Episode 40: Ryan Berman on Pursuing Courageous Change

We all want to be more courageous in our professional and personal lives. But how do we actually go about it? To answer this question, we're excited to share our interview with Ryan Berman. Ryan is a serial entrepreneur, having started several companies like Courage Brands and Sock Problems. He is also the author of a new book titled Return on Courage: A Business Playbook for Courageous Change. Ryan joined Adam on the podcast to speak about his story and how we can become more courageous—no matter our goals.

The conversation starts with Ryan explaining his "negative blessing" in getting fired from a great job in the advertising world (01:50 - 06:43) and how he started learning and embracing his new life as an entrepreneur (06:44 - 10:09). He then provides advice for would-be entrepreneurs who want to take the leap, but are afraid to do so (10:10 - 14:55) and his process when he started his entrepreneurial journey (14:56 - 17:26). The discussion then turns to Return on Courage, specifically how he pitched courageous individuals to help him with his book (17:27 - 20:25), what "return on courage" is (20:26 - 23:51), and some companies that exemplify return on courage, including Domino's Pizza and Nike (23:52 - 28:28). Ryan then explains his five-step process (called "PRICE") to build up our Central Courage System (28:29 - 30:46), including how young listeners can help their organizations become more courageous (30:47 - 34:44). Ryan and Adam wrap up the conversation with a discussion about how we can help our companies confront their weaknesses or vulnerabilities (34:45 - 36:52), what we can think about when persuading someone to buy or product or service (36:53 - 38:46), and the one thing listeners should do right now to become more courageous (38:47 - 40:52).

For show notes and a transcript of this episode, click here.