Ranjay Gulati

So you have all these people who really put themselves out there.

in the face of uncertainty.

So the puzzle then, the puzzle, the question really is, what is it that allows ordinary people to take bold action?

And into that question is rolled another question, can we learn to become bold or are we simply just born bold?

To which you say what?

To which I say what I looked at all these courageous people and I interviewed them and there was several hundred of them, most of them,

became courageous.

They had taught themselves to be courageous.

And then I discovered that they actually had strategies to deal with fear.

They tamed the fear.

They engaged with the fear.

They took action in spite of the fear.

I'll give you an example.

Brandon Say.

Brandon Say was a cashier at a dance hall in California.

And a gunman shows up.

He's already shot up another dance hall a few miles away.

And he shows up with an AK-47, I think it was.

And Brandon's fur, he's a pacifist, slightly built fellow.

And he's behind the door at the cashier window.