What happens when a Director or VP has something the executive team doesn’t want to hear?
I’m interviewing 100 L&D leaders to find out.
THE PREMISE
Most writing on this assumes leaders need more courage.
The problem isn't lack of courage. The problem is they are running a cost calculation. What does raising this do to my standing, my next promotion, my budget, my relationship with the person who signs off on my career? And most of the time, they’re getting that calculation right. Going quiet is the rational move.
At the Director to VP level, conversations with power differences and no guarantee of safety is common and necessary to bridge executive vision with team execution. Calibration is the tool that allows them to raise what they need to say without paying for it later.
That’s the book. This is the research that establishes the facts.
THE STUDY
100 interviews. Closing October 2026.
Who I’m talking to: SVPs, VPs, and Heads of L&D, CHROs, and senior leaders at organizations between 500 and 5,000 people. The sample is deliberately narrow.
What I ask: When a senior leader in organizations had something the executive team didn’t want to hear, what happened. What it cost. Whether it was possible to even know it was happening. What was tried to solve this gap, and what worked.
CONFIDENTIALITY
You decide how you appear. And you decide at the end, not now.
Every interview is confidential by default. Nothing goes in the book with your name or your organization on it unless you tell me it can.
Named
Quoted with attribution.
Anonymous
Quoted, no name, no organization.
Background
Shapes the findings, never quoted.
You choose after you’ve heard yourself say it.
WHAT PARTICIPANTS GET
The full findings before publication. Benchmarking across 100 organizations on a question nobody publishes data on.
Optional credit in the acknowledgments.
Thirty minutes with someone who has spent ten years on this specific problem, thinking about your specific organization.
WHO’S ASKING
Headshot
Ivna Curi. Creator of BRAVE DIRECT, a senior leader communication system for Director-to-VP populations. TEDx speaker, three-time SHRM speaker, Forbes contributor. Host of Speak Your Mind Unapologetically, 450+ episodes. Author of The Unapologetic Voice. Former A.T. Kearney strategy consultant. Trained as an engineer at Brazil’s Air Force university.
Has taught leadership communication to 7,000+ leaders at organizations including Moët Hennessy, Qualcomm, Autodesk, Akamai, Walmart, and KPMG.
TAKING PART
Interviews are by invitation.
I’m selecting participants to keep the sample tight: Organizations with 500 to 5,000 people, with a Director-to-VP population large enough to see patterns in.
If you’ve received an invitation, your booking link is in the message.
If you haven’t and you think you should have, message me on LinkedIn.
Not up for an interview?
Get the findings when the study closes. 100 organizations. No call, no follow-up, no sales sequence.
This research becomes TOO DIRECT, publishing Q1 2027.
Brave Culture Institute
The cost of what isn't said.
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