held something I couldn't quite name — a combination of tension and resolve. When we landed safely, they hugged each other. That image has stayed with me for years. Not because it was dramatic, but because it was so human.

We tend to think of courage as something reserved for the extraordinary: Firefighters running into burning buildings, soldiers deployed overseas, pilots making emergency landings. But in my 20 years of working with leaders and organizations, I've come to believe that the most consequential acts of courage rarely look heroic. They happen in conference rooms. In one-on-ones. In the small decisions we make, every day, about whether to say the true thing or the safe thing.

I call this Everyday Courage. And I've become convinced it's the most underrated variable in organizational culture.

Why Organizations Drain Courage

Here's what I see happen, reliably, in organizations: Someone has an idea. They're genuinely excited about it. They believe it will help a colleague, their team, or the organization. They share it. And then something happens — a dismissal in a meeting, an unreturned email, a subtle shift in the room — and they learn that trying to make a difference has a cost.

We're wired to learn from pain. If stepping up gets you quietly penalized, your nervous system takes note. Over time, the lesson becomes: Don't try. Show up, do the work, but stop caring about whether it could be better. This is how talented, well-intentioned people check out. Not in one dramatic moment, but in a thousand small retreats.

The organizations I've worked with that struggle most with engagement don't usually have a strategy problem. They have a courage problem. Leaders who've learned to manage rather than lead. Employees who've learned to comply rather than contribute. And a culture that's quietly teaching everyone to play it safe.

What Everyday Courage Actually Looks Like

Everyday Courage isn't about grand gestures. It's about the willingness to do the harder thing in ordinary moments. A few examples from client work:

  • A director who says, in a leadership team meeting, 'I think we're solving the wrong problem' — when everyone else has already moved on to implementation.
  • A VP who takes ownership of a team failure publicly, before anyone asks them to.
  • An employee who tells their manager what they actually need to do their best work — not what they think the manager wants to hear.
  • A senior leader who asks their team, 'Where am I getting in your way?' and genuinely waits for the answer.

None of these are heroic. All of them are rare. And in my experience, each of them changes something in the culture around them.

The Courage It Takes to Give Credit

One of the most underappreciated acts of Everyday Courage is giving credit — to yourself and to others — for trying. Not for succeeding. For trying.

In organizations where psychological safety is low, people learn to stay quiet about their efforts when those efforts don't work out. If it didn't land, you don't mention it. This creates a culture where risk-taking is invisible and, over time, where risk-taking stops.

One of the practices I introduce in leadership development programs is what I call 'naming the attempt.' When a team member tries something that doesn't work, the leader names it explicitly: 'I want to acknowledge that you tried something new here. That matters.’ It sounds simple, but the impact is profound.  

Building Cultures Where Courage Is Possible

As a director or VP, you don't create culture by decree. You create it by what you model, what you reward, and what you let slide. A few practices that have made a difference in the organizations I've partnered with:

  • Go first. Share something genuine in a team meeting before you ask others to. Not a rehearsed vulnerability, but a real one. The room takes its cue from you.
  • Respond well to bad news. The single greatest predictor of whether people will tell you the truth is what happened the last time they did. If honesty was punished, they won't try again.
  • Make it safe to push back. Invite disagreement explicitly. 'What am I missing?' is one of the most powerful questions a leader can ask.
  • Narrate the courage you see. When someone on your team does something that took guts — says the hard thing, tries something new, admits they don't know — name it. Out loud and in the moment.

The culture you want — one where people bring their whole selves, speak honestly, and take ownership — is built one courageous act at a time. Starting with yours.

Looking for a partner to help you build, and sustain, your desired culture? Get in touch with our team.  

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