Too often, our institutions mistake “niceness” for progress. But niceness prioritizes comfort over candor, harmony over accountability—and that comes at a price, especially for those already carrying the weight of inequity.

In this BOLD and deeply personal talk, award-winning communications strategist and author Amira Barger exposes how a culture of niceness quietly protects power, delays justice, and normalizes silence when speaking up is most needed. Drawing on behavioral communications research and lived experience, she introduces the Nice–Neutral–Nerve continuum—a model that reveals how neutrality becomes complicity and how courage creates change.

Attendees will walk away with two practical “courage cues” they can use immediately to foster transparency, belonging, and integrity. Because a brave future will not be won by being nice, but by being bold enough to disrupt comfort for the sake of justice.