This week’s conversation is with Dr. Brené Brown, a research professor at the University of Houston where she holds the Huffington Foundation – Brené Brown Endowed Chair at The Graduate College of Social Work.

She has spent the past two decades studying courage, vulnerability, shame, and empathy and is the author of five #1 New York Times bestsellers: The Gifts of Imperfection, Daring Greatly, Rising Strong, Braving the Wilderness and her latest book Dare to Lead, which is the culmination of a seven-year study on courage and leadership

Brené’s TED talk – The Power of Vulnerability – is one of the top five most viewed TED talks in the world with over 35 million views.

The relationship between vulnerability and courage is a focal point of our conversation.

In Brené’s words: “You cannot get to courage without walking right through vulnerability.”

So what is courage all about and when is it the right time to be vulnerable?

Whether it be with a loved one or in the corporate world, do you have the courage to say or do the difficult things?

And if you’re a leader, do you have the courage to create a culture that actually allows for people to fall on their face and get back up?

Brené has an amazing way of putting her researching into action with simple and applied strategies so I can’t wait for you to learn from her.

“The easiest way to think about vulnerability is the willingness to show up and be seen when you can’t control the outcome.”

In This Episode:

• Balancing her thirst to share what she’s learned vs. practice it
• How her husband and her maintain a strong relationship while both leading busy lives
• Why it’s important to identify a small, select amount of people in your life and take their feedback to heart
• Don’t listen to the critics: Why Teddy Roosevelt’s “Man In The Arena” quote is so meaningful to her
• If you’re brave enough, you’re going to get your ass kicked
• The fail fast mantra.. is it bullshit?
• What the research showed in her new book Dare to Lead: we need braver leaders
• The 4 skill sets of courage:  rumbling with vulnerability, living into our values, braving trust and learning to rise
• Is it hard to get men to be vulnerable?
• Understanding the time and place for vulnerability