Daring Greatly

How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead

by Brené Brown

English language

Published Oct. 30, 2012 by Gotham Books.

ISBN:: 978-1-59240-733-0

(56 reviews)

Every day we experience the uncertainty, risks, and emotional exposure that define what it means to be vulnerable or to dare greatly. Based on twelve years of pioneering research, Brené Brown PhD, MSW, dispels the cultural myth that vulnerability is weakness and argues that it is, in truth, our most accurate measure of courage.

Brown explains how vulnerability is both the core of difficult emotions like fear, grief, and disappointment, and the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, empathy, innovation, and creativity. She writes: “When we shut ourselves off from vulnerability, we distance ourselves from the experiences that bring purpose and meaning to our lives.”

Daring Greatly is not about winning or losing. It’s about courage. In a world where “never enough” dominates and feeling afraid has become second nature, vulnerability is subversive. Uncomfortable. It’s even a little dangerous at times. And, without question, putting ourselves out there means there’s a far greater risk of getting criticized or feeling hurt. But when we step back and examine our lives, we will find that nothing is as uncomfortable, dangerous, and hurtful as standing on the outside of our lives looking in and wondering what it would be like if we had the courage to step into the arena—whether it’s a new relationship, an important meeting, the creative process, or a difficult family conversation. Daring Greatly is a practice and a powerful new vision for letting ourselves be seen.

3 editions

BillieCodes reviewed Daring Greatly by Brené Brown

Review of 'Daring Greatly' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Good advice through a very specific lense.

So the science in it is good, as far as my knowledge goes, but it's applied through the lense of her experiences, which are not very intersectional.

The author is a Christian mother, and talks about that lot. When it comes to her advice it is always applied through the lense of being safe, i.e. not at risk of being attacked, and from a place of power in a relationship. The biggest fears she talks about are not being picked first for a sports team or her work being criticized.

If you are safe and in a position of explicit or implicit power I think this is a good book to read. If you are on the other side this book has a lot less to offer you.

Santhosh Guru reviewed Daring Greatly by Brené Brown

Review of 'Daring Greatly' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

This is a beautiful book that shines a light on the deepest blindspot in me. I recently struggled to grapple with the alien concept of self-love and self-compassion. It's quite a new idea for me. When someone talks about leading with vulnerability, it always gave a 404 error in me.

Brene Brown is a leading researcher on shame and vulnerability, and this book is an eye-opener for me into a new world. The concept of shame and the critical voice in my head was like water for a fish, which, as David Foster Wallace says, was invisible to me. Brene brings the rigor of qualitative and quantitative approaches to this problem. She writes about this voice, the damages done, and tools to manage it.

In my current quest for better mental health, this book has equipped me with some essential tools and vocabulary to think and work on. Highly, highly …

emma reviewed Daring Greatly by Brené Brown

Review of 'Daring Greatly' on 'Storygraph'

3 stars

I liked that this was based on large-scale interview experience. I have not encountered another self-help book that is so transparently based upon actual qualitative data, and I wish more authors in this genre would do this.

I struggled with this book mainly because, despite this, it apparently refuses to consider or problematise underlying sociocultural structures, particularly in the sections on corporate culture. By the end of the book, capitalism felt, to me, like the elephant in the room (I assume, somewhat cynically, that this is because there is a market for books such as this amongst corporate CEOs). Lululemon and IBM are not a remedy for the 'culture of scarcity'; by the very nature of their existence they perpetuate it. We must individually try to exist and thrive within and/or despite those structures, but in places I felt urged to simply embrace them instead, which I found more alienating …

Moorlock reviewed Daring Greatly by Brené Brown

Review of 'Daring Greatly' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

Brown has collected some of her insights about vulnerability, shame resilience, and "Wholeheartedness". If these insights resonate with you, you will find much to chew on from how she has explored a variety of common human difficulties, in situations like the workplace, school, and parenting, and has found solutions in the form of embracing vulnerability and working constructively with shame.

The book is a little overstuffed and repetitive for my tastes. I found myself skimming paragraphs that seemed to be saying the same thing from chapter to chapter.

I also would have appreciated if she had shared more of her reasoning with us. It was hard to tell if she was really on to something or whether she had just fallen in love with a pet theory and was interpreting all of her experience using it as a guide. Brown frequently says things like "the data suggest" or "research shows" without giving us much insight into what the research or the data was. There's an appendix that concerns her research methods, but I didn't come away from it feeling very enlightened. Details were few and the process seemed at first glance to be very vulnerable to confirmation bias.

But the book is probably better read as a pep talk rather than an argument. If you find her theory persuasive, you will be given many examples of how people have applied it in various contexts and the benefits they have felt from having done so.

Marcus reviewed Daring Greatly by Brené Brown

Review of 'Daring Greatly' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

This book is single-handedly one of the best things I've read in a long time. I've been looking a lot for a sorta reinforcement that I'm on the right track in my desire to be an effective life manager. I knew that being vulnerable was the key, but I didn't know exactly how, or to what extent. This book gives a great definition of what shame is, and how it colors a lot of our lives until we start to recognize and deconstruct it. It also gives you some great strategies to practice with shame resilience, and gives a good list of emotional barriers that keep us from being vulnerable life managers. I made so many notes, and I wish I could share them all. Anyone owes it to themselves to read this book and start their journey of process and growth right away.