{"id":2998,"date":"2026-09-04T18:10:06","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T16:10:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/talent-to-match.com\/?p=2998"},"modified":"2026-09-07T21:09:52","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T19:09:52","slug":"five-things-im-taking-away-from-brene-browns-strong-ground","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/talent-to-match.com\/en\/five-things-im-taking-away-from-brene-browns-strong-ground\/","title":{"rendered":"Five things I\u2019m taking away from Bren\u00e9 Brown\u2019s Strong Ground"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve been a fan of Bren\u00e9 Brown for a long time. I really enjoyed The Power of Vulnerability<\/em> and The Gifts of Imperfection<\/em>, and found both thought-provoking. Dare to Lead<\/em> also contains some incredibly strong concepts that have stayed with me.<\/p>\n

Sometimes, you have to strip away some of the very American packaging. The big words, the long stories, and occasionally a little too much drama. But at their core, many of her ideas are genuinely good.<\/p>\n

So I was happily surprised when I saw that Bren\u00e9 Brown had written a new book: Strong Ground<\/em>. It is about courageous leadership in uncertain times. It is hard to think of a more relevant topic right now.<\/p>\n

I started reading it this summer with great enthusiasm, and I have to admit that it was a more challenging read than I had expected.<\/p>\n

Not because it lacks interesting ideas. If anything, there are almost too many of them. Brown also brings in the work of other thought leaders, including Jim Collins and Adam Grant. That makes the book jam-packed with interesting concepts, but at times also quite heavy to work through.<\/p>\n

So I am not going to try to summarize the entire book. I have selected five ideas that made me think: this is worth taking with me.<\/p>\n

They are certainly not the only lessons in the book, and they may not even be the five lessons someone else would choose. But they are the ideas that stayed with me because I recognize them in what I see happening inside organizations.<\/p>\n

1. We want courageous leaders, but we struggle with vulnerability<\/strong><\/h2>\n

One of the things Brown does particularly well is connect courage and vulnerability.<\/p>\n

Every organization wants courageous leaders. Leaders who are prepared to make difficult decisions, have uncomfortable conversations, and continue to provide direction in uncertain circumstances.<\/p>\n

But we are less comfortable with vulnerability. A leader who admits not knowing something can quickly be seen as uncertain. Someone who reconsiders a decision may be perceived as lacking resolve. And admitting that you misjudged something remains deeply uncomfortable for many people.<\/p>\n

According to Brown, courage cannot exist without vulnerability. And when you think about it, that makes sense. You do not need courage when you know exactly what to do and how everything will turn out.<\/p>\n

Courage only becomes relevant when there is risk. When you are not sure whether your decision is the right one. When you need to start a conversation without knowing where it will lead. Or when you have to admit that something did not go as you had hoped.<\/p>\n

That does not mean leaders should share every doubt with the entire organization. I do not believe vulnerability means putting everything on the table all the time. Leaders still need to take responsibility, and they should not expect their teams to constantly reassure them.<\/p>\n

But pretending to know everything does not work either.<\/p>\n

People can usually tell when a story does not quite add up, especially when their daily reality looks very different from what they are hearing from senior leadership.<\/p>\n

I also recognize what happens in organizations where mistakes are severely punished. People do not necessarily perform better. They mainly become more careful. They wait longer before raising problems, take fewer risks, and make sure that any important decision has been approved by enough other people.<\/p>\n

That may look like control. Often, it is simply people covering themselves.<\/p>\n

To me, vulnerability in leadership is not about showing a lot of emotion. It is about being honest enough to say what you know, what you do not know, and what you personally take responsibility for.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

2. Confidence is not the same as always sounding certain<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Brown writes about grounded confidence<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I find that an interesting concept because we still tend to associate leadership confidence with making quick decisions, speaking with certainty, and showing very little doubt.<\/p>\n

That can look impressive. Of course, it says nothing about the quality of the decision.<\/p>\n

Brown also uses the term pocket presence<\/em>, which comes from American football. I had to sit with that one for a moment because most European readers are less familiar with the sport.<\/p>\n

The quarterback stands in an area protected by his teammates. Everything around him is moving incredibly quickly. He cannot possibly follow every player and every movement individually, but he still needs to sense what is happening and make the right decision at the right time. To do that, he relies on his preparation, his experience, and his team.<\/p>\n

