HBS's Ranjay Gulati on 'How to Be Bold'
November 11, 2026 - 5:30 - 6:30pm
Virtual & In-Person Event
Desautels Hall, 2nd Floor, South Building
Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto 105 St. George St.,
Members of the Harvard Club of Toronto $20 off the regular ticket price with promo code HBSBOLD20
Harvard Business School professor and author Ranjay Gulati on courage: what it is and how we are all capable of brave acts.
What leads people to speak truth to power, share bold new ideas, or put their lives on the line? Most of us chalk it up to personality, presuming that our heroes are naturally fearless. What if it’s something that any of us can develop?
In How to Be Bold, Ranjay Gulati offers a playbook for becoming bolder and braver, by training ourselves to step up and act in the face of uncertainty. The key is to neutralize or moderate our fears, to lower the odds that we’ll freeze up in the moment while also sustaining courage over prolonged periods. We also can inspire others around us to display "collective courage". Gulati shares accounts of extraordinary courageous behavior, taking readers inside a nuclear reactor under threat of meltdown, to the front lines of a war zone, and into space with NASA astronauts. He adds the bravery shown by health care workers during COVID pandemic and by a whistleblower who exposed their employer.
About the speaker:
Ranjay Gulati is Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. The Economist, Financial Times, and the Economist Intelligence Unit have listed him as among the top handful of business school scholars whose work is most relevant to management practice. He holds a PhD from Harvard University and a Master's degree from MIT. He is the author of Deep Purpose (2022) and How to be Bold (2025).
Questions: events@rotman.utoronto.ca