Care and Dare

“Care” and “Dare”

May the force be with you…

Daring to be yourself, expressing your ideas and convictions without fear of judgement or disagreement, daring to embark on a project, taking risks for a just cause, following your instincts and values, daring to ‘do things differently’ if the norm no longer suits you, acting with authenticity and responsibility.

But also because we often contrast this masculine energy of courage and action with that of ‘care’, a feminine energy that is gentle and focused on others.

So today I ask the question: are these two attitudes contradictory, on the one hand, and influenced by our gender, on the other?

Are you team ‘dare’ or team ‘care’?

But ultimately… do you need to make a choice?

If my last newsletter aimed to tell you that, no, care ‘is not a chick thing!’, today I would like to tell you that no, ‘dare’ is not a man thing or a cojones thing (literally)! And I ask you: why shouldn’t we be able to embody both?

‘Daring’ is not opposed to ‘caring’; rather, I think they complement each other, like two sides of the same coin, yin and yang. They need each other.

Let me demonstrate.

1.     « DARE TO CARE »

Dare to Care: for yourself, for others, for the living world.

Yes, “care” requires courage—especially in a society that rarely values this ethic of care.

Breaking away from the dogma of speed, competition, patriarchy, endless growth, and individualism—when everything around us reinforces them—demands courage.

Sometimes, simply pausing, taking a break, taking care of ourselves is already an act of bravery.

Daring to say no to work overload, daring to set boundaries to protect our health and personal lives, daring to practice yoga, meditation, or breathwork, daring to express emotions, daring to disconnect from our phone for 48 hours, daring to listen to our needs to protect our mental health… and daring to say “STOP. This no longer works for me.”

Yes, it takes courage to step out of a system of exhaustion that society imposes on us.

When I created the Deceleration Camp five years ago, I naively thought that stressed and exhausted people would immediately understand the urgency and need for these moments in nature to rest and breathe again. Not so easy. I discovered how strong resistance can be!

Even at the edge of burnout (and let’s remember, several million people in France face burnout each year), many struggle to break free. The mind often overpowers the body’s signals. We push past our limits for performance, for image, for obligation, or for lack of support. And so we stay trapped in the hamster wheel, running without knowing how to stop.

So yes, taking that step aside is not simple.

When someone comes to the Deceleration Camp for four days, they’ve already made a bold move: taking time off, saying no to other obligations, slowing down to focus on themselves and their health. And the reward is immense—pride, well-being, serenity, clarity, motivation.

Yes, caring for others—especially at work, where everything pushes us toward results, speed, and competition—requires courage too. The courage of authenticity, of kind listening, of expressing emotions openly, of investing time in relationships. Swimming against the current in pressurized, paradoxical environments, it takes courage to work on oneself, to act daily with ethics, empathy, and concern for others.

And yes, caring for the living world and for the planet demands courage.

For the last 30 years, many top executives and political leaders have shown us the opposite: through their inaction on environmental issues, in favor of financial, electoral, or power interests, they have only deepened the civilizational crisis.

It takes courage to leave behind the comfort of the current model—even as it collapses. Courage to renounce certain privileges, to think long term, to embrace collective intelligence and debate, to rethink ethics and meaning. And yet, it is the only way to safeguard humanity and future generations.

In the world of work, courageous leaders are rethinking organizations, governance, social and societal responsibility, and creating workplaces where people can thrive—despite market pressures, competition, inflation, and crises.

We need the courageous.

2. Care to Dare

And what if it is care itself—caring for ourselves and for others—that actually gives us courage?

What if cultivating a culture of dare in organizations started with cultivating a culture of care? As the foundation for just action, creative energy, active enthusiasm, and true audacity?

Because yes, it takes energy to dare to push boundaries and defend values. And that energy only comes when we protect and nurture ourselves.

An exhausted or demotivated employee doesn’t dare anymore. They endure, or they quit—at least in their mind. They lose their spark, their mojo, their courage to stand up for themselves and for others.

