I WENT TO HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL in the late 80s. We were taught that leaders were strong and decisive. That they dressed and spoke with confidence and knew how to work a room to achieve their goals. We were taught to be rigorous with our analysis and to always deliver on our commitments. We learned how to navigate financial statements and organizational charts and marketing plans. I remember so many cases and courses and discussions about how to be successful, but I don’t remember a single conversation about how or why I might need to be brave.
With the perspective of time, however, I see that many of my best moments as an employee and as a leader involved courage. Courage required me to push beyond my comfort zone – taking an assignment I wasn’t fully prepared for, or deviating from the typical linear career path. Stepping away from a cushy headquarters job to go out to the field and sell. Moving my family across the country for a radical career change. Letting go of a high-performing employee who was creating a toxic work environment. These decisions all took courage. And while they didn’t all go as planned, each brave decision showed me the value of navigating by my own success criteria and not by conventional wisdom.
Sometimes bravery involved speaking truth to power, which was especially challenging as a female leader in male-dominated situations.
Many times bravery involved how I showed up for my team. Learning the paradox of confidence and humility required me to admit when I didn’t know the answer or had made a mistake. Learning that great teams happen when I hire people who are better than me, not people I can control. Having the difficult conversations that require both radical candor and care when someone isn’t performing or is in the wrong job.
It’s hard work to be a brave leader. I have failed more times than I have succeeded. It’s so much easier to retreat behind your spreadsheet than to dive into the messy, difficult business of people’s hearts. In fact, early in my career I took a Myers-Briggs personality assessment that pegged me as a natural Feeler (F) who had trained herself to be a Thinker (T). The coach counseled that that’s a difficult place to be – to know that many work situations require you to lead with objectivity and rationality, and to prioritize logic over emotions, while at heart being deeply empathetic to the human factors involved in decisions. At the time I dismissed her comments and took pride in the fact that I had learned to shape myself in the mold of the more typical business leader.
Now I see it differently. The world needs brave leaders who understand that bringing their heart to work doesn’t mean they’re weak, or don’t care about results, or don’t have what it takes to make tough decisions.
As Moe points out, “People are what make companies great,” and employees today have more choices than ever – f they don’t like their boss or their work environment, they’ll leave to find another. And even if they don’t leave, they surely won’t give their full effort to an employer that they see as unaware or unempathetic to the realities of life’s messiness. As leaders, how do we create an environment where employees can thrive and contribute fully to the success of their organizations?
Simply put, we must commit to creating the conditions that allow employees to bring their best selves to work. We can pursue what Moe calls Bravespace workplaces. For the young manager this might mean taking the time to get to know her direct reports and being honest about her own limitations and fears. (I still remember how demoralized I was by a first-time boss who felt that she needed to assert her power by micromanaging me, even though she only had one more year of experience than me.) For the head of a department, it might mean actively creating a shared sense of purpose by thinking as deeply about the team dynamics as he does about managing each individual. For an executive it might mean boldly pursuing policies such as flexible work hours or paternity leave to help reduce employees’ stress stemming from family commitments.
As leaders, we each have the opportunity and responsibility to show up with courage and conviction. We each have the opportunity to develop both the heart and the head that we bring to our work.
When I reflect on the leaders who have drawn out my best work, I realize that they’re the ones who have shown me that I was seen and cared for. They didn’t shy away from giving me tough feedback, and they certainly didn’t accept shoddy efforts or poor results. But those actions aren’t the ones that carried the biggest impact. What I hold sacred is the memory of the boss who flew across the country to attend my Dad’s funeral. The boss who bought me a bottle of champagne when I completed a particularly onerous project. The boss who said yes to a part-time arrangement when I wanted to help my husband start a business. These actions brought out my best self. These leaders taught me to be brave.
I am fortunate that what I didn’t learn about courage and heart from business school I was able to learn from these wise bosses and from my own successes and failures. But I so wish I had had Moe’s book.
I’m envious of the young manager about to dive into the pages ahead. You can learn so much that will positively impact you and the people you’ll go on to lead. I feel kinship with those of you of my vintage. Our age frees us from some of the fears about our own careers and gives us the opportunity to speak up about what we believe to be right.
Moe’s book gives us data and techniques that we can use to positively change broken systems.
Together we can change workplaces and make them actually work for the people who inhabit them. Together we can create the bravespaces that will improve our businesses, our communities, and the world.
Cammie Dunaway
CMO, Duolingo