Dare to Lead —Brené Brown
Hardcover | Random House | October 9, 2018
The Gist
To lead you to need to be brave. To be brave you need to be vulnerable. To be vulnerable… You’re gonna need to work on your shit.
Read if you like
Courage is Calling by Brenér Brown (or her TED Talk or the Netflix Documentary)
Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday
Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek
Books on leadership
Verdict: Borrow It, Read It, Check Out her Website, Do the work
Dare to Lead echoes many recent leadership books: Being a leader isn’t about being a powerful overlord. Rather it’s about taking responsibility for others. The first leg of Dare to Lead rehashes topics from Brown’s previous works in order to get people up to speed with what vulnerability is and argues why it’s vital in the workplace (and beyond). Then the latter half of the book, Brown then builds off these works by digging into different examples and case studies. Unfortunately, she often winds up pushing folks to check out more resources on her website. The book is definitely more of a workshop guide that would be a point of reference for a course or seminar—much like what Brown and her company regularly run with their clients. But Dare to Lead does go beyond the typical leadership book that talks at length about what company culture and leadership should look like. The book’s case studies, examples, and exercises illustrate what having difficult conversations, dealing with conflict, vulnerability, empathy, and more look like in and out of the workplace. So even if readers aren’t participating in a workshop or going to Brown’s website, they’ll still finish Dare to Lead with actionable tools they can use to dig in and get to work.
