"Dare to Lead" by Brené Brown explains that by exposing yourself to vulnerability, you open yourself to bravery and invention. You find the courage to improve yourself – and have difficult, substantial conversations with coworkers – when you let go of perfectionist attitudes and the fear of failure. In other words, to be a courageous leader, you must keep all your emotions in check. This book outlines several key ideas that WomenTech Network agrees with wholeheartedly and wants to share these concepts with its supporters from every corner of the globe, especially with the women in tech leaders:
- Begin your leadership journey by changing your perception of vulnerability as something negative.
- Courageous leaders make time to speak from the heart by providing and receiving genuine feedback.
- Permission slips are a great way to promote vulnerability and curiosity within team meetings. These slips give you and your team the opportunity to do a self check-in before a meeting begins – to identify your fears, hopes, and intentions. By doing this simple activity, you create an environment that is open, welcoming, and nurturing strong relationships.
- Organizations are made up of humans and vastly dependent on its people. Thus, we are always looking for narratives and patterns to help better understand our surroundings. As a leader, use meetings as a chance to identify any information or areas of knowledge that may be missing.
- Your core values act as a compass, showing you the way and giving you the strength to move forward with confidence.
- The idea of perfection stands in the path to excellent leadership, bravery, and development.
Conclusion
Explore and understand your feelings instead of avoiding and blocking them.
When we feel vulnerable, our first response is often to try to make it go away. Next time when this happens to you, consider whether it's a true sensation or simply an emotional, automatic reaction. What am I truly feeling right now? Where did this emotion come from? Once you've discovered the genuine problem, you can work out what will bring you true comfort and relief.
We hope that this book review has inspired you to be a daring leader. If you wish to connect and exchange insights with fellow women in tech while successfully navigating or advancing to the C-Suite, join the C-level network of executive women in tech here.
