Being BRAVE® as a Strategic Advantage

Contributed by Cindy Benning

The Missing Dimension of Leadership

Leadership today is often defined by what can be measured: revenue, productivity, or performance indicators that tell us whether strategy is working. Yet the quiet truth behind every organization’s result is found not in systems or metrics, but in behaviour.

It is how leaders show up in meetings, how they respond to challenge, and how they shape the emotional temperature of their teams that determines whether strategy takes root or quietly erodes.

In a world of volatility and constant change, control has become an illusion. What now separates effective leaders from the rest is not their command of systems, but their command of self.

I call this being BRAVE®.

It is not soft, nor sentimental. It is disciplined, conscious, and deeply strategic.

Behaviour as the Engine of Performance

Most organizations are designed to manage outcomes. They measure productivity, track efficiency, and evaluate talent. Yet very few examine how leadership behaviour contributes to those outcomes.

The paradox is that while results are visible, behaviour is the invisible engine that drives them. When leaders model composure, curiosity, and respect, teams respond with alignment and trust. When they lead with fear or control, performance may spike briefly, but it rarely sustains.

Research continues to validate this link. High-trust organizations outperform low-trust ones by more than 180 percent in shareholder return. Teams who feel respected and aligned generate over 20 percent higher profitability. These numbers do not emerge from policy. They emerge from behaviour.

From Force to Flow

For generations, leadership rewarded control. The leader’s role was to direct, decide, and demand. That model offered stability when change was slow and competition predictable.

But today’s reality is fluid. Teams are distributed. Problems are cross-functional. Markets shift faster than policies can adapt.

In this environment, compliance is no longer enough.
Compliance produces obedience; commitment produces momentum.

Momentum, the flow of trust, autonomy, and shared accountability, is what propels modern organizations forward.

Being BRAVE is about cultivating this flow. It is the practice of aligning intent with impact, using self-awareness as a strategic instrument.

The Five Behaviours That Move Organizations

The BRAVE® model identifies five behavioural disciplines that consistently elevate organizational performance. Each can be seen, practiced, and measured. Together, they redefine what effective leadership looks like in practice.

These behaviours are not abstractions. They are observable, repeatable, and trainable. When embedded at scale, they become a system of performance that drives execution as reliably as any process map.

Leading Without the Armour

For many executives, the greatest leadership challenge is not intellectual but behavioural. It is the shift from controlling to enabling, from certainty to curiosity.

This shift requires courage. It asks leaders to acknowledge that the patterns that once defined strength may now limit growth.

Leading without armour is not a surrender of authority; it is an evolution of it. It allows leaders to listen before judging, to reveal uncertainty as an invitation to collaborate, and to replace fear-based compliance with mutual accountability.

When leaders make this shift, culture changes almost immediately. Decision-making accelerates. Innovation surfaces. Teams self-correct. The organization begins to move as one system rather than a collection of guarded silos.

The Strategic Value of Awareness

In a data-driven world, awareness might seem intangible. Yet it is measurable through its effects. Awareness reduces rework, increases alignment, and strengthens the quality of decisions under pressure.

Behavioural intelligence — the ability to read and regulate one’s impact on others — is now a core competency of leadership. It determines how information flows, how quickly trust is restored after conflict, and how resilient an organization becomes during uncertainty.

Leaders who integrate awareness into their daily practice transform culture without declaring it. They create conditions where performance is both human and sustainable.

A New Definition of Strength

Being BRAVE is not about kindness for its own sake. It is about precision in human conduct. It is the art of leading through connection rather than coercion, influence rather than insistence.

The leaders who thrive in the next decade will not be defined by their ability to control, but by their capacity to connect. They will understand that behavioural intelligence is not the opposite of strategy — it is its foundation.

To be BRAVE is to lead with awareness, act with integrity, and inspire through example.
It is not soft. It is the hardest thing to master.

And it is the only form of leadership that endures.

Cindy Benning - Cindy, a Certified Executive Coach, holds a bachelor’s degree in science and a master’s degree in business. With over 25 years of experience, she served on the Executive Committee of two prominent pharmaceutical companies, specializing in manufacturing and quality. In early 2021, Cindy embarked on a journey to share her insights, culminating in her book 'Being BRAVE' and the development of the BRAVE® behavior model, aimed at empowering leaders and organizations.

Through her company, Dragonfly Insights, Cindy draws inspiration from the symbolism of dragonflies, representing self-reflection and transformation. Dragonfly Insights collaborates with individuals and organizations, offering solutions that address operational efficiencies through a holistic approach encompassing processes, structures, and behaviours.

Website:           www.dragonflyinsights.com