“Daring Greatly” by Brené Brown

If you haven’t seen Brené Brown’s TED talk on the power of vulnerability yet, you should probably head right over to youtube and do so now. Don’t take it just from me, believe the 12 million viewers around the globe who have put it on the most watched list of TED talks for the past nine years. I guess that’s what you get for talking about something that everybody experiences, but nobody is willing to admit to or wanting to engage with. Hiding anonymously behind your screen while watching somebody else being vulnerable is something extremely innate to our current digital culture. But the reason why Brown struck a nerve with her talk is the following: vulnerability is not only a feeling that makes us uncomfortable, it is also the birthplace of love, belonging and joy. The notion of “putting yourself out there”, which is usually followed by more terrifying feelings such as overwhelming joy or tremendous misery. It is the fear of the latter that keeps us from experiencing and allowing vulnerability. Brown encourages us to get over that fear. The book’s title “Daring Greatly” is derived from a Roosevelt speech from 1910 which deeply inspired her. The relevant part reads: “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, [...] and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly”
Now before you turn around thinking “yeah, yeah, this emotional stuff is all great, but how is that relevant to my business?!” - bear with me. We’ll get there.