“Daring Greatly” Review 1

Have you seen the Ted Talk by Brene Brown? I recently saw it (as well as her interview on Oprah) and was floored by the topic. I immediately bought the book “Daring Greatly” and had to share it with you. It is about showing up courageously (with your whole heart) and being vulnerable. 

As a leader what does that mean for you? It means rehumanizing work so that people stay engaged, feedback is open, the purpose of the work people do is clear, and that employees are not fearful of change (or adapting to rapidly shifting environments). It is allowing for failure in an organization without putting shame on people so that creativity and innovation can thrive. It is leaning into inspired leadership (or showing through your actions engaging work styles rather than just through what you say). It is about showing up and allowing people to thrive and not just survive in your organization.

She says in the first chapter we need to examine what we are up against as leaders in order to get to this place of rehumanizing the work place. She says we are currently in a culture of “Never Enough.” She says this comes from scarcity or a pervasive feeling of lack (e.g. - lack of time to get every thing done, lack of money, lack of abundance, lack of opportunity when the economy is in recession, lack of safety).  She continues to say that we spend an inordinate amount of time comparing ourselves (or our organizations) to others  based upon a fictional account of how great we think they are creating a sense of scarcity.

She says it also comes from the major shifts the country has gone through since 9/11 (wars, recession, a natural disasters, an increase in random violence) which has traumatized us as a culture. She says “worrying about scarcity is our culture’s version of post-traumatic stress,” and rather than coming together to heal we are left angry and scared.

She says the three components of scarcity that are influencing our culture:

• Shame - are we tying self-worth to achievement, productivity, or compliance?
  
• Comparison - are we constantly comparing and ranking? Are we stifling creativity?
  
• Disengagement - are people afraid to take risks?
  

She says the opposite of scarcity is enough or Wholeheartedness. At the core this is vulnerability or worthiness, facing uncertainty, exposure, emotional risks and knowing that I am enough.

Are you leading from a place of scarcity? Would you answer yes to any of the questions above about the three components of scarcity? Is your organization functioning from a place of lack? If so, keep reading the next blog posts to find out how you can shift that culture.