Dare to Lead

Leadership, in Brené Brown's view, has nothing to do with titles, status or power over people. A leader is anyone who takes responsibility for spotting potential in people and ideas and then helps that potential grow. This is a non-fiction guide to doing that with courage.

Brown draws on two decades of research into the emotions that give meaning to our lives. In that time she found that leaders across very different organisations bring her the same two concerns. These range from small start-ups and family businesses to non-profits, civic groups and Fortune 50 companies.

Those leaders want to know how to develop braver, more daring colleagues. They also want to know how to make courage a value that runs through a whole culture.

The book answers with practical strategies and real examples taken from her research-based courage-building programme. Daring leaders stay curious and ask good questions instead of pretending to hold every answer. They treat power as something that grows when it is shared, not something to hoard.

They also step into difficult conversations, accepting vulnerability when the work calls for it. The approach combines research, storytelling and candour. It suits anyone in a leadership role, formal or not, who wants to choose courage over comfort, and it reads as a working guide rather than a theory text.