Episode 27

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Published on:

16th Jun 2026

Tapping Into Micro-Courage to Speak Up with Dr. Karen Branden

For this episode, I’ve invited Dr. Karen Branden back on the show to talk about a topic that’s been bugging me.

Why do we as humans often not speak up and challenge things that we know, at least deep down, are wrong?

It’s frustrating as hell why so many people in power are doing this, but how can we, our little spread out, but collective selves around the planet do things differently to make a difference? A recent podcast guest calls it having micro-courage and that intrigued me.

In this episode Dr. Karen Branden talks about our human nature, societal upbringing, and experiments that shed some light on why we tend to stay silent, and most importantly, how we can break that pattern of 'group-think’ with a bit of micro-courage.

You can listen to the podcast here or wherever you like to listen to podcasts. You can also follow The Global Grit Experience on IG and FB. I’d love to hear from you! Let me know what you think and any topics you’d like to hear about on the show.

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About the Podcast

The Global Grit Experience
Stories of inspiring people with grit protecting nature, wildlife and the outdoor places we love.
The Global Grit Experience is a podcast featuring inspiring people with grit - passion, perseverance and an unwavering dedication in protecting, and loving, nature and wildlife. Whoop! Whoop! Host Erika Gilsdorf (that’s me!) is an international, award-winning video producer, who leaves the camera behind (for the most part) to let conversations breathe authentically in a podcast that spans diverse guests and topics. I include mental health guests, too who help us cope with all the crap and find joy amidst all the junk happening to our outdoors. Uffda…it’s a lot! (I’m a Minnesotan if you can't tell). Most importantly, this is a podcast about inspiration, hope, action, and connection. We have each other my friends!

About your host

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Erika Gilsdorf

Hi! Thanks for being here! I’m Erika, the Global Grit Experience podcast creator and host. Though the podcast format is fairly new to me, I’ve been sharing stories close to 20 years in Minnesota, the U.S. and around the world. Some of those I’ve worked with include The Minnesota Land Trust, The Nature Conservancy, General Mills, United Airlines, and National Geographic. I’m an outdoor enthusiast, adventurer, and climate and nature activist. I chose ‘grit’ because everything worth pursuing takes grit - passion, perseverance, courage, curiosity, hope and an unwavering determination to protect. Nature deserves a bit of our grit. Thanks for giving some of your grit for the love of nature.