Executive team workshopYou know change is needed.But your team isn’t moving.Or not fast enough.
Most leadership teams don’t fail because they lack talent or expertise. They fail because fear, inertia, and unspoken resistance bleed momentum before bold ideas ever get real traction.
Incremental thinking in a world demanding bold moves
Right now, as you read this, someone in your industry is making a bold bet. They’re seizing an opportunity your team has likely discussed in meetings, debated at leadership off-sites, and ultimately decided to “watch and wait.”
- 26 percent. Only 26% of employees feel safe enough at work to speak up with concerns, ideas, or dissent. Amy Edmondson, Harvard.
- Number one. Psychological safety — not talent, strategy or resources — is the single greatest predictor of high-performing teams. Google’s Project Aristotle.
- Fewer than 30 percent. Fewer than 30% of organizational transformations succeed — not for want of strategy, but for want of collective courage.
- Two times. Our brains weight losses twice as heavily as gains, so your smartest people make their most cautious calls exactly when bold ones matter most. Daniel Kahneman’s loss-aversion research.
“No organization can outperform its leaders over time. The #1 threat is never external — it’s the fear that drives smart teams to play it too safe.”
What is The Courage Lab?
The Courage Lab isn’t a keynote. It’s a research-grounded team experience built on behavioral science — designed to surface the hidden derailers quietly undermining your culture, and close the gap between what your team is doing and what it’s actually capable of.
Originally developed with Google’s Executive Labs program, every Lab is tailored to your industry, context, and priorities.
The Courage Lab addresses:
- Fear-driven decisions dressed up as prudence
- Crucial conversations left until the cost is high
- Not yet aligned on where you’re going
- Aligned on vision, stuck on how
- “Playing not to lose” as the norm
- A gap between intent and execution
Courage Lab is where alignment becomes action.
The framework
Three moves that close The Courage Gap
Each move builds on the last — grounded in behavioral science, field-tested with senior teams.
- DEFINE
Design an intentional future
Your team will cut through ambiguity to get sharply aligned on the future you want to build — not just the one that feels safe or incremental.
- REFRAME
Reframe risk — and manage the fear
Your team will develop a fundamentally different collective relationship with risk — shifting from “play not to lose” to “play to win.”
- COMMIT
Take decisive action that sticks
Your team will leave with specific, agreed-upon next steps — individual and collective commitments, clear ownership, and peer accountability.
How a Courage Lab runs, end to end
- Before
Margie surveys your team so day one starts in your reality, not a framework.
- In the room
Real debate, real candor — the conversations that never happen in day-to-day operations.
- After
Individual and team coaching to embed the change. Your existing coaches welcome.
Program formats
Courage Lab, your way
Every Lab is customized. The format scales to the depth of work your team needs.
- 3–4HOURS
Half-day intensive
A focused, high-energy session that disrupts complacent thinking and sparks immediate team alignment.
- 6–8HOURSMOST POPULAR
Full-day deep dive
The space for the deeper team debate that never happens in day-to-day operations — where real alignment gets built.
- 2–3DAYS
Multi-day experience
For a significant transformation agenda, where a single day isn’t enough to surface the real derailers.
All formats include pre-session customization and post-program resources. Delivered in person only.
What you’ll walk away with
Real outcomes. Not just inspiration.
A courage mindset embedded across your team
Leave with a shared commitment to a team culture where bold thinking is the norm, not the exception.
A reframed relationship with risk and failure
Concrete tools to tell smart risk from reckless risk, and the language to lead toward intelligent failure.
Bold thinking, unlocked across the table
Surface the assumptions, blind spots and unspoken fears limiting your team’s collective thinking.
Braver conversations, fewer avoidances
The language and the commitment to have the conversations that have been circling without landing.
Shared clarity and a roadmap for action
A specific, co-created set of commitments, priorities and next steps your whole team owns.
The foundation for a risk-ready culture
Practical strategies to embed courage into how your team operates — so this isn’t a one-day event, but a lasting shift.
Organizations committed to change — and who know they can’t afford not to
Teams at a strategic inflection point
Mergers, market disruption, a transformation mandate — or too long playing it safe.
Leadership teams where alignment is fractured
A gap between what people say in the room and what they commit to in the hall.
High-performing teams who have plateaued
The current operating mode won’t get you where you need to go.
A bold agenda that keeps stalling at execution
The strategy is clear; the courageous, aligned action is lagging behind.
Leaders who want to build a culture of courage
Where candor, dissent and accountability are genuinely rewarded, not just mentioned.
If three of these sound familiar, the Lab was built for your team.
“You don’t need to have it all figured out. You just need the courage to move forward before you do. That’s what separates the organizations that change industries from the ones that watch them change.”
Meet your facilitator
Dr. Margie Warrell
For 25 years I’ve studied what separates teams that drive bold change from those that manage increments. The difference is never talent — it’s the courage to challenge the prevailing ‘best thinking’ and chart a bolder path.
I’ve helped hundreds of teams worldwide — Fortune 500 boards and C-suites from Morgan Stanley to NASA to Google, where I partnered on designing the Courage Lab. I bring hard questions, a playful approach, and zero corporate-speak.
If your team is overdue for a genuine reset — not a strategy refresh, but a shift in how you think and lead together — let’s talk.
- PhD, Human Development
- 6× bestselling author
- Lived & led on 4 continents
- Former Senior Partner, Korn Ferry
My book The Courage Gap lays the intellectual foundation. The room is where the real work — and magic — happens.
What leaders say
Results that speak for themselves.
“Working with Margie transformed how our leadership team thinks and operates. She gave us the courage and the tools to move forward on our biggest ambitions and lead more boldly than we thought possible.”
Feedback from Margie’s full day workshop with our team was so overwhelmingly positive that I have no hesitation in recommending her as a terrific investment in top team and leadership development.
Leonie Valentine
Managing Director, Google Hong Kong
Margie, thank you for leading us through an absolutely beyond any expectations workshop. The whole team was thrilled by what we achieved thanks to you. I have no words to thank you enough. You are amazing!
Sandra Guazzotti
Senior Vice President, Latin America
Margie was an absolutely instrumental part of enlarging the context for our new team. She inspired us to reach for significant business opportunities, strengthen our collaboration, and embrace the mindset needed to achieve amazing success! Thank you, Margie.
Liz Carnabudi
Vice President, BD Medical Technology
The full day off-site Margie facilitated for our exec team was outstanding. Her ability to create the space for us to engage in critical conversations enabled us to align around key goals that will transform our business far into the future.
Wendy Stops
Former Managing Director, Technology, Accenture
Trusted by leaders at Google · Shell · Accenture · BD
Dr. Margie Warrell’s credentials
Developed and delivered in partnership with Google
Advisor to Fortune 500 leaders across diverse global sectors
Former Senior Partner, Korn Ferry’s Board & CEO and Executive Institute
6 bestselling books on leadership, courage and professional growth
20+ years doctoral research & real-world application
Ready to get to work?Every Courage Lab begins with a conversation.
Let’s talk about your team, your change agenda, and what’s at stake.