When you look at it that way, it is a useful image for leadership.<\/p>\n

As a leader, you cannot see everything yourself, and you certainly cannot know everything yourself. You depend on the quality of the people around you and on the information they are willing to share.<\/p>\n

That is where it gets interesting. The more senior someone becomes, the more information is summarized and filtered before it reaches them. That is not necessarily intentional. People quickly learn which messages a leader likes to hear and which subjects tend to trigger a less positive response.<\/p>\n

A leader can therefore receive an enormous number of reports and dashboards and still have a poor understanding of what is really going on.<\/p>\n

Everyone says employees should raise bad news quickly. But when someone actually does, the leader\u2019s response determines what happens next. If that person then has to spend half an hour defending why something went wrong, they will probably wait a little longer before speaking up the next time.<\/p>\n

That is not a complicated culture issue. People simply pay attention to what happens.<\/p>\n

To me, grounded confidence means having the courage to make a decision while also being able to tolerate information that challenges your original view. You do not have to change your mind immediately. But you do have to take the information seriously instead of pushing it away.<\/p>\n

A leader who never changes their mind may be very consistent. But it may also mean that nobody is trying to change it anymore.<\/p>\n

3. Trust is actually very concrete<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Trust appears in the corporate values of a great many organizations. What it means in practice is often less clear.<\/p>\n

Brown uses the BRAVING model for this. The letters stand for Boundaries, Reliability, Accountability, Vault, Integrity, Nonjudgment, and Generosity.<\/p>\n

I am not going to explain all seven elements separately. Otherwise, this article will end up as packed as the book.<\/p>\n

What I do like about the model is that Brown translates a rather vague concept into concrete behavior.<\/p>\n

Do you do what you promised?<\/p>\n

Do you say something when you realize you will not be able to deliver?<\/p>\n

Can people tell you something in confidence without hearing it repeated in another meeting?<\/p>\n

Can you admit a mistake without immediately giving five reasons why it was not really your fault?<\/p>\n

Can people ask for help without being judged for it later?<\/p>\n

That kind of thing.<\/p>\n

I find the final letter especially interesting. The G stands for Generosity<\/em>. Brown means that we should try to interpret someone\u2019s behavior in the most generous way possible.<\/p>\n

Not naively and not indefinitely, but without immediately deciding that someone is indifferent, difficult, or incompetent.<\/p>\n

Someone sends a very short email. A colleague challenges a decision for the third time. An employee fails to keep an agreement. We are remarkably quick to create a story about why someone behaved that way. We then respond to that story as if it were a fact.<\/p>\n

Sometimes your interpretation is exactly right. Sometimes it is not even close.<\/p>\n

Asking a question before reaching a conclusion sounds very simple. Under pressure, it happens surprisingly rarely.<\/p>\n

The same applies when something goes wrong. Of course someone needs to take responsibility. But asking who did it does not explain how it was able to happen.<\/p>\n

Was ownership clear? Did the person have the right information? Were the expectations realistic? Did we say quality was important while actually focusing only on speed?<\/p>\n

If the same problem returns six months later, we may have held someone accountable, but we have not necessarily solved anything.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

4. Two things can be true at the same time<\/strong><\/h2>\n

This may be the principle that stayed with me most.<\/p>\n

We like to make complex situations inside organizations simple. Something is going well or badly. A transformation is a success or a failure. We need to speed up or slow down.<\/p>\n

In reality, two things can be true at the same time.<\/p>\n

An organization can deliver strong results while exhausting its people.<\/p>\n

A transformation can be absolutely necessary and still be poorly executed.<\/p>\n

You can have confidence in the future while acknowledging that the current situation is extremely difficult.<\/p>\n

Brown refers to Jim Collins\u2019s Stockdale Paradox. The essence is that you continue to believe you will ultimately find a way forward while refusing to make today\u2019s facts look better than they are.<\/p>\n

That sounds logical. In practice, I often see leaders lean too far in one direction.<\/p>\n

Some continue to repeat a positive message, probably because they believe their role is to offer hope and confidence. But when employees experience something very different every day, that does not work. At some point, the positive message simply loses credibility.<\/p>\n

Other leaders spend so much time focusing on every problem that nobody knows whether there is still a plan.<\/p>\n

