Intellectual Bravery: You Vs Doing Right

Albert Einstein said, “Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage – to move in the opposite direction.”

We see every day where businesses failed due to a lack of innovation. What makes a business come up and implement new ideas? I see it all points back to lack of intellectual bravery. Today, intellectual bravery is rising as one of the key values required for effective leadership and to foster the culture of change and innovation. My views and insights on the role of intellectual bravery as well as ways to create intellectual bravery on the teams.

Lack of intellectual bravery makes organisations suffer from wilful blindness

What is Intellectual Bravery?

Intellectual bravery is a skill and a balanced art for leaders. It is the tendency or courage to express disagreement, reservation, or dissension, and challenge the status quo. Lack of intellectual bravery makes organisations suffer from wilful blindness as in such culture, bureaucracy flourishes, efficiency prevails, the status quo is strengthened and stagnation becomes a norm; all result in vanished boldness and creativity. 

Why Intellectual Bravery?

Intellectual bravery is the fundamental requirement to implement something new that adds value not only to the organisation but also to its people. Since it is something new, it looks unusual, strange, and different, and in turn, faces resistance and opposition.

An effective leader’s role also revolves around developing a culture of intellectual bravery as this culture lets the leader set the tone, develop the vibe, and define the usual norms. Whether or not the business has a culture of intellectual bravery is based on the leader’s ability to set forth a pattern of rewarded instead of punished vulnerability. Here is what these are:

Punished Vulnerability

Let's take into account a case of a software development project team. Despite every team member having a good individual performance record, the project was behind schedule, exceeding cost, and not progressive. This led to frustration and anxiety among team members. The project leader decided on a specific user experience framework to work upon and discarded the team members' opinions. When the decided strategy didn't work out, the leader blamed the team, which caused the team members to retreat into pain avoidance, risk management, and loss prevention. The leader didn't inspire the team and thus faced with disengagement, and a lack of critical thinking from his team.

Rewarded Vulnerability

Now let's consider the case of another software development team, faced with a near deadline and was under pressure to work 24/7. However, the team members were exhibiting energy and enthusiasm regardless of the power and hierarchy. They were discussing everything; suggestion, mistake, progress, problem, with the leader. The degree of psychological safety in the room resulted in the personal exposure needed to challenge the status quo. They engaged in small and big acts of vulnerability with no fear of retaliation. That’s because they were allowed to “disagree”. The best part was the team's ability to keep creative abrasion and positive dissent without falling under debilitating tension, silence, or personal attacks. The leader rewarded the team with permission to engage in acts of vulnerability, which became the norm.

The difference

The case of rewarded vulnerability showed the leader's ability to create protection and comfort for team members to help them naturally engage in risk identification while interacting at the workplace. Employees, when seeing that other employees are being marginalised, embarrassed, or punished based on their position, gender or another factors, they decide whether to be vulnerable or not.

How to Create Intellectual Bravery on the Teams?

1.    Leave the “Fear” button

Don't create fear among your team members as creating fear cuts off the conversation, curtails opinions, and discourages creativity and interest. Fear lets people self-censor and retreat into silence.

2.    Allow dissent

Allowing the team member to challenge a course of action or determine mistakes in the proposed decision, you replace his risk with institutional permission. This makes intellectual bravery penetrates the culture to become a norm instead of an exception.

3.    Let employees see the big picture

Encourage employees to think beyond their defined roles. Let them come out of their tactical and functional silos and indulge in divergent thinking.

4.    Appreciate disruptive ideas and unfavourable news

The emotional response towards a disruptive idea or bad news must always be positively expressed via body language and non-verbal cues. This may include smiling and nodding. This signifies your high tolerance and will protect your people in their right to dissent.

5.    Explain your “rejection” decision

Explaining why you rejected a team member’s input or idea will still keep the person motivated to give feedback in the future.

The Final Thoughts

Intellectual bravery is an art; based on encouraging psychological safety in the minds of the people; which is not easy. An intellectually brave leader can lead the vision and set strategy to foster a culture where employees are allowed to disagree or find a flaw. That’s how only a culture of intellectual bravery and in turn, a culture of innovation, can be achieved.