Review: Dare To Lead

By Brene Brown

My rating: 4 stars

Goodreads Rating: 4.17

Genre: Business Self-Help

Format Read: Audiobook

Goodreads summary: In her #1 NYT bestsellers, Brené Brown taught us what it means to dare greatly, rise strong and brave the wilderness. Now, based on new research conducted with leaders, change makers and culture shifters, she’s showing us how to put those ideas into practice so we can step up and lead.

Leadership is not about titles, status and power over people. Leaders are people who hold themselves accountable for recognising the potential in people and ideas, and developing that potential. This is a book for everyone who is ready to choose courage over comfort, make a difference and lead.

When we dare to lead, we don’t pretend to have the right answers; we stay curious and ask the right questions. We don’t see power as finite and hoard it; we know that power becomes infinite when we share it and work to align authority and accountability. We don’t avoid difficult conversations and situations; we lean into the vulnerability that’s necessary to do good work.

But daring leadership in a culture that’s defined by scarcity, fear and uncertainty requires building courage skills, which are uniquely human. The irony is that we’re choosing not to invest in developing the hearts and minds of leaders at the same time we’re scrambling to figure out what we have to offer that machines can’t do better and faster. What can we do better? Empathy, connection and courage to start.

Find the book: Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

---

Review

Another nonfiction book get hypeeee!!! I am on a journey of self improvement this year and all of you guys are coming along for the ride. Dare to Lead is about becoming a better leader specifically in the workplace, but what I loved about this book is that I felt like it had broader applications to life that made it even more interesting to read.

I am not really at a place in my career where the career advice was helpful yet. I want to be a great leader, but I don’t have anyone to lead and most of the advice is specifically about setting culture norms which is… hard to do when you are quite literally the most junior member of your team. I did however think that her advice was good, and contrary to a lot of other books that I have read on the subject, this one actually gave you concrete ways to start improving culture. They were little things that you can put into practice immediately, and that’s something that I find great! It’s so hard to just vaguely “improve culture” but it’s really easy to, for example, change the way your team takes notes at meetings so that it’s not just one person’s memory hours after the fact.

I said earlier that a lot of what happened in this book applies to daily life. What I mean by that is that there were tips about being a better friend, a better partner, and just generally a better person, especially in the last 1/3 of the novel. Conversations about empathy and thinking about the stories you are inventing in your head before just spewing them out are useful for anyone.

That being said, I don’t see much of a point in reading this book if you aren’t currently in a leadership position or don’t plan to move into a leadership position somewhat soon. If you are about to transition into a leadership role, then this is a must read.