Naming reality without offering any perspective does not help people move forward either.<\/p>\n

The same principle applies when problems appear in different parts of an organization. If five teams are dealing with more or less the same issue, I would not immediately start looking for five separate solutions.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the priorities are unclear. Perhaps processes contradict each other. Perhaps we ask people to collaborate but assess them only on their individual results.<\/p>\n

I also think this is underestimated during transformations. A new system is introduced, the structure is changed, and everyone receives an explanation of the new way of working. Then people are surprised when, a few months later, behavior has hardly changed.<\/p>\n

A system may be necessary. A new structure may be necessary too. But neither automatically changes how people make decisions, share information, or deal with mistakes.<\/p>\n

That part takes longer and is harder to get hold of. That is probably also why we prefer to start with the structure.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

5. Clarity is a form of care<\/strong><\/h2>\n

And then come the interviews themselves. This is where things often go wrong. Many interviews revolve around standard questions everyone already knows the answers to. \u201cWhere do you see yourself in five years?\u201d rarely produces useful insights.<\/p>\n

The power lies in asking questions that reveal behavior. \u201cTell me about a time something went wrong. How did you handle it?\u201d Or: \u201cWhat do you do when you realize you\u2019re about to miss a deadline?\u201d<\/p>\n

But more important than the question is how you listen to the answer<\/strong>. Does someone take responsibility or push blame away? Do they radiate energy or defensiveness? Do they speak concretely, or stay vague?<\/p>\n

If you listen well, you\u2019ll get more insight from one answer than from ten CVs.<\/p>\n

A candidate might say: \u201cI enjoy teamwork,\u201d but can\u2019t name a single example that proves it. Or: \u201cI learn quickly,\u201d but fails to describe a situation that shows it.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the crux: the gap between what someone says and what someone does. A structured approach makes sure you see that difference.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

What stayed with me?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

I certainly will not be using every model in Strong Ground<\/em>. To be honest, there are simply too many of them.<\/p>\n

But these five ideas did stay with me. Mainly because they are not just about what leaders should know. They are about what people notice when the pressure is on.<\/p>\n

What happens when someone brings bad news? What happens when a decision turns out to be wrong? Can someone challenge a leader without regretting it later? And do people actually know what is expected of them?<\/p>\n

These are not spectacular questions. But they make a real difference inside organizations.<\/p>\n

Brown calls it Strong Ground<\/em>. To me, it is mostly about knowing what you stand for and continuing to act accordingly when things get difficult.<\/p>\n

And perhaps that is still one of the best tests of leadership.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Looking for a leader who stands firm when things get tough?<\/strong>
Discover how I help you find someone who not only fits the role, but also your organisation\u2019s culture, ambitions and future.<\/p>\n

Discover Executive Search<\/strong> >>><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve been a fan of Bren\u00e9 Brown for a long time. I really enjoyed The Power of Vulnerability and The Gifts of Imperfection, and found both thought-provoking. Dare to Lead also contains some incredibly strong concepts that have stayed with me. Sometimes, you have to strip away some of the very American packaging. The big […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2016,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"\n

I\u2019ve been a fan of Bren\u00e9 Brown for a long time. I really enjoyed The Power of Vulnerability<\/em> and The Gifts of Imperfection<\/em>, and found both thought-provoking. Dare to Lead<\/em> also contains some incredibly strong concepts that have stayed with me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes, you have to strip away some of the very American packaging. The big words, the long stories, and occasionally a little too much drama. But at their core, many of her ideas are genuinely good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I was happily surprised when I saw that Bren\u00e9 Brown had written a new book: Strong Ground<\/em>. It is about courageous leadership in uncertain times. It is hard to think of a more relevant topic right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I started reading it this summer with great enthusiasm, and I have to admit that it was a more challenging read than I had expected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not because it lacks interesting ideas. If anything, there are almost too many of them. Brown also brings in the work of other thought leaders, including Jim Collins and Adam Grant. That makes the book jam-packed with interesting concepts, but at times also quite heavy to work through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I am not going to try to summarize the entire book. I have selected five ideas that made me think: this is worth taking with me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They are certainly not the only lessons in the book, and they may not even be the five lessons someone else would choose. But they are the ideas that stayed with me because I recognize them in what I see happening inside organizations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


