One of the best researchers on the scene today is a woman named Brene Brown, Ph.D.,LMSW.  You can see and hear her on You-Tube or TED talks.  She is a Social Worker who has done extensive research on the negative emotion called shame.  I think she is incredibly brilliant.  She is transparent, authentic, compassionate, and very connected.  I recommend all her books, especially the latest one, published this year and entitled, “Daring Greatly.”  Shame is one of our most pervasive, dangerous negative emotions.  She has wisely suggested that the answer to shame is resilience.  We study resilience in Bio-Mimicry and I learned that resilience is nature’s answer to cycles of decay and death.  It is our natural tendency to try again following failure.  We spring back from our defeat with new courage, unless we are caught in the spiral of shame, which is a basic self belief that we are not enough.

“Daring Greatly” is a book worth reading and I highly recommend it, especially to anyone who has responsibility for groups, teams, or individuals.  I think of all our managers at Interface, Inc. and wish they would read the book, implement her ideas, and foster engagement on the part of all those wonderful people who work at this incredible forward-thinking company.  I offer a quote to help whet your appetite so that you might get to know her work for yourself.

On page 212, Dr. Brene Brown published The Daring Greatly Leadership Manifesto.  It can also be obtained from her website, www.brenebrown.com.  Let me know what you think after you read it and we will brainstorm ideas that bring her work into our daily lives.  I think she is onto the next evolutionary growth possibility for us human beings.

The Daring Greatly Leadership Manifesto

To the CEOs and teachers.  To the principals and the managers.  To the politicians, community leaders, and decision-makers:

We want to show up, we want to learn, and we want to inspire.

We are hardwired for connection, curiosity, and engagement.

We crave purpose, and we have a deep desire to create and contribute.

We want to take risks, embrace our vulnerabilities, and be courageous.

When learning and working are dehumanized–when you no longer see us and no longer encourage our daring, or when you only see what we produce or how we perform–we disengage and turn away from the very things that the world needs from us: our talent, our ideas, and our passion.

What we ask is that you engage with us, show up beside us, and learn from us.

Feedback is a function of respect, when you don’t have honest conversations with us about our strengths and our opportunitites for growth, we question our contributions and your commitment.

Above all else, we ask that you show up, be yourself, be seen, and be courageous.  Dare Greatly with us.