Brené Brown was inspired and challenged by a famous speech given by Teddy Roosevelt in 1910, and this address forms the basis of her book Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead.
“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, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.” Teddy Roosevelt.
Why have you chosen this book?
I am a client experience manager – by nature of what I do I am challenged daily to think about how to engage with clients at an emotional level. How do we form meaningful relationships that go beyond the normal deliverables? The idea of being vulnerable resonates with me as I have always valued authenticity and realness in relationships – whoever they may involve. The topics of emotions and vulnerability constantly bounce around our team meetings and this book dives straight in to hit you where it hurts!
What will business owners gain from this book?
An understanding of the need for and the importance of vulnerability – within teams, employees and leadership alike and most importantly within client relationships. Allowing yourself to feel and become vulnerable will strengthen and deepen relationships in a way that will revolutionalise the way you lead.
Below is an excerpt from Brown’s book:
“When we spend our lives waiting until we’re perfect or bulletproof before we walk into the arena, we ultimately sacrifice relationships and opportunities that may not be recoverable, we squander our precious time, and we turn our backs on our gifts, those unique contributions that only we can make,” says Brown. “Perfect and bulletproof are seductive, but they don’t exist in the human experience.”
“To put our art, our writing, our photography, our ideas out into the world with no assurance of acceptance or appreciation—that’s also vulnerability. To let ourselves sink into the joyful moments of our lives even though we know that they are fleeting, even though the world tells us not to be too happy lest we invite disaster—that’s an intense form of vulnerability.
It starts to make sense that we dismiss vulnerability as weakness only when we realize that we’ve confused feeling with failing and emotions with liabilities. If we want to reclaim the essential emotional part of our lives and reignite our passion and purpose, we have to learn how to own and engage with our vulnerability and how to feel the emotions that come with it. For some of us, it’s new learning, and for others it’s relearning. Either way, the research taught me that the best place to start is with defining, recognizing, and understanding vulnerability.”
Daring Greatly by Brené Brown. Gotham Books, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc., Copyright (c) 2012.