1. We want courageous leaders, but we struggle with vulnerability<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

One of the things Brown does particularly well is connect courage and vulnerability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every organization wants courageous leaders. Leaders who are prepared to make difficult decisions, have uncomfortable conversations, and continue to provide direction in uncertain circumstances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But we are less comfortable with vulnerability. A leader who admits not knowing something can quickly be seen as uncertain. Someone who reconsiders a decision may be perceived as lacking resolve. And admitting that you misjudged something remains deeply uncomfortable for many people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Brown, courage cannot exist without vulnerability. And when you think about it, that makes sense. You do not need courage when you know exactly what to do and how everything will turn out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Courage only becomes relevant when there is risk. When you are not sure whether your decision is the right one. When you need to start a conversation without knowing where it will lead. Or when you have to admit that something did not go as you had hoped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That does not mean leaders should share every doubt with the entire organization. I do not believe vulnerability means putting everything on the table all the time. Leaders still need to take responsibility, and they should not expect their teams to constantly reassure them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But pretending to know everything does not work either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People can usually tell when a story does not quite add up, especially when their daily reality looks very different from what they are hearing from senior leadership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also recognize what happens in organizations where mistakes are severely punished. People do not necessarily perform better. They mainly become more careful. They wait longer before raising problems, take fewer risks, and make sure that any important decision has been approved by enough other people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That may look like control. Often, it is simply people covering themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To me, vulnerability in leadership is not about showing a lot of emotion. It is about being honest enough to say what you know, what you do not know, and what you personally take responsibility for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Confidence is not the same as always sounding certain<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Brown writes about grounded confidence<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I find that an interesting concept because we still tend to associate leadership confidence with making quick decisions, speaking with certainty, and showing very little doubt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That can look impressive. Of course, it says nothing about the quality of the decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brown also uses the term pocket presence<\/em>, which comes from American football. I had to sit with that one for a moment because most European readers are less familiar with the sport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The quarterback stands in an area protected by his teammates. Everything around him is moving incredibly quickly. He cannot possibly follow every player and every movement individually, but he still needs to sense what is happening and make the right decision at the right time. To do that, he relies on his preparation, his experience, and his team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you look at it that way, it is a useful image for leadership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a leader, you cannot see everything yourself, and you certainly cannot know everything yourself. You depend on the quality of the people around you and on the information they are willing to share.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is where it gets interesting. The more senior someone becomes, the more information is summarized and filtered before it reaches them. That is not necessarily intentional. People quickly learn which messages a leader likes to hear and which subjects tend to trigger a less positive response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A leader can therefore receive an enormous number of reports and dashboards and still have a poor understanding of what is really going on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everyone says employees should raise bad news quickly. But when someone actually does, the leader\u2019s response determines what happens next. If that person then has to spend half an hour defending why something went wrong, they will probably wait a little longer before speaking up the next time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is not a complicated culture issue. People simply pay attention to what happens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To me, grounded confidence means having the courage to make a decision while also being able to tolerate information that challenges your original view. You do not have to change your mind immediately. But you do have to take the information seriously instead of pushing it away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A leader who never changes their mind may be very consistent. But it may also mean that nobody is trying to change it anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


