Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We… (2012)

Daring Greatly is not about winning or losing. It’s about courage. In a world where “never enough” dominates and feeling afraid has become second nature, vulnerability is subversive. Uncomfortable. It’s even a little dangerous at times. And, without question, putting ourselves out there means there’s a far greater risk of getting criticized or feeling hurt. But when we step back and examine our lives, we will find that nothing is as uncomfortable, dangerous, and hurtful as standing on the outside of our lives looking in and wondering what it would be like if we had the courage to step into the arena—whether it’s a new relationship, an important meeting, the creative process, or a difficult family conversation. Daring Greatly is a practice and a powerful new vision for letting ourselves be seen.

I think you’re either a person that reads self-help books and gets something out of them or you’re not. I usually do not. I fully admit that I’m not a very introspective person and I’m sure that’s why. It’s definitely not because I think I’m perfect or anything. I remember feeling left out in college when my friends were “finding themselves” and having deep conversations about the meaning of life. I told my mom about it and she said, “Well, not everyone can sit around analyzing themselves all day or nothing would ever get done.” Hmm…wonder where I get it from?

The theme of Daring Greatly is that we should dare to be vulnerable and that there is a difference between shame and guilt. Shame is bad and guilt is not. Also, there is a difference between being vulnerable and just vomiting up your problems to anyone who will listen. Your vulnerability has to have appropriate boundaries.

I don’t disagree with anything Brown is saying, I’m just not sure how to put it to use in my real life. To me, being vulnerable is being open about your insecurities. But how do you express that without sounding like a whiner? I need concrete examples. I looked up my review of Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth, another self-helpish book I’ve read and that’s the same thing I said about that book!

Daring Greatly did lead to a really good discussion in my book club – one of the best we’ve had. I think that’s because we are all pretty close friends and we were able to be vulnerable with each other while discussing this book. I’m not sure it would as good of a discussion if the book club members were just acquaintances.

I know there are tons of people who worship Brené Brown, a lot of my friends included. I can see why but at the same time, I don’t see myself reading any more of her books. ( )

Lots of overlaps with other of Brown's books.
Embrace daring leadership and cultivate a courageous organizational culture
In any organization, the fear of failure and shame can lead people to hold back ideas, avoid risks and tough conversations. This stifles learning and creativity to hinder success in a world that demands continuous innovation. Based on 2 decades of research and real-life experience, Brené Brown discovered the antidote to fear and shame: brave leaders who are willing and able to face uncertainty and vulnerability head-on, and teach their teams to do the same.
In this book, Brené Brown presents the 4 courage-building skill sets that can be nurtured in any individual and organization. She combines insights from her latest research and those from her previous books (including The Gifts of Imperfection, Daring Greatly, and Rising Strong), to explain how you can become a daring leader and build courageous cultures.
What you'll learn:
• How to rumble with vulnerability, i.e. to have the courage to enter into conversations that make you feel vulnerable. Learn the myths about vulnerability, the tools you can use to have open conversations, how to shift from 16 types of armored leadership to brave leadership, how to move from shame to empathy, and how to build grounded confidence.
• About your values and learn how to live into your values—both individually and as a team/ organization.
• How to use the the BRAVING Inventory to build trust with 7 specific behaviors.
• To equip yourself with the skills to bounce back from failures, i.e. learn to rise.

Book summary at: https://readingraphics.com/book-summary-daring-greatly/ ( )

I love Brene Brown. ( )

From thought leader Brené Brown, a transformative new vision for the way we lead, love, work, parent, and educate that teaches us the power of vulnerability.

Life changing

A lot of people will probably look at the title of this review and laugh or roll their eyes, and that's okay. The idea of daring greatly is one that i've never truly considered as applicable to my own life. That's for other people, braver people. Vulnerability isn't one of my strongest suits, so putting the two concepts together meant quite a bit of thinking and reconsidering on my end. Brene Brown is one of the top researchers in her field for a reason.

I highly recommend this book in general. No matter the situation, everyone can benefit from Brown's research and experiences. Just be ready for uncomfortable self-examination. It's for your own good, I promise ( )