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From ancient myths to modern news reports, people have consistently praised courage. It is widely regarded as a noble and essential human quality. The Greek philosopher Aristotle believed that significant achievements were impossible without it. However, the true meaning of courage is often more complex than it appears. It manifests in everyday settings, such as classrooms or stores, in ways that are not always obvious. On April 1, 2026, the publication The Conversation hosted an online webinar to examine this important trait. The discussion featured Greg Crawford, the president of Miami University, and Cynthia Pury, a psychology professor at Clemson University. They explored various definitions of courage, methods for developing it, and the value of taking calculated risks.
Crawford has utilized his positions in higher education to promote student entrepreneurship, innovative research, and business projects at Brown University, the University of Notre Dame, and Miami University. Pury has served as a consultant on courage for organizations in the United States and abroad. The following is an edited summary of their conversation regarding the nature and development of bravery.
Greg Crawford: I believe courage consists of three key components: taking smart risks, accepting the possibility of failure, and then actually taking action. Sometimes, it means adhering to your principles even when it is difficult, because those principles are connected to a larger goal. As the writer Maya Angelou stated, "Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can’t practice any other virtue consistently."
The first component is having a clear purpose. Courage is not merely any action; it is action directed toward something meaningful. The second component involves having a realistic assessment of the risk. You should neither downplay nor exaggerate the danger. Instead, you must try to understand the possible outcomes in a balanced way. Finally, courage requires being willing to act even when you feel afraid. We make these choices based on determination. Fear is always present when someone acts with courage, but it does not stop the action.
Cynthia Pury: The answer is both yes and no. We can even observe signs of boldness in animals. A few years ago, I watched my cats investigate our new home. They were obviously scared, yet they explored anyway. It is hard to believe they learned to do that. We see similar traits in other animals as well.
My research suggests that courage comes from how a person judges a situation's goals and risks. Some goals, like saving a life, make it easier for most people to act bravely. Other goals can be more personal, such as my own strong interest in theater.
Similarly, some risks are understood universally. Fire is dangerous to all people; anyone can get burned. This is one reason firefighters are almost always seen as heroes without question. Professor Robin Kowalski and I call this "monumental courage."
We also see cases where people have personal fears or weaknesses that others might not know about. One of the bravest acts I have ever witnessed was by a former patient of mine. He was wrapping a Christmas gift for his child. This man had experienced severe trauma during wartime holidays and had never given his child a present before. He wanted to do it very much, but wrapping the gift brought back awful memories. Knowing he had post-traumatic stress disorder, this was an extremely courageous thing to do. In everyday life, people often talk about acts of courage that are specific to their own lives or that show a kind of personal bravery.
Greg Crawford: When I was at Notre Dame, I helped raise money for research on a rare disease called Niemann-Pick Type C. The research center reported to me, but as a physicist, I could not perform the genetic and protein studies myself. I still wanted to help, so I decided to ride a bicycle across the United States to raise money for the Ara Parseghian Medical Research Foundation. People asked how I trained for such a long ride. The truth is, I never fully trained. I simply had the courage to start and to get into shape during the trip itself.
My advice is that you will take on leadership roles and jobs for which you may never feel completely ready, because situations change fast. You need the courage to adapt and build confidence as you go.
Earlier in my career, I noted that my success rate for getting research grants was about 20 to 30 percent. Someone asked if that meant I wasted 70 percent of my time. I said absolutely not, because I spend 100 percent of my time developing courage. Sometimes you must try things over and over. You keep pushing, and a failure or mistake can lead to a big discovery later. There is an element of courage in continuing to learn, improve, and move forward after a failure until you finally succeed.
Cynthia Pury: Failure is linked to how we perceive a brave act more than people realize. If you move to a different part of the country for a dream job, but the company goes out of business when you get there, you are less likely to look back and call your move courageous.
Consider the Carnegie Medal for heroism. It has usually been given for acts of physical bravery where the rescuer dies and the person they saved lives. It has never once been awarded when the rescuer lived and the victim died. I find that very surprising.
In my studies, people describe a courageous act as something that made a situation better, not worse. When they try something and fail, they usually do not call their own action courageous. Even people who say success does not matter still tend to see failed actions as less brave, just like everyone else. This is an important thing to understand. The outcome heavily influences whether an act is labeled as courageous.
Greg Crawford: It is very important to treat disagreement as a normal part of any process. When you can handle different opinions, you can develop ideas more successfully. Criticism can be positive. Some would call it a gift that requires the courage either to disagree or to be open to being influenced and changing your mind.
In leadership, you face criticism all the time. It takes courage to accept it without getting defensive. It also takes courage to look for solutions, admit when someone else has a good point, and keep moving forward. Listening to opposing views without hostility is a form of bravery that strengthens decision-making.
Cynthia Pury: I doubt how much of what we call political courage involves people who truly have different beliefs about what is right in a specific case. Is this the right issue to take a stand on, even if it ends your political career? Or is it more courageous to let this issue go and be available for the next important fight?
I also wonder how much political talk about courage is just people showing others what they believe. Having the humility to listen to the other side seems to be a key virtue that is often missing. True political courage may not always be about making a loud stand, but about knowing when to engage and when to preserve energy for more critical battles. It requires a nuanced understanding of both risk and principle.