Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts. by Brené Brown (2018)

Brown, Brené. Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts. Vermillion, 2018.

“Leadership is not about titles, status, and wielding power. A leader is anyone who takes responsibility for recognizing the potential in people and ideas, and has the courage to develop that potential.

When we dare to lead, we don’t pretend to have the right answers; we stay curious and ask the right questions. We don’t see power as finite and hoard it; we know that power becomes infinite when we share it with others. We don’t avoid difficult conversations and situations; we lean into vulnerability when it’s necessary to do good work.

But daring leadership in a culture defined by scarcity, fear, and uncertainty requires skill-building around traits that are deeply and uniquely human. The irony is that we’re choosing not to invest in developing the hearts and minds of leaders at the exact same time as we’re scrambling to figure out what we have to offer that machines and AI can’t do better and faster. What can we do better? Empathy, connection, and courage, to start.

Four-time #1 New York Times bestselling author Brené Brown has spent the past two decades studying the emotions and experiences that give meaning to our lives, and the past seven years working with transformative leaders and teams spanning the globe. She found that leaders in organizations ranging from small entrepreneurial startups and family-owned businesses to nonprofits, civic organizations, and Fortune 50 companies all ask the same question:

How do you cultivate braver, more daring leaders, and how do you embed the value of courage in your culture?”

Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl (1946)

Frankl, Viktor (1946). Man’s Search for Meaning. Beacon Press, 1946.

“This seminal book, which has been called ‘one of the outstanding contributions to psychological thought’ by Carl Rogers and ‘one of the great books of our time’ by Harold Kushner, has been translated into more than fifty languages and sold over sixteen million copies. ‘An enduring work of survival literature,’ according to the New York Times, Viktor Frankl’s riveting account of his time in the Nazi concentration camps, and his insightful exploration of the human will to find meaning in spite of the worst adversity, has offered solace and guidance to generations of readers since it was first published in 1946. At the heart of Frankl’s theory of logotherapy (from the Greek word for ‘meaning’) is a conviction that the primary human drive is not pleasure, as Freud maintained, but rather the discovery and pursuit of what the individual finds meaningful. Today, as new generations face new challenges and an ever more complex and uncertain world, Frankl’s classic work continues to inspire us all to find significance in the very act of living, in spite of all obstacles.”

Positive Psychology : Theory, Research and Applications by Ilona Boniwell & Aneta Tunariu (2019)

Boniwell, Ilona, and Aneta D. Tunariu. Positive Psychology : Theory, Research and Applications, McGraw-Hill Education, 2019.

“The second edition of Positive Psychology features ground-breaking evidence and thinking on the topics of happiness, flow, optimism, motivation and more. Discover how to increase happiness levels, what obstacles to flourishing affect our day-to-day lives and how to apply positive psychology to diverse professional disciplines. The authors map the key positive psychology interventions available and discuss their merits with an emphasis on practice and evaluation.”