What does it mean to be brave?

Last week, I read a post on LinkedIn about being brave. And I've been thinking about it a lot.

Mainly, because it's a word that frequently comes out of my mouth.

"You should be brave"

"This idea's really brave"

What I'm now realising is that it's the wrong word.

Brave to most people involves taking some sort of risk, but if you are a start-up or scale-up brand that is competing in a cluttered and homogenous category, you have no option other than to be "brave".

You need to be "brave" and stand against the tropes of the category.

You need to be "brave" and stand up for what you believe in as a business.

You need to be "brave" and do the things that might not give you the short-term sale burst but will deliver the long-term impact for your business- and are seemingly impossible to quantify right now.

Being "brave" is foundational to any brand that wants to scale successfully.

Whist I don’t have the right word, this act of defiance- doing something against the grain is exactly what you must do.

And the next thing you might is how do do it?

Aside from giving me a call ;), it comes from knowing who you are as a brand, your DNA, what you stand for and where you sit in terms of the category and your competitors.

Anyone got any ideas for another word?