Alex Budak is a social entrepreneur, bestselling author of “Becoming a Changemaker,” and an award‑winning faculty member at UC Berkeley, where he teaches at the Haas School of Business and the School of Public Health and leads executive education on changemaking and leadership. He co-founded StartSomeGood.com, a platform that has helped people in over 50 countries raise funding for new change initiatives, and his work focuses on helping people cultivate courage, spark change, and make an impact in everyday contexts.

In August 2025, Budak published “6 Ways to Practice Everyday Courage” in Harvard Business Review, arguing that courage isn’t a one‑off act of heroism but a muscle built through consistent, values‑aligned actions amid doubt, risk, or fear. He outlines six forms of everyday courage—moral, social, emotional, intellectual, creative, and physical—and provides definitions, examples, and day‑one practices for each to help leaders translate courage into practical behavior in high‑pressure environments.

Why Everyday Courage Matters for Founders

Entrepreneurs run on uncertainty, speed, and scrutiny—conditions that amplify ethical dilemmas, decision risk, and culture‑setting moments, making daily courageous behaviour a strategic advantage. Budak’s framework equips founders to make principled choices, learn faster, and build trust in ways that competitors can’t easily copy.

The Six Types of Everyday Courage — Founder Playbook

1) Moral Courage: Hold the line on values when the runway is short

• What it is: Acting on principles despite looming danger and likely backlash, echoing Rushworth Kidder’s conditions of principle, danger, and stamina.
• Founder moves:
  • Pre‑commit “non‑negotiables” (e.g., data privacy, fair labour) into if/then rules so pressure doesn’t erode values (“If a deal requires compromising user consent, then we decline”).
  • Build a values memo for employees and investors explaining trade‑offs the company will and won’t make during scarcity.

Day‑one practice: Identify top three values and translate them into observable behaviour, then codify them in decision checklists for partnerships, pricing, and data use.

2) Social Courage: Invite dissent—especially from lower‑power voices

• What it is: Speaking up and making space for unpopular views despite reputational or relational risk.
• Founder moves:
  • Add a rotating “Red Team” section to product reviews and board pre‑reads to challenge assumptions without penalty.
  • Normalize dissent by explicitly asking, “Who sees this differently?” and rewarding principled pushback in performance reviews.

Day‑one practice: Assign a contrarian for major decisions and track when dissent changes outcomes to signal it’s valued.

3) Emotional Courage: Stay present and own the hard news

• What it is: The willingness to feel and name discomfort and act in a grounded, appropriate way that builds trust, not performative oversharing.
• Founder moves:
  • Deliver layoffs, rollbacks, and tough updates personally; take responsibility, avoid defensiveness, and communicate the why and the next steps.
  • Before tense conversations, write down key emotions; name one succinctly and pair it with accountability and a concrete plan.

Day‑one practice: Use Budak‑aligned guidance to be honest without “floodlighting” (oversharing), focusing on clarity and accountability.

4) Intellectual Courage: Rethink cherished assumptions in public

• What it is: Questioning one’s logic, admitting what’s not known, and inviting better ideas to emerge, strengthening psychological safety and learning.
• Founder moves:
  • When data contradicts the thesis (e.g., retention, CAC payback), say so and convene a focused strategy review rather than doubling down to save face.
  • Model rethinking with prompts: “Here’s my logic—what am I missing?” to detach identity from ideas.

Day‑one practice: Include a “Kill the Idea” slide in strategy and fundraising memos with explicit conditions that would invalidate the plan.

5) Creative Courage: Ship bold bets with small, smart stakes

• What it is: Imagining alternative futures and testing unconventional ideas with the expectation that some will fail, while creating conditions for creativity to compound.
• Founder moves:
  • Time‑box a 30‑day pilot for a radical pricing model or packaging shift in one micro‑segment to learn fast without existential risk.
  • Close each week with “What did we try that didn’t work, and what did we learn?” to normalize intelligent risk‑taking.

Day‑one practice: Run short divergent‑thinking drills (“bad ideas,” “impossible ideas,” “reverse ideas”) to expand solution space before converging.

6) Physical Courage: Show up where the real work and risk are

• What it is: Acting despite physical discomfort or risk to signal solidarity and learn first‑hand, which builds trust and better judgment.
• Founder moves:
  • Be present during incidents, surges, or supplier crises; visit warehouses, ride along on support shifts, and meet frontline teams in tough conditions.
  • Schedule recurring, agenda‑free field time to keep proximity a habit rather than a photo op.

Day‑one practice: Train the “discomfort muscle” by intentionally entering difficult rooms and conversations, increasing presence under pressure.

How to Operationalize Courage as a Merchant

Here are some examples of how to apply this knowledge.

Moral Courage

• Ethical Sourcing and Production: A Shopify merchant can demonstrate moral courage by choosing suppliers who use ethical and sustainable practices, even if it means higher costs. This can be a powerful part of a brand's story and attract customers who share those values.
• Transparent Pricing and Marketing: Resisting the temptation to use deceptive marketing tactics like inflated "original" prices or fake scarcity timers builds long-term trust with customers.

Social Courage

• Encouraging Customer Feedback: Instead of fearing negative reviews, a merchant with social courage actively encourages and listens to all feedback. This can be done through post-purchase email surveys, and by responding professionally and constructively to public reviews. This shows a commitment to improvement and customer satisfaction.
• A/B Testing and Challenging Assumptions: A merchant can create a "Red Team" for their marketing campaigns by running A/B tests on their product pages, email subject lines, and ad copy. This allows data, rather than just intuition, to challenge their assumptions about what works best.

Emotional Courage

• Handling Customer Complaints with Empathy: When a customer has a problem, it's easy to get defensive. Emotional courage means listening to their concerns, acknowledging their frustration, and working towards a fair solution. This can turn a negative experience into a positive one and create a loyal customer.
• Owning Up to Mistakes: If there's a shipping delay or a product defect, a merchant with emotional courage will communicate proactively and honestly with affected customers. A simple, "We made a mistake, and here's how we're fixing it," is far more effective than silence.

Intellectual Courage

• Exploring New Sales Channels and Marketing Strategies: The e-commerce landscape is always changing. Intellectual courage is about being willing to question what's worked in the past and experiment with new platforms like TikTok, influencer marketing, or SMS marketing, even if it means learning a new skill.
• Questioning Your Product Line: A merchant might have a product they're personally attached to, but if the sales data shows it's not performing well, intellectual courage is needed to discontinue it and focus on what's selling.

Creative Courage

• Launching a Niche Product: A merchant with creative courage might launch a product they're passionate about, even if it doesn't have a huge, established market. They can use their Shopify store to test the waters with a small batch or a pre-order campaign to gauge interest before investing heavily.
• Experimenting with Branding: Taking a risk on a bold new brand identity, a unique website design, or a creative marketing campaign can help a Shopify store stand out in a crowded market.

Physical Courage

• In-Person Markets and Pop-Ups: For an online-only business, showing up at local markets or opening a temporary pop-up shop is an act of physical courage. It's a chance to meet customers face-to-face, get direct feedback, and build a stronger community around the brand.
• Getting Your Hands Dirty: Especially in the early days, a Shopify merchant shows physical courage by being directly involved in the less glamorous parts of the business, like packing orders during a holiday rush or doing a stocktake in the warehouse. This demonstrates a commitment to the business and a willingness to lead by example.

By transforming courage from a heroic ideal into daily, teachable practices, merchants can make better bets sooner—and bring teams, customers, and investors with them through inevitable uncertainty.