Return on Courage

Ryan Berman, now a consultant, found his personal courage after he was fired from an advertising job he had held for six years. He opened his own advertising firm to great success. Berman attributes much of his good fortune to having had the courage to take calculated risks and to change quickly when required. Most people resist taking risks, he says, but anyone can learn to act courageously through practice and training. Courage comes through preparation. When you study an issue, build up your knowledge, ask questions and experiment before committing, you display what Berman calls "business courage." His arguments for courage as a competency add to the business genre, yet he also dips into platitudes and familiar advice. Most businesspeople will benefit from his thesis that employees can learn to take sound risks and embrace change if their leaders encourage them to be courageous participants rather than conforming ciphers.