Courage and Beginning Again
In a world transformed by AI and uncertainty, courage means stepping forward without knowing where the path will lead.
We are living in an age of unprecedented disruption. Artificial intelligence, automation, and rapidly changing technology are rewriting the rules of work, creativity, and even human identity and connection. For many, the uncertainty is deeply unsettling. Will my skills still matter? Will my voice still be heard? Will my experience still count? Beneath these questions lies a deeper fear—that we may need to begin again, to start over in a world that no longer looks like the one we built our lives around or prepared ourselves for. And that takes courage.
Author and researcher Brené Brown recently said in an interview with Kara Swisher, “If you know how something is going to turn out, that’s not courage.” Her words remind us that courage and vulnerability are inseparable twins. We can’t be brave without first being uncertain, exposed, and at risk of failure. Beginning again—whether it’s adapting to the rise of AI, changing careers, or reinventing ourselves after setback—means stepping into a story whose ending we can’t predict. It means standing in the fog and trusting that we’ll find our way as we move forward.
The courage to begin again is, at its heart, an act of vulnerability. It’s admitting that the path we’ve been walking may not lead to where we thought it would. It’s acknowledging that yesterday’s expertise may not be enough for tomorrow. That’s a hard truth for anyone who’s built a career, a reputation, or even a sense of identity around mastery. Yet vulnerability opens the door to growth—it’s the willingness to learn, to fail, to adapt, and to see opportunities where others see obstacles.
In my book Large and In Charge No More: A Journey to Vulnerable Leadership, I argue that leadership today is less about control and more about curiosity. The same principle applies to each of us as individuals. As AI reshapes our world, the most valuable skill we can cultivate isn’t technical expertise—it’s human resilience and the ability to adapt. Machines can process data, but they can’t feel doubt, hope, or compassion. They can’t summon the courage to begin again. Only we can.
So, if you find yourself anxious about the future, remember this: beginnings are rarely comfortable, but they’re often where our best selves emerge. Vulnerability isn’t the end of confidence—it’s the birthplace of it. Each of us, in our own way, will be asked to begin again in this emerging new era. Let’s do so not with fear, but with faith—in ourselves, in one another, and in our capacity to grow.
One concept I find fascinating (and scary) is how AI is essentially eliminating and engineering away all friction from the human experience. Friction of all kinds that is essential for cognitive growth, critical thinking, the productive confusion of not knowing, and the critical importance of sitting with difficulty and overcoming it. It seems it is exactly this friction in life that creates courage. By reaching for the instant answers, or the summary instead of the story, by offloading our decision-making, we are slowly cutting ties with all that keeps us curious, keeps us learning and reflecting. We end up skimming life, And as a result our brains may slowly compress and we may become uninteresting, unmotivated, and unwilling to solve problems and rise to the occasion. If AI is doing everything and solving everything, then what are we doing? What is our meaning? Will we even need meaning? AI is convincing people they can’t do the things they’ve been doing on their own for years: write an email, draft a letter, be creative, overcome hardships…so perhaps that’s why courage is more important than ever.