To dare, a person needs trust, safety, listening, and the right to make mistakes.

This is the vision of the brilliant Susan Goldsworthy, professor of leadership and organizational change at IMD Lausanne, co-author of several award-winning books. I had the privilege to work alongside her in major international leadership programs. Her book Care to Dare: Unleashing Astonishing Potential Through Secure Base Leadership, co-written with George Kohlrieser, explains how becoming a “secure base leader” unleashes extraordinary potential in others.

“We all have secure bases we can cultivate. Walking barefoot in the forest, playing with children, or sharing a meal with friends are ways to strengthen ourselves positively.”

Based on in-depth interviews with leaders worldwide and research involving over a thousand executives, the book reveals the characteristics of “Secure Base Leaders.” The difference between leaders who succeed and those who fail often lies in whether they have secure bases in their lives.

A secure base can be good health—mental and physical—, strong social connections, good stress and energy management, a positive mindset. An inner sense of security that builds self-confidence, allowing us to act with authenticity and heart.

The authors demonstrate how leaders can unlock astonishing potential by creating trust, driving change, and inspiring care—attention to others—as the foundation for sustainable performance.

The goal is to discover our own secure bases, so that we can become secure bases for others, helping them dare and grow.

Empathy and attention are strengths: the strength of emotion, of human connection, of trust. They help us find stability in chaos, strength in vulnerability, and motivation in meaning. As Brené Brown powerfully explains in her TED Talk: vulnerability is courage.

Our true power lies in caring for relationships and lifting others up, not in crushing them.

It lies in growing our shared humanity together—building legions of Jedi, instead of giving in to the dark side.

So the point is no longer just to dare to care, but also to cultivate care to dare—a culture of care that enables others to shine and dare in turn.

Whether men or women (and honestly, let’s stop with the nonsense gender stereotypes), let’s reconnect with our inner foundations. Let’s step out of fear and the reptilian survival brain, to find the energy, strength, and desire to dare—to be ourselves and to fight for what matters.

Let’s dare to speak up, to act together, to break walls, to defend values of empathy, courage, and authenticity. Because courage does not reside in the brute strength of our biceps (or other masculine body parts I won’t name here 😉), but in the power of our heart and the wisdom of our gut.

“To a valiant heart, nothing is impossible!”

Let’s Care and Dare.

But okay… how do we actually dare, Jedi style?

Here are a few guiding lights to help you step forward with courage:

✨ Self-care is your foundation. Before choosing the color of the walls, make sure the house is solid. Sleep well, eat with balance, recharge, and most of all, learn to regulate stress so you feel safe enough to move out of survival mode. (By the way, the next Deceleration Camp is October 3–6, and spots are still open!)

✨ Surround yourself with positive, daring, open-minded people. We unconsciously act by mimicry, and your environment strongly influences your energy and drive.

✨ Feed your curiosity. Seek inspiration, listen to or read stories of those who dared and now shine. Let yourself ask: “Why not me?”

✨ When in doubt, flip your perspective. Instead of focusing on what you might lose, consider what you stand to gain. Often, the bigger risk is staying stuck in the status quo.

✨ Trust your gut. Your body and intuition often know the way before your mind does.

✨ Build a “dare culture” in your organization. Normalize the right to make mistakes, encourage agility, diversity of profiles, questioning, creativity, and collective intelligence.

✨ And yes… sometimes, literally jump off that cliff with a bungee cord.

Below, I’ve shared a few resources on courage that may inspire you to dare — for yourself, your organization, and for society.

I wish you courage, authenticity, and pride. And I’ll leave you with the words of Theodore Roosevelt, so dear to Brené Brown:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the one who points out how the strong person stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the one who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs, who comes short again and again… but who at the best knows in the end the triumph of great achievement, and who at the worst, if they fail, at least fails while daring greatly.”

Take care, dear Jedi… and let’s dare together.

With courage,
Alice

Change your look on vulnerability 

TEDx Houston – The power of vulnerability – Brené Brown | Juin 2010 – 65 349 341 views !!