Praise for Unfear, Gaurav Bhatnagar, and Mark Minukas

The lifeblood of the modern organization is the capacity of its people to create and innovate and keep pushing the boundaries of what is possible. While we acknowledge that doing this is fraught with uncertainty and risk, what we don’t acknowledge or talk about in organizations is the fear and the dysfunction it causes. In this timely and much-needed book, Gaurav Bhatnagar and Mark Minukas share their learnings from more than 30 years of working with leaders and organizations to achieve break- through performance. They offer insightful advice on how to unfear—to fundamentally shift our relationship with fear and use it as a tool for learning and growth, both personally as individuals and systemically as leaders of organizations. This book will transform how you live your life and how you lead your teams and organization. A must-read! —SEAN AGGARWAL, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Lyft

In Unfear, you will read how Gaurav Bhatnagar responds to a personal transformational opportunity with great skepticism, sarcasm, and dis- dain. We’ve all been there, haven’t we? Could a moment really transform a person? Could reading a book? With Bhatnagar and Minukas as your Sherpas, the answer is yes—and this is that book. Crack it open with skepticism; close it having been transformed. This is the moment you’ve been waiting for. Take it. You won’t regret it. You’ll be forever changed. —RICHARD SHERIDAN, CEO and Chief Storyteller of Menlo Innovations and author of Joy, Inc.: How We Built a Workplace People Love

Many of us charged with charting a path toward sustainable growth— a path that taps into the diversity, authenticity, and genius of all our employees—struggle to find the right way to express and build the type of culture this requires. Terms such as risk taking, learning organization, agile, lean, and purpose driven don’t quite seem to capture it; they are manifestations, not the core, of what is needed. Unfear nails it, and its principles point to the profound personal roots that any organizational transformation requires. —MONICA MCGURK, Chief Global Growth Officer of Kellogg Company

When we transform our response to fear—that most visceral and evolu- tionarily wired human emotion—we transform our orientation to life, how we conduct business, and the outcomes we are able to generate. We no longer fall into the trap of trading well-being for success. Gaurav and Mark have written a book that comes from their hearts and yet draws on their decades of work with leaders and organizations. They’ve produced a blueprint for creating unfear organizations—adaptive, resilient in the face of adversity, and able to generate extraordinary results while putting the well-being of the human beings who make up the organization at the very center. Having worked with them for many years, I can vouch that their approach delivers what it promises. —DOUG WIRTH, CEO of Amida Care

I have great respect for Gaurav and Mark and the work they do, having partnered with them on several initiatives at Harlem United. Yet, with so many organizational culture change how-tos on the market, I have to admit that I was a little skeptical of what I could learn from Unfear. But within just a few pages, that skepticism melted away. In Unfear, Gaurav and Mark present a new paradigm for creating true, lasting individual and organizational change. By sharing their own life experiences and real-world examples of their work, they make this a very relatable read. They provide actionable and practical guidelines for an unfear transfor- mation. If you wonder why all the work you’ve done—the surveys, focus groups, trainings, workshops, strategic plans, and so on—hasn’t led to truly sustainable change despite your sincere commitment to creating that change, read Unfear. If you are committed to creating a conscious, sustainable transformation—for yourself, your team, and your organiza- tion—this book will help you achieve that. —JACQUELYN KILMER, CEO of Harlem United

Gaurav and Mark offer us a powerful path to harmonize organizational performance with employee well-being by reengineering the inner life of an organization and its people. Kudos! You can’t read this book without taking away some valuable lessons and practical tools on how to acknowl- edge and transcend the fears we experience, individually and collectively, in our workplaces. Written for organizational leaders who understand that, in the end, we are all human. —HITENDRA WADHWA, Professor of Practice at Columbia Business School and founder of Mentora Institute

I have worked with Gaurav and Co-Creation Partners at critical growth points for myself and my organization. I was able to grow immensely as a leader in a short period of time, becoming more courageous, authen- tic, and connected to the people around me. Unfear captures the spirit of our work, seamlessly blending business and philosophy concepts and frameworks with profound personal stories. Read it! It will fundamen- tally change the way you relate to yourself—replacing stress and fear with an earnest belief in your infinite potential and a resolute desire to unleash as much of it as you possibly can. —NICK CHRISTMAN, Senior Vice President of Product and Client Operations at Namely

In today’s world, building resilient organizations and societies is key to sustained growth and happiness. A critical part of this process is reimag- ining and reframing your relationship with fear. Unfear presents prac- tical, actionable ways to do this—to free the angel in the stone. This inspiring must-read will empower your journey from fear to unfear! —JYOTI RAI, Managing Director of Global Human Resources at Moody’s Corporation

In this book, Mark and Gaurav share their wisdom and learnings from more than two decades of working closely with teams and organizations. And they make a very compelling argument that a common cause of underperformance of individuals and organizations is personal and cul- tural fear. Overcoming fear to move from a victim mentality to an own- ership mentality and from a knower mentality to a learner mentality is necessary for individuals and organizations to reach their potential and compete in this economy. Highly recommended! —GURU SETHUPATHY, Managing Vice President and Head of People Strategy and Analytics at Capital One

Gaurav and Mark boldly take on the hidden yet biggest inhibitor to sus- tainable change in organizations, our individual and collective experi- ence of fear at work. Unfear helps us stop and consider how our own leadership behaviors lead to organizations full of judgment, mistrust, and division. It shows us a clear path out of this dysfunction, one that starts with us as individuals. This is a deeply engaging and thought-provoking read with practical ideas you can apply with your teams as well as in your personal life. —DALTON LI, Head of Strategic Enablement and Advancement at Vanguard

Fear is one of the biggest inhibitors of personal and professional hap- piness. In Unfear, Gaurav and Mark do an amazing job of defining the different facets of fear and explaining practices that one can undertake to experience sustained transformation. This is a supremely practical book that is filled with personal stories and examples from their professional experiences. The passion they have for helping others comes through very strongly. A life-changing book! —VENU KANNAN, Head of Professional Services for the Americas at UiPath