3. Trust is actually very concrete<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Trust appears in the corporate values of a great many organizations. What it means in practice is often less clear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brown uses the BRAVING model for this. The letters stand for Boundaries, Reliability, Accountability, Vault, Integrity, Nonjudgment, and Generosity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am not going to explain all seven elements separately. Otherwise, this article will end up as packed as the book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What I do like about the model is that Brown translates a rather vague concept into concrete behavior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you do what you promised?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you say something when you realize you will not be able to deliver?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can people tell you something in confidence without hearing it repeated in another meeting?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can you admit a mistake without immediately giving five reasons why it was not really your fault?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can people ask for help without being judged for it later?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That kind of thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I find the final letter especially interesting. The G stands for Generosity<\/em>. Brown means that we should try to interpret someone\u2019s behavior in the most generous way possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not naively and not indefinitely, but without immediately deciding that someone is indifferent, difficult, or incompetent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Someone sends a very short email. A colleague challenges a decision for the third time. An employee fails to keep an agreement. We are remarkably quick to create a story about why someone behaved that way. We then respond to that story as if it were a fact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes your interpretation is exactly right. Sometimes it is not even close.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asking a question before reaching a conclusion sounds very simple. Under pressure, it happens surprisingly rarely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The same applies when something goes wrong. Of course someone needs to take responsibility. But asking who did it does not explain how it was able to happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Was ownership clear? Did the person have the right information? Were the expectations realistic? Did we say quality was important while actually focusing only on speed?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the same problem returns six months later, we may have held someone accountable, but we have not necessarily solved anything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Two things can be true at the same time<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This may be the principle that stayed with me most.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We like to make complex situations inside organizations simple. Something is going well or badly. A transformation is a success or a failure. We need to speed up or slow down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In reality, two things can be true at the same time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An organization can deliver strong results while exhausting its people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A transformation can be absolutely necessary and still be poorly executed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can have confidence in the future while acknowledging that the current situation is extremely difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brown refers to Jim Collins\u2019s Stockdale Paradox. The essence is that you continue to believe you will ultimately find a way forward while refusing to make today\u2019s facts look better than they are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That sounds logical. In practice, I often see leaders lean too far in one direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some continue to repeat a positive message, probably because they believe their role is to offer hope and confidence. But when employees experience something very different every day, that does not work. At some point, the positive message simply loses credibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other leaders spend so much time focusing on every problem that nobody knows whether there is still a plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Naming reality without offering any perspective does not help people move forward either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The same principle applies when problems appear in different parts of an organization. If five teams are dealing with more or less the same issue, I would not immediately start looking for five separate solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps the priorities are unclear. Perhaps processes contradict each other. Perhaps we ask people to collaborate but assess them only on their individual results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also think this is underestimated during transformations. A new system is introduced, the structure is changed, and everyone receives an explanation of the new way of working. Then people are surprised when, a few months later, behavior has hardly changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A system may be necessary. A new structure may be necessary too. But neither automatically changes how people make decisions, share information, or deal with mistakes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That part takes longer and is harder to get hold of. That is probably also why we prefer to start with the structure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Clarity is a form of care<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

And then come the interviews themselves. This is where things often go wrong. Many interviews revolve around standard questions everyone already knows the answers to. \u201cWhere do you see yourself in five years?\u201d rarely produces useful insights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The power lies in asking questions that reveal behavior. \u201cTell me about a time something went wrong. How did you handle it?\u201d Or: \u201cWhat do you do when you realize you\u2019re about to miss a deadline?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But more important than the question is how you listen to the answer<\/strong>. Does someone take responsibility or push blame away? Do they radiate energy or defensiveness? Do they speak concretely, or stay vague?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you listen well, you\u2019ll get more insight from one answer than from ten CVs.

A candidate might say: \u201cI enjoy teamwork,\u201d but can\u2019t name a single example that proves it. Or: \u201cI learn quickly,\u201d but fails to describe a situation that shows it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s the crux: the gap between what someone says and what someone does. A structured approach makes sure you see that difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What stayed with me?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I certainly will not be using every model in Strong Ground<\/em>. To be honest, there are simply too many of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But these five ideas did stay with me. Mainly because they are not just about what leaders should know. They are about what people notice when the pressure is on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What happens when someone brings bad news? What happens when a decision turns out to be wrong? Can someone challenge a leader without regretting it later? And do people actually know what is expected of them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These are not spectacular questions. But they make a real difference inside organizations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brown calls it Strong Ground<\/em>. To me, it is mostly about knowing what you stand for and continuing to act accordingly when things get difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And perhaps that is still one of the best tests of leadership.<\/p>\n","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsletter"],"yoast_head":"\nFive things I\u2019m taking away from Bren\u00e9 Brown\u2019s Strong Ground - Talent to Match<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/talent-to-match.com\/en\/five-things-im-taking-away-from-brene-browns-strong-ground\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Five things I\u2019m taking away from Bren\u00e9 Brown\u2019s Strong Ground - Talent to Match\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I\u2019ve been a fan of Bren\u00e9 Brown for a long time. I really enjoyed The Power of Vulnerability and The Gifts of Imperfection, and found both thought-provoking. Dare to Lead also contains some incredibly strong concepts that have stayed with me. Sometimes, you have to strip away some of the very American packaging. 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