BRENE BROWN
Dr. Brené Brown is a research professor at the University of Houston, where she holds the Huffington Foundation Endowed Chair at the Graduate College of Social Work. She also holds the position of visiting professor in management at The University of Texas at Austin McCombs School of Business.
Brené has spent the past two decades studying courage, vulnerability, shame, and empathy. She is the author of six #1 New York Times bestsellers and is the host of two award-winning podcasts, Unlocking Us and Dare to Lead.
Brené’s books have been translated into more than 30 languages, and her titles include Atlas of the Heart, Dare to Lead, Braving the Wilderness, Rising Strong, Daring Greatly, and The Gifts of Imperfection. With Tarana Burke, she co-edited the bestselling anthology You Are Your Best Thing: Vulnerability, Shame Resilience, and the Black Experience.
Brené’s TED talk on the Power of Vulnerability is one of the top five most-viewed TED talks in the world, with over 60 million views. She spends most of her time working in organizations around the world, helping develop braver leaders and more courageous cultures. In 2024, she was named as the executive director of The Center for Daring Leadership at BetterUp.
She lives in Houston, Texas, with her husband, Steve. They have two children, Ellen and Charlie, and a weird Bichon named Lucy.
Leaders in organizations ranging from small entrepreneurial startups and family-owned businesses to nonprofits, civic organizations, and Fortune 50 companies, are asking the same question:
How do you cultivate braver, more daring leaders, and how do you embed the value of courage in your culture?
Based on twenty years of research, including the past seven studying leadership, Brené found the answer: Daring leadership is a collection of four skill sets that are 100 percent teachable, observable, and measurable. It’s learning and unlearning that requires brave work, tough conversations, and showing up with your whole heart.
In this keynote, Brené uses research, stories, and examples to explore:
The ten cultural barriers to courageous leadership
The four skill sets that underpin courage:
Rumbling with Vulnerability
Living into Our Values
Braving Trust
Learning to Rise
The difference between armored leadership and daring leadership
Why curiosity and grounded confidence are at the heart of brave work and tough conversations
The data informing this research was collected from a broad sample of participants. The talk can be adapted for corporate audiences, parents, educators, or faith communities).
If we’re brave enough often enough we will fall. Rising strong after a setback, disappointment, or failure is how we cultivate wholeheartedness in our lives; it’s the process that teaches us the most about who we are. In this keynote we will:
Explore the critical role emotion plays in resetting after a fall and the connections between emotion, thought and behavior.
Define integrity and explore how offloading emotion moves us away from our values and corrodes culture.
Examine the power of storytelling and the dangers of confabulations and conspiracies.
Explore the three elements of the rising strong process (The Reckoning, The Rumble, and The Revolution).
Develop actionable strategies for getting back after a fall or setback so that we can live, love, and lead with greater courage.
The data informing this research was collected from a broad sample of participants. The talk can be adapted for corporate audiences, parents, educators, or faith communities.
True belonging is the practice of belonging to yourself so deeply that you can share your most authentic self with the world and find sacredness in both being a part of something and standing alone. True belonging doesn’t require you to change who you are; it requires you to be who you are. This type of courage and strength can only be forged in the wilderness – through the lived experiences of collective joy and pain, curiosity and questioning, investing in connection, and grounded confidence.
In this keynote we will explore:
The factors leading to a culture of fitting in versus true belonging, cynicism versus engagement, and disconnection versus connection.
The power behind the four practices of true belonging (collective joy and pain; debunking, de-bunkering, and decency; investing in community; and grounded confidence).
Six qualities of leaders who cultivate cultures of true belonging and commitment versus leaders who build cultures of fitting in and compliance.
Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone
A timely and important book that challenges everything we think we know about cultivating true belonging in our communities, organizations, and culture, from the #1 bestselling author of Rising Strong, Daring Greatly, and The Gifts of Imperfection
Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts.
Brené Brown has 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.