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How Brené Brown Works
Dr. Brené Brown is a social worker turned research professor at the University of Houston and also a visiting professor in management at The University of Texas at Austin McCombs School of Business.
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.
Br Brown’s TED talk – The Power of Vulnerability – is one of the top five most viewed TED talks in the world with over 45 million views. She is also the first researcher to have a filmed lecture on Netflix.
Dr. Brown’s success comes from chasing her curiosity, not expectations. Her 20s were largely unremarkable, at least academically. She got her college degree at 29 and by her own account exhausted her 30s trying to perfect, prove and perform. One of the best career advice also explains why it is critical to pick the right problems to solve. Hard work won’t make you win if you are on the wrong track and competing against your curiosity and conviction. She says that we should make sure that when it comes to being successful, make sure that your ladder is leaning against the right building.
It was only in her 40s that all her experiences came together. She became the illustrious academic-cum-vulnerability champion with an Oprah interview and a viral TED talk. She built a thriving business from her coaching and speaking engagements.
While all the professional success was welcome, it proved to highlight the dichotomy between Dr. Brown's ambition and her reluctant relationship with being a public figure, between the scholar who preaches vulnerability and the one who's built a wall of protection against the outside world. She is still figuring out this conundrum but so far she has prioritized her mission to share her lessons and findings for the benefit of the wider world over her discomfort of constantly being in the public gaze.
If there is one phrase that we remember from Dr. Brown’s research, this should be it – choose courage over comfort and remember that vulnerability builds trust. Vulnerability of course doesn’t mean invasion of privacy. Dr. Brown is strict about setting boundaries. While she’ll share what’s vulnerable in her life, she makes it a point to never share what’s intimate in her life.
After getting 8-9 hours of sleep Dr. Brown mornings usually start at 630 am with gratitude practice. It sounds something like “I am thankful for another day and I’m going to choose courage over comfort today.” While this might seem like a small thing, it has turned out to be a purpose reinforcing ritual that kickstarts her day on a high.
After a light breakfast and some exercise, she gets to work. Being an introvert, she takes at least half a day every week just to be with herself and think. As someone who loves swimming and walking, she loves to digitally detox without guilt. I deliberately used the word guilt here as Dr. Brown constantly reminds us that guilt is “I did something bad” and shame is “I am something bad”. Shame is focus on self and guilt is focus on behavior.
When it comes to creativity and productivity hacks, one should always focus on behavior. Dr. Brown owes it to three habits she has carefully cultivated: exercise, contemplation time and time for being along.
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Ahead of the writing masterclass by Utkarsh this Saturday, we are thrilled to share some love by LinkedIn.
LinkedIn Editorial Feature Link: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/news/rebels-may-be-good-for-your-company-4789220/
We look forward to welcoming you - our premium subscribers to our library this weekend. For those who are not in Delhi, London or Oxford, we will conduct several writing masterclasses online.
Let’s become great writers together!
Your LinkedIn Premium Editorial Team