Last week, a CEO asked her team for feedback (and unleashed the new currency of growth).
The room went silent. Not the silence of agreement but the silence of fear. Everyone knew the truth. No one wanted to be the first to say it.
It was a moment that revealed a hard reality: we’ve built a culture where honesty is treated as a social crime.
And it reminded me of something my gardener Frank once told me while pruning roses:
“If I don’t cut them back, they’ll never bloom properly.”
Pruning looks harsh. It feels cruel.
Yet it’s the only way to unlock the beauty hidden inside.
That’s the paradox:
Discomfort and courage may sting in the moment,
but they are the new currency of growth.
The Business of Comfort vs. The Business of Courage
We’ve been sold a lie: that growth should be comfortable.
That transformation should feel like a spa day.
But look closer.
- Apple didn’t tell us our computer was fine.
- Nike didn’t tell us our couch was comfortable.
- Tesla didn’t reassure us about our gas guzzler.
They told us (sometimes painfully) that there was a better way.
And sometimes, we laughed at the vision.
Other times, we ignored the signs. Or we resisted change. Until we didn’t.
This is the blueprint of lasting impact:
Courage is the new currency of growth for brands, businesses, and leaders.
Daymond, Grant, Gary, and the Myth of Fear
Cardone calls fear a compass pointing us to the exact place we need to move.
Vaynerchuk calls it feedback, the reminder that we’re growing into new territory.
My friend, branding expert, and NY Times bestselling author Daymond John said, “If you aren’t living your dreams, then you’re living your fears.”
NY Times bestselling author Grant Cardone wrote, “It’s been said that FEAR stands for False Events Appearing Real, which aptly implies that most of what you’re afraid of doesn’t ever come to pass. Fear, for the most part, is provoked by emotions, not rational thinking. And in my humble estimation, emotions are wildly overrated – and the scapegoat many people use for their failure to act.”
NY Times bestselling author and serial entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk said, “You aren’t entitled to success.”
Courage isn’t about eliminating fear. It’s about being bigger and acting despite fear.
Either way, the message is the same: courage is never comfortable, but it’s always profitable. It’s the new currency of growth.
A Moment to Remember Courage
This is why I wrote, narrated, and created this video, entitled, Courage (turn your volume up):
Because somewhere along the way, we forgot what it was like to stand up, not with hate, not with blind rage, but with boldness, conviction, and love of truth.
As the video reminds us:
“When did we start getting so scared so easily? Forgetting what it was like to stand up for what was simply the decent thing to do… When did a punchline replace the ability and strength to stand up for what was right? Not the kind of right that blindly attacks anything different than us, but the kind of right that adds meaning and virtue to life, adds truth to facts, and adds beauty to motion and wisdom to knowledge.”
Courage isn’t reckless. It isn’t blind.
“Courage… it’s bold, it’s uncompromising, it’s alive. It’s who we were before we forgot.”
For leaders, entrepreneurs, and builders, this is the wake-up call:
Courage isn’t optional anymore. Courage is the new currency of growth.
The High Standards of Love
My mother once made me rewrite an essay seventeen times. Seventeen. I was eleven. I hated every second of it.
That essay won a national competition.
What she knew (and what too many leaders forget) is that real care looks like high standards, not endless validation.
The 3 Laws of the New Currency:
1. Love prunes. 2. Respect sharpens. 3. Courage cuts.
The CEO Who Bloomed
Remember that CEO who dared to ask for honest feedback? Six months later, her company posted its best quarter in a decade.
Turns out, roses aren’t the only things that bloom after pruning.
Her story is a reminder: the willingness to face discomfort, embrace feedback, and act with courage is the new currency of growth.
The Real Question
So the question is this:
Are you willing to trade validation for growth?
Are you brave enough to let discomfort do its work?
Are you prepared to let fear point you toward your next chapter?
Because the empire of comfortable lies is collapsing. And the only brands, leaders, and entrepreneurs who will thrive are the ones willing to be cut back so they can grow forward.
Growth isn’t a warm bath. It’s a pair of pruning shears.
And the sooner we accept that courage is the new currency of growth, the sooner we bloom.
Need help determining how your brand can elevate its level of courage?
Grab a copy of Rich Brand Poor Brand and let’s talk.
