CORINNE

          Daring Greatly is book written by Dr. Brene Brown. She published the book in September 13, 2012. After doing extensive research on vulnerability, shame, fear, and courage, Brown was given opportunities to share her findings in Ted talks around the nation. By facing her own fears and pushing herself to be courageous, the author decided she wanted to write a book on her research. The primary purpose of the book is to help others challenge themselves, by educating them on their behaviours and thoughts that affect how we treat vulnerabilities.

My favorite parts of the book are when she breaks down word anatomy to their literal meanings and then proceeded to explain the psychological and real world implications of the word. Sometimes the words were very similar to their literal meanings, but other have been skewed and have a very different societal perception now.

          In Chapter 2 Brown breaks down 4 different myths of vulnerability. This was my favorite chapter. I believe the cornerstone of the entire book is “Myth #1 “”Vulnerability is Weakness.”” (Pg. 68). Things such as standing up for others, laying off an employee, asking forgiveness, and having faith, are all vulnerabilities that are not weakness, but courage.

While it was not the most enjoyable part of the book for me, the chapter on shame stuck with me in a uncomfortable way.  My unhealthy relations with shame have held me back and kept me from opportunities. I have many different interests and creative ideas that are out of my peer and social group norm, that I have let shame keep me from. In order to combat this shame with worthiness and allowing myself to be “good enough” even if I am not perfect.

          Vulnerability is all about building rapport and building trust which are the foundation for communication which is a core competency for a Mays transformational leader. In the book it explains the importance of showing yourself and sharing information about yourself in a truthful way is important. Communication skills depend on your ability to listen and accept people's vulnerabilities while sharing your own.

In this book I have learned a lot more about myself, how I see myself, and how I should interact with others. I am now aware of my battle with shame and how that may be holding me back. In chapter 6 Brene listed ways to facilitate a shame resilient organization. (Pg. 358) Some of the ways I hope to enrich and better the organizations are supporting leaders who facilitate honest creative conversation, teach organizational members the difference between shame and guilt, and normalizing problems and struggles that many people in the organization have.

         The author describes a time in which she had to let her daughter fail in order to give her hope. As a daughter, I have been on the receiving end of this tough love. My mom has allowed me to fail over and over in order to learn how to pick myself up and keep going. In high school I loved soccer, but my senior year the team was not receptive to a new player not earning my spot on the starting team. I wanted to give in and retaliate, quit, anything, but my mom wouldn't let me give in. It was not easy, but I enjoyed the time on the field and learned how to ignore the rest.

           So far I have not found anything I inherently disagree with or feel off put by in the book, but I will keep looking.

I plan on reading this book again a little at a time and referencing certain parts when I need more courage and hope to express my creative ideas. I now have a digital copy and can reference it when I need. I would recommend this book to others perusing Human Resources like me because it is a great resource for understanding others and helping create a space that all ideas are considered and heard.

From this book I hope to not only take the information I learned about courage and apply it to my life and teach others. Right now I am looking to be a human resource professional and the most important part of that job is diversity and inclusion. An important part of inclusion is that no one feels ashamed about traits of themselves and are not ashamed to share their input. I plan on implementing the ideas of vulnerability and trust to the employees in order to create an efficient and cohesive environment.