Corporate Courage a la Brené Brown

You may not think of Brené Brown as someone very corporate, yet this exceptionally successful lady is at the helm of a decent team and a number of big projects. Between books, podcasts, appearances, her own research and the Netflix special, to say she has her hands full is probably a wild understatement.

I was bewildered and rather in awe when she emailed her subscribers last week to share that she and her whole team were going on break. Talking about the gap that I explore in today’s Looking Forward, she quoted Viktor Frankl:

“Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and freedom.”

The gap, the space, is becoming smaller and smaller, she says. Less measured, more reactive, it feels like she’s describing the whole world. She added:

“The past couple of years have been hard—personally and professionally—and I’ve found that space closing in on itself again. My responses have started sliding too close to the stimuli. I’m tired, and the pause is suffering. I can’t let that happen to me or to our organization. We need breath and space.”

So they are pausing all activity, going dark on social media, and having a podcast hiatus until after labor day. Even as I type I realise both the courage and the privilege that come with this announcement. Still, it feels like a great example of personal and corporate integrity. Read here.