Ranjay Gulati

And yes, it is true that some of our responses, the fight, flight, freeze response are automatic.

And fight is one of the three.

And somehow, sometimes, some things trigger us to fight because most of the time it is freeze or flee.

But I would submit to you that clearly she felt a sense of outrage.

And that while she may not have fully cognitively processed it and she may have experienced it as instinctive,

there was definitely a sense of outrage and a sense of empathy.

So empathy for the recipient we know makes us more likely to take action.

There are also conditions where nobody else is doing anything.

So you realize that you are the only recourse over here.

And so you choose to take action because of that.

But to me, what is also interesting is her recounting of this story.

When we have experiences like this, it's what we have also called mastery experiences.

It's what we learn that sometimes you learn by acting and then reflecting.

So some would argue you can't teach courage by telling people to be brave.

You teach it by helping them act and then reflect.

And when they act and reflect, they realize, oh, I did it.

I can do this.

And by the way, this is in alignment with who I am.

But I love the fact that she remembers the story because I think that story probably, I would hypothesize, really changed her forever.

It was a transformative experience for her.