Episode 35

Jim Detert: Cultivating your courage

Available on these channels and more

You feel there’s something important to say at work. An idea that could make a big difference. Or a behaviour that’s not good. But you’re not sure whether you should because there isn’t enough psychological safety. Perhaps there’s toxicity in the culture or a strong, prevailing way of doing things. You calling something out might be risky to your standing and your career. What does it take to be courageous, to speak up about something important? What strategies and tactics can you use?

Professor Jim Detert is one of the world’s leading authorities on what it takes to be courageous and ethical at work and has the answers to these questions and plenty more!

In this podcast, find out:

  • How much organisational context and performance influences how courageous you are.
  • About the impact of not speaking up.
  • How the shift to hybrid workplaces influences how courageous we are.
  • What stops people taking action.
  • How to take your first steps in being more courageous.
  • What it takes to stay curious.
  • How to be courageous with competence.

And, as ever, Jim shares his own habits for high performance and the impact he wants to have on the world.

The best bits of these conversations are captured in my newsletter Flashes+Sparks.

More about Jim

Jim is the John L. Colley Professor of Business Administration at the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration and Professor of Public Policy at the Batten School of Leadership & Public Policy, both at the University of Virginia.

His writing on workplace courage and related topics is grounded in decades of formal research and brought to life based on the intimate portraits of leaders and ordinary people he’s come to know personally.

Jim thrives on empowering people to have difficult conversations, engage rather than avoid challenging situations, and competently embrace other opportunities for courageous action in their own lives and workplaces.

Find out more about Jim, his research and his book Choosing Courage: The Everyday Guide to Being Brave at Work

“What things would we discuss if we decided that the undiscussables now needed to be discussed, rather than be undiscussable?”

Jim Detert, Professor, Darden School of Business, and author of Choosing Courage

VIEW RUNNING ORDER

00.00 Courage in hybrid workplaces.
02.30 The context for courage.
05.35 Organisational performance.
09.55 The impact of not speaking up.
18.25 What stops people taking action.
22.45 Taking your first steps.
27.00 Staying curious.
31.15 Microaggressions.
37.20 Being courageous with competence.
42.00 Jim’s impact.
44.11 Performance habits.
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