Brené Brown

Brené Brown is a research professor at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work. She was born in San Antonio, Texas. She earned her social work degrees at the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Houston, where she completed her PhD in 2002. Her method is qualitative: she interviews people and codes their stories for patterns, an approach called grounded theory.

Her subjects are shame, vulnerability, courage and empathy. Her 2010 TEDx talk, "The Power of Vulnerability", became one of the most viewed TED talks and moved her work out of academia. Books followed, including The Gifts of Imperfection, Daring Greatly, Rising Strong and Atlas of the Heart.

Dare to Lead (2018) applies the research to work. It argues that courage is a set of four teachable skills: rumbling with vulnerability, living into your values, braving trust and learning to rise. Leaders who avoid hard conversations, she says, damage trust and performance. Brown also hosts the Unlocking Us and Dare to Lead podcasts and lives in Houston with her family.