Daring to Lead by Brené Brown
There is a reason that I rarely read or review books by the same author back to back. Whether it is fiction or nonfiction, they bleed together. “Dare to Lead” by Brené Brown is the third book by her I have read and reviewed in the last few weeks, and while that is will make it difficult to review that doesn’t mean that there wasn’t value in doing so. Both “Rising Strong” and “Daring Greatly” covered similar concepts while focusing on specific aspects.
The focus of “Dare to Lead”, as you might guess from the title, is leadership. But that isn’t as limited as it might seem at first. While Berné focused on the work environment, she still talks about family and friendships. One of the most difficult and interesting things in the book was a list of values she gave and asked you to pick two. Her point that if you focus on everything you’re not focused on anything. On a list of just over a hundred, I started with a list of thirty. I’m down to fifteen, but it’s getting harder, especially now that I’ve eliminated most of the values that were similar. Do I care more about dignity or curiosity? I’m not sure. I am sure that thinking about them is useful.
Perhaps what is most important about this book is that seems far more concrete that a lot of other books that I have seen. It has real useful ways to implement the suggestions in the book beyond this is good you should do it. One example that she uses that would help a lot while costing very little is what she calls painting done. The idea is that one person is giving a project to someone else. The first way, and the one that is often done is that they say, go do this and the other person goes and does their best. The problem with this is that it will lead to miscommunications and errors. A better option is the what does done look like approach. This means that the second person asks what the project will be when it’s done. This will get you most of the way to where you need to be most of the time. The third is painting done. Basically, the first person tells the second what needs done, then they discuss what done is like. She gives examples, but basically more direct communication will save time and hurt feelings. And that’s just one, fairly simple, idea. The book is full of them.
I like Brené Brown’s style and suggestions in this and her other books. The only minor negative is that by this third book they are covering a fair amount of the same ground. Some stories like the bead jar I have heard before. And while it is worthwhile to be reminded so I’m more likely to remember that it also makes this book a little less dense in new ideas if you’ve read the other two first. If you’re a leader, this is probably a great place to start. If you’ve read Berne’s other books, wait a little while and let them sink in more before jumping into this one so it can be both a refresher and some new material at the same time.
