At the end of her 2011 Barnard College Commencement speech, Sheryl Sanberg, of Facebook and Lean In fame, said the following:

“We try at Facebook to keep all of our employees thinking big all day.  We have these posters in red we put around the walls.  One says, “Fortune favors the bold.”  Another says, “What would you do if you weren’t afraid?”  That question echoes Barnard alum Anna Quindlen, who said that she majored in unafraid.  Don’t let your fears overwhelm your desire.  Let the barriers you face—and there will be barriers—be external, not internal.  Fortune does favor the bold, and I promise that you will never know what you’re capable of unless you try.

You’re going to walk off this stage today and you’re going to start your adult life.  Start out by aiming high.  Like everyone here, I have great hopes for the members of this graduating class.  I hope you find true meaning, contentment and passion in your life.  I hope that you navigate the hard times and you come out with greater strength and resolve.  I hope that whatever balance you seek, you find it with your eyes wide open.  And I hope that you—yes, you—each and every one of you have the ambition to run the world, because this world needs you to run it.  Women all around the world are counting on you.  I’m counting on you.

I know that’s a big challenge and responsibility, a really daunting task, but you can do it.  You can do it if you lean in.  So go home tonight and ask yourselves, “What would I do if I weren’t afraid?”  And then go do it.”

(The text and video of the speech can be found at: https://barnard.edu/headlines/transcript-and-video-speech-sheryl-sandberg-chief-operating-officer-facebook)

That speech and its follow-up has led to the “What would you do if you were not afraid?” movement and project.  Through this project various people from all walks of life, but especially younger people, have been encouraged to write down and/or make a short video of what they would do were they not afraid.  Those videos can be found at: ifuwerentafraid.tumblr.com/  

Your task for this module is as follows: 

1--Scroll though the various videos, start to finish, and selectively click on some of the responses of those videos you like to see what others have said.  

2—In a series of notes to yourself or an actual page or less, so about 350 words or less, write out what you would do if you were not afraid, to be shared with your fellow team members in a conversation.