Drawing on Courage by Ashish Goel

DRAWING ON COURAGE by Ashish Goel is part of a series produced in conjunction by Stanford d.school.  This title deals with “Risks Worth Taking and Stands Worth Making.” I was happily surprised to see a teacher reading this as preparation for work that we are doing on a new Innovation Hub at school. Goel, a designer, entrepreneur, and former teaching fellow, begins with the difference between epic and everyday courage and then explains the four potential “stops” of every courage journey: fear, values, action, and change. Goel offers suggested exercises (e.g., design a mantra or slogan) and says, “Courage is when you use your wisdom to know what matters to you and you use your bravery to act in spite of the risks.” Imagine how interesting it would be to work through this text with a small group of colleagues. DRAWING ON COURAGE is a relatively quick read, full of comic drawings, and helpful in terms of motivation, risk-taking, and re-framing. Related texts include Creative Acts for Curious People and Taking Charge of Change.