Be bold or be boring

We have two kinds of brave people. One, the man who casually crosses a six-lane road while talking on the phone, blind to buses, rickshaws, and divine intervention. Two, the mid-level manager who sends a "gentle reminder" email to the boss twice in a week. Both are legends. However, when it comes to corporate courage, the kind that drives real change, challenges the status quo, and sometimes saves a sinking reputation, our bravery tends to vanish faster than the HR team when a salary revision discussion starts.

Harvard Business School's Ranjay Gulati argues in a recent article that courage is not a genetic gift but rather a muscle, which means that even your overly diplomatic department head, who takes two weeks to approve a file, could theoretically develop a spine.

Gulati's research, drawing on daring CEOs like Larry Fink, visionary leaders like Indra Nooyi, and even the heroes of the 2008 Taj Hotel terror attack, offers five strategies to become braver—not brash, not reckless, but bravely smart. And if you are in Bangladesh, where courage sometimes means saying "no" to an inflated tender or calling out a ghost employee, these lessons feel especially relevant.

Rewrite the script. Don't think of your job as another KPI-chasing, attendance sheet signing routine. Reimagine it as a moral mission. Is that compliance officer flagging political donations? He is not being "unnecessarily difficult", he's protecting democracy. That HR lady is refusing nepotism? She is preserving the genetic diversity of your company—narrative matters. Tell yourself you are part of something meaningful, and maybe, just maybe, you will stop ducking hard decisions.

Train like a corporate gladiator. Confidence doesn't fall from the sky; it comes from preparation. Want to challenge the MD's flawed budget? Understand it better than his finance team. Want to stand up to the supplier mafia? Learn negotiation tactics that don't end in you apologising for wanting transparency.

Embrace ambiguity. No, you won't have perfect information. Yes, your boss will probably send mixed signals. But brave leaders act anyway. They take one step, then another, pivoting, recalibrating. Think Google Maps in Dhaka. It may not know about the rickshaw jam, but it still shows a route.

Don't be a lone wolf. Courage is contagious. Get allies. Mentors. Even that brutally honest colleague who gives unsolicited feedback during lunch. You will need a support system when your bravery earns you passive-aggressive emails from senior management.

Stay calm. Bravery without balance leads to burnout. Rituals help, be it deep breathing, Fajr prayers, or screaming into a pillow after board meetings. Whatever works.

I have always considered myself a fairly brave soul, and for the most part, bravery has served me well in my career. I stood up, spoke out, took risks, and usually got rewarded. Except once. That's when I learned a valuable lesson: courage is great, but contextual courage is even better.

In short, courage isn't about chest-thumping like King Kong. It's about doing the right thing when it's inconvenient, unpopular, or risky. In corporate wilderness, where the safest path is often the silent one, maybe it's time we stopped celebrating survival and started rewarding courage. And who knows, your next brave act might just be replying to this article with a bold opinion. Go on. Be brave. Be legendary. Or stay cautious, and invisible.

The writer is the president of the Institute of Cost and  Management Accountants of Bangladesh and founder of BuildCon  Consultancies Ltd