A few days ago I was on the phone with one of our amazing clients. He’s in the process of launching a new business and BrightSpot has the honor of walking beside him through the process. As we chatted, I was struck by his honesty and vulnerability as he described the roller coaster ride that starting a business is. I also noted how brave he is…to put an idea out there, plan it, launch it…to get other people to buy in and then DEPEND on you to make it happen. He’s truly courageous. Then he said something that I’ve been mulling over since we hung up. He said, “I love working with you guys because you get it. And you’re walking with me through it now.”
A few days before this conversation I experienced a loss in my life. In the middle, my two very best friends (one of them happens to be Amy…yes, you CAN be friends with your business partner!), acknowledged my bravery. I didn’t feel brave at the time. I felt like a mess. I’ve come to realize what they were really saying is, “we’re here for you, and when you’re courage falls short, we’ll be brave for you.”
We love bravery at BrightSpot. We love when clients call us because they need someone to ride the roller coaster with them. And we’re committed to brave for each other–in fact, it’s one of our core values! And the more we talk about, view, and experience bravery in our personal lives and in our work, the more I’m seeing that there is a reciprocity to being brave. When you are brave, others around you are inspired to be brave. When you are around brave and courageous people, you are inspired to be brave.
And that’s why being brave matters.
BrightSpot has the very amazing privilege of working with some of the most courageous clients. They invite us to journey with them through what they are doing with their lives. It inspires me to be brave. And I hope BrightSpot inspires them, too.
One of my favorite authors, Katherine Center, wrote, “You have to brave with your life so that others can be brave with theirs.”
So, be brave. Not just for yourself, but because it is a generous gift that will inspire bravery in others around you.