Bravery Personified

I consider many people brave.  

But I know one person who consistently steps into the middle of a group of people with guns—and coolly, calmly negotiates until they lay their guns down.  

Her name is Erica Ford and to me, she personifies bravery.

She has devoted her life to reducing youth and community violence and fighting the scourge of guns on our streets. While the mass shootings dominate headlines, it’s the daily violence that occurs on the streets in major cities that Erica has dedicated her life to fighting.

As the founder of Life Camp, Erica has changed and saved countless lives—working block-by-block, day-by-day, to defuse dangerous situations and to convince young people to believe in themselves.

No one can exactly replicate Erica’s extraordinary leadership. But we all can learn something from Erica, and aspire to be like her: Braver and more courageous in our work and in our lives.

The psychologists Dr. Lisa Dungate and Jennifer Armstrong identify six types of courage: Physical, social, moral, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual.  

And here’s the thing: Not one of them is innate. All of them can be taught and learned—practiced and perfected. 

In our workplaces, especially as leaders, we need more of all the above: The bravery to take risks, despite the possibility of failure; to seek and share the truth, no matter how uncomfortable; to open our eyes and minds and hearts to others, not just despite but because of the fact we might expose ourselves to a view that challenges our own. 

Bravery is hard. Some traits of enlightened leadership—like empathy, diversity, and vulnerability—ultimately make other people feel safe and comfortable. But the very essence of bravery is being uncomfortable. It means you are afraid or hesitant to do something, but you do it anyway, because you know it’s right and necessary.

Physical bravery—of the variety Erica exhibits when she directly mediates conflicts—is the one with which we’re most familiar, but the first time I met Erica she gave a textbook lesson in moral and social bravery.

I was in a meeting in Manhattan with a group of well-intended business executives who had gathered to discuss gun violence. Then, in walks Erica, who looked around the table, and didn’t see any Black or brown faces. And she said, unequivocally, that you just can’t talk about solving gun violence if you aren’t talking with the people most hurt by it.

Erica owned the room that day, and got the attention of everyone it in it by reminding us all of a powerful lesson: The people most proximate to a crisis are almost always best positioned to identify the most effective solutions to that crisis.  

From where does Erica get her courage? She told me she credits her father, who lost his life fighting for our country in Vietnam; her mother, who raised her two young kids on her own; and her own experience, losing countless friends and neighbors to gun violence. Erica journeyed through a crucible to get where she is today and there is truly no one like her.

But every leader would benefit from striving more to be like her.

When I first joined Facebook, I remember being hesitant to speak up in meetings. I didn’t have an engineering or tech background, and there I was at a tech company built by engineers. What if I said something stupid? Would I lose the respect of my colleagues? Would I lose my job?

These questions nagged at me until I realized I just needed to be bold, in order to grow and to lead. I had to own my power—I had market knowledge and that was valuable. I didn’t have to be an engineer to be brave. It didn’t happen overnight, but I know trying to be braver has made me a better, more enlightened leader.

Is me—or you—speaking our mind in a meeting as brave as what Erica Ford does? Not even close. And maybe that’s the point. If Erica Ford can be that brave, then why can’t all of us be a little braver every day in everything we do?

I hope you’ll listen to our conversation—our latest installment of “Conversations with C”—and find as much inspiration in Erica’s mission and message as I do. 

And together, let’s lead lives like hers—defined by our courage and in service of the communities and teams of which we are part.