Four moments that made this
The leap
I was a senior consultant in financial technology. One year after a promotion, I quit to speak to students full time. I was a few years out of college, single, and had very little facial hair. Students were the only people who would listen, and they turned out to be the best teachers I could have asked for. Students tell the truth.
The question
One night I skipped the pep talk and asked a room of students one thing: what do you fear? I took the cards home and read them at my kitchen table. They were deep. Failure. Family. Being found out. It was the first time I really saw what people carry, and I saw some of my own fears in the pile. Back then I burned the cards at the end of every talk. My coach asked me, "Darryl, what if you don't burn another one?" I haven't since.
The gray hair
Somewhere around 35 the gray came in, and so did a new room. Principals, teachers, and district staff started asking me to speak to them, not just their students. The fears on their cards weren't that different. Most were personal, and most were showing up at work.
Fearless to fearing less
For years people would come up after a talk and ask, "What about courage? What about the good side of fear?" I'd nod and keep moving. Then 2020 hit, and I was scared. That's when it clicked. The goal was never to be fearless. It's to fear less and act anyway. The name stayed. The meaning changed.
