After last week’s blog—about the elephant in the room—the words to Sarah Bareilles’s song “Brave” kept running through my head, specifically this verse:

Say what you wanna say
And let the words fall out
Honestly I wanna see you be brave
With what you want to say
And let the words fall out
Honestly I wanna see you be brave

The tune is great and the message is clear: whether it’s in the boardroom or over the backyard fence – don’t be afraid to speak your mind or deal with those tricky and/or testy elephant issues that might be indelicate, uncomfortable or hard to express. It’s necessary!

Eventually someone has to do it or else the business and the business at hand will lose credibility and possibly a lot more.

Sarah also sings that:

You can be amazing
You can turn a phrase into a weapon or a drug
You can be the outcast
Or be the backlash of somebody’s lack of love
Or you can start speaking up

So alerting you with apologies in advance for a potential earworm, go ahead and give “Brave” a listen:

It’s an amazing song with an amazing message. The creative tension and innovation brought about by creative conflict is real and worthwhile.

As I said last week, ignoring a problem never makes it go away—so speak up, sing the song, say the difficult words that need to be said!

Image: Sarah Bareilles by Burns! via Flickr cc