This story originally appeared on Elevate

Some people think I’m brave. I’ve lived and worked all over the world and regularly speak in front of hundreds of people, so it has to be, right? No. For whatever reason, I don’t find that scary, and courage is the ability to do something that scares you. What would To take courage is to jump out of a plane for me. So I don’t. And I’m comfortable with that, because let’s face it, there’s little benefit in falling through the air.

One thing most people find frightening is speaking up when faced with decisions or actions they disagree with. And that makes sense: a lot of the stories we hear people speaking end up with the individual facing some sort of negative outcome, including, in extreme cases, being banned. Few movies or books have been written about employees pointing out a problem and being immediately thanked and rewarded for it, and yet they do – and more often than you might think. When people speak up effectively, they can discover that they not only survive, but survive thrive.