HRTales

"Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts" by Brené Brown is a guide to cultivating courageous leadership. Brené argues the case for vulnerability, which refers to the preparedness to face uncertainty and exposure to others' emotions. She offers the BRAVING model of trust, which is further explained as Boundaries, Reliability, Accountability, Vault, Integrity, Non-judging, and Generosity. The leaders are enabled to live their core values and create environments in which every person is free to take a risk and be themselves, failing and rising again. Similarly, she mentions the traits of resilience and rising again after a fall. Discussion by Brown in her book was profoundly tough; about how one learns to offer and take feedback with both integrity and grace in words. These principles are complemented with practical exercises and personal reflections that have been provided for their application and, consequently, urge intense leadership action based on courage, trust, and compassion.

Some learnings from the book are as follows:

1. "The true price of leadership is the willingness to place the needs of others above your own."

2. "We are not victims of our situation. We are the architects of it."

3. "Leadership is a choice. It is not a rank."

4. "The strength of the culture, an organization’s ability to disseminate the values and beliefs upon which it was founded, starts with the leader’s willingness to take responsibility."

5. "Great leaders would never sacrifice the people to save the numbers. They would sooner sacrifice the numbers to save the people."