The Courage to Start Before You're Ready

Across Durham and Brown this autumn, scholars embodied what it means to be brave. As the 2025 conference season draws to a close, we reflect on Dr. Prudence Carter's keynote at Brown University, where she spoke directly to the doubt that lives in every leader: the fear of not being ready. 

Dr. Prudence Carter: "If you don't see yourself as a leader, or if you feel in any way hesitant, sceptical, or insecure about what it means to lead, I'm asking you not to wait until you feel completely ready. I don't feel completely ready either. It's about holding on to the courage, the ideals, and the sense of self that you want to bring to the common good. You can start small as a leader. You can start scared as a leader. But you just start."

The Myth of Complete Readiness

Dr. Prudence Carter is the Sarah and Joseph Jr. Dowling Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America at Brown University. A distinguished sociologist and former Dean of the Graduate School of Education at UC Berkeley, Carter's research examines how systems of inequality shape educational opportunity and mobility. Her award winning books, including Keepin' It Real: School Success beyond Black and White and Stubborn Roots: Race, Culture, and Inequality in U.S. & South African Schools, reveal how young people navigate identity and systemic barriers in pursuit of their aspirations.

Carter's insight strikes at the heart of what prevents capable people from stepping forward. We delay necessary action whilst we wait for confidence to arrive fully formed, for expertise to feel complete, for doubt to be vanquished entirely. Yet leadership, she reminds us, is not a state of being but a practice of becoming. It is constructed through the very act of beginning, not bestowed upon those who have eliminated all uncertainty. The courage to start whilst scared, to lead whilst learning, to contribute whilst imperfect, is what transforms potential into impact!

Leadership as Practice, Not Perfection

This understanding came alive at the Laidlaw Scholars Conferences. Scholars presented research that challenged established thinking, shared setbacks and breakthroughs in LiA Campfire Sessions, and engaged in masterclasses on publishing, advocacy, and entrepreneurship. What made these moments possible was not certainty but the choice to act anyway.

Carter's message aligns with the Laidlaw value of #Brave and the Oxford Character Project virtue of #Humility. Being brave means refusing to let imperfect readiness silence necessary contribution, acting with purpose when clarity remains partial. Humility means recognising that every leader, regardless of experience, continues to grow through the work itself, that leadership is earned through practice rather than arrived at through perfection. 

A Call to Reflect

We invite you to reflect on Dr. Carter's challenge. Share in the comments: What is one leadership action you have been postponing until you feel "ready"? What small step will you take this week to start, even whilst hesitation remains? How might beginning before certainty arrives strengthen both your capacity to lead and the communities you serve?