Brené Brown’s Post

I love the Olympics! The one thing that keeps hitting me as I watch the team sports is how powerfully athletes across sports are leading from the bench. Abby Wambach’s book “Wolfpack” is leadership gold. Her story about finding herself on the bench during an important game and digging deep to reimagine what leading looks like when you’re not on the pitch is one of the all time great leadership lessons. Whether it’s the pool, the pitch, or the mat, leadership is way more about who you are, not the role you’re playing at any given time. You can listen to my conversation with Abby on the “Dare to Lead” podcast: https://lnkd.in/gbZZkX84 Let’s go!

Beautiful song covers are such powerful examples of how great art can inspire us to be a part of something — to inhabit the beauty and make the art our own while simultaneously paying respect and giving thanks to the original artist. Jørgen Dahl Moe covering “Dancing in the Dark” by Bruce Springsteen is such a gorgeous example. If you haven't heard it yet, I can't wait for you to listen! https://lnkd.in/gWbDUrNE I'd love your favorite cover recs! ❤️ Happy weekend!

A little fun today! Sometimes I think about my "in a different life" job. My alternative-life-jobs change all of the time, and singer/songwriter is always on rotation. Last night I was thinking about being the Pantone "Color of the Year" picker. I will say that the 2024 Color of the Year - Peach Fuzz - takes me right back to my 1988 prom dress. I probably wouldn't be very good at this job because every year would be some variation of teal or blue/green. Although - I do tend to assign colors to cultural issues and emotions. Maybe. Who knows? According to their website, "The Pantone Color Institute originally created the Pantone Color of the Year educational program in 1999 to engage the design community and color enthusiasts around the world in a conversation around color. We wanted to draw attention to the relationship between culture and color — to highlight to our audience how what is taking place in our global culture is expressed and reflected through the language of color." For me, I think there's a correlation between my job picks and what I want more of in my life. Space for creativity is always a big theme. Anyone else have the "alternative career" thoughts?

When Dr. Jean Latting, my graduate school mentor and teacher, asked me to write the foreword for her new book, "Conscious Change," I jumped at the chance. Here's a peek of what I shared: Dr. Latting challenged me in ways that were equal parts enlightening and infuriating. I hated how still she forced me to be, and I loved what emerged from the stillness. This has not changed. What’s funny is that I could not articulate what she taught me until I read "Conscious Change." I wouldn’t go so far as to say that I thought her teaching was magic, but I did think it was a weird and probably unnameable thing rather than a teachable skill. I was wrong. As I read this book, I kept thinking: This is that thing she taught me — the thing that I love and hate and need to do and don’t want to do. "Conscious Change" is the playbook for prying open the space between stimulus and response. What’s made so clear in the examples in the book is the skill it takes to cognitively understand the stimulus rather than emotionally react to it, the commitment required to be intentional and values aligned in our responses, and the level of discipline it takes to make this a practice. Congrats to Dr. Latting, Dr. Ramsey, and all of the brave contributors! https://a.co/d/05JWy907

Over the past five years, Certified Dare to Lead Facilitators have taken over 120,000 people across 45 countries through our Dare to Lead program. Our evaluation data are clear — this courage-building work has a tremendous impact on individuals, teams, and organizations. Like all leaders, I’ve been working to understand how to meet this once-in-a-lifetime moment of sweeping global change. I started searching for a partner who shares our values and is bravely innovating at the intersection of technology and human transformation. I stopped looking when I found BetterUp. Today, we are announcing a partnership with BetterUp to launch the Daring Leadership Institute, a first-of-its-kind integration that brings our empirically based, courage-building curriculum together with BetterUp’s human transformation platform. I’m so proud to chair the new institute and join their science board. As new technologies, chronic uncertainty, and ever-shifting markets continue to reshape industries and redefine the future of work, we need to develop skill sets, mindsets, toolsets, and systems that support feedback cultures, reward critical and anticipatory thinking, and foster deep collaboration and inclusivity. Additionally, we need to embrace new and uncomfortable ways of working that will feel paradoxical in many ways — like learning how to be both very focused and very agile, how to move with urgency and thoughtfulness, how to lead by excavating the unsaid rather than expending energy working around it. Our new collaboration will allow us to bring these skill and mindset transformations to organizations in measurable and meaningful ways. It’s a game-changer! Since meeting Eddie Medina and Alexi Robichaux a couple of years ago, I’ve had the privilege of getting to know BetterUp and the larger team, and I’ve been blown away. I’m proud that the Daring Leadership Institute at BetterUp is where we’re going to develop and deliver all of my leadership work. I believe with my whole heart that, together, we can develop braver leaders and more courageous cultures around the world. Let’s go! To learn more, visit the Daring Leadership Institute at BetterUp. https://lnkd.in/gif9cBPX 

We laughed. We cried (not really — we mostly laughed). And we talked about meta-cognition. https://lnkd.in/gKfN2s2M

In the final episode of our "Living Beyond Human Scale" series, Barrett and I discuss our learnings on AI, social media, and some of our favorite nuggets from each of the guests in the series.

Blown. Away. I’m not even sure if you’re allowed to learn as much I learned, while laughing as hard as I laughed, while fighting back tears as Dr. Joy’s poetry washed over me . . . y’all are in for a very special hour with this activist, artist, and scientist. Dr. Joy Buolamwini is the founder of the Algorithmic Justice League, a groundbreaking MIT researcher, and an artist. She is the author of the national bestseller "Unmasking AI: My Mission to Protect What Is Human in a World of Machines." Dr. Joy advises world leaders on preventing AI harms. She is a Rhodes Scholar, a Fulbright Fellow, a recipient of the Technological Innovation Award from the Martin Luther King Jr. Center as well as the 2024 winner of the NAACP-Archewell Foundation Digital Civil Rights Award. And, as someone who recently learned that their books have been used to feed large language models — Avengers Assemble. I love Dr. Joy’s 4 Cs: Consent, Compensation, Control, and Credit. Strap yourselves in. This is a JOY ride into the mind of someone who is changing the world! You can hear this episode wherever you listen to your podcasts. https://lnkd.in/gF3phnYN

We're almost at the end of our series on "living beyond human scale" and I'm so grateful that Lisa Gevelber sat down with me to talk about the possibilities and the good things that AI is doing and can do! For example, teachers are using AI to build customized lesson plans for students who are at different reading levels or who may be trying to learn a new language. Or, you have a student who missed a week of class due to an illness or family emergency and you need to create an individualized catch-up plan based on their learning style, reading level, and strengths — AI can help. We also talk about how small business owners are learning how to use AI to handle tasks so they have more time to do the things that only humans can do.And, let's not forget the role of libraries and librarians. You know I love both! We also talk about the vitally important role they play in closing the digital divide. You can listen to our conversation here: https://lnkd.in/g9hrE3sr

I had such a meaningful conversation with Dr. Maya Shankar on her podcast: A Slight Change of Plans. We talked about healing from perfectionism, all of the parts that make up who we are (and the ones that people insist on assigning to us), and the often-beautiful-and-sometimes-painful world of being an introvert in a very noisy world. You can listen to our conversation here: https://lnkd.in/gGtRACN3