Last week I talked about Lady Gaga. Maybe I should rename this blog, “From
Drucker to Gaga.” Just kidding. Believe it or not, I do try to have
a coherence between the items I discuss. Like the title says, this
blog is about work, emotions, and paradoxes. Subjects which, I
believe, are inextricably intertwined.
In
talking about Lady Gaga I referred to something she said. Gaga once
had somebody tell her, “If you have no shadows then you're not
standing in the light.” The shadows. Those damn shadows. The
shadows are the critics. The haters. And, the whole concept got me
thinking about Brene Brown.
Do you
happen to know who Brene Brown is? If not, pay close attention
because she is fantastic! Brown is a professor of psychology at the
University of Houston. Her areas of research, and expertise, are
shame and vulnerability.
Professor
Brown spent a dozen years researching vulnerability. One day she was
surfing the web, to numb herself, from attacks she had received from
some of her own critics. At one point, she stumbled upon an old quote
by President Theodore Roosevelt. And, she said, “That quote was
everything I know about vulnerability.” Below is an image of the
quote Brene was referring to.
Brown
has written several books. The most recent of which is called Daring
Great. A title she obviously borrowed from Teddy Roosevelt. She has also
given some outstanding talks which you can watch online. Here is one such presentation. Not only is the material important but her
delivery style is simply great. Enjoy!
