My choices are not impacted by fear.

Fear makes a competent advisor and a disastrous chief executive. It notices risk earlier than anyone else in the room, and it has exactly one recommendation for every situation: don't.

Most of us never formally hand it the job. We just find ourselves choosing the smaller room, the safer email, the role we could already do with our eyes shut. It looks like preference. It was a vote taken quietly, months ago.

Let it file its report — some of it will be worth reading. Then ask the rest of the room, the part of you that actually wants something, before anything gets signed.