Strong ground. The lessons of daring leadership, the tenacity of paradox, and the wisdom of the human spirit

Over the past six years, Brené Brown, along with coaches and facilitators certified in her work, has taken more than 150,000 leaders in forty-five countries through her Dare to Lead courage-building work. These interventions have taken place in organizations ranging from Fortune 100 companies and government agencies to NGOs and start-ups. As part of this process, Brené has worked closely with C-suite and senior leaders as they navigate technological, geopolitical, cultural, and market shifts at a pace of change the world has never seen.
In Strong Ground, Brené shares lessons from these experiences along with personal reflections, wisdom from other thinkers and teachers, and new research on what courageous and collaborative leadership looks like in times of growing instability, personal disconnection, and the disorienting integration of AI technologies. In addition to being a handbook for everyone from senior leaders developing and executing complex strategies to Gen Zers entering and navigating turbulent work environments, this book offers an unflinching take on the consequences of not acknowledging our yearning for meaning in our lives and our work, and why mission-driven impact and wholeheartedness are not mutually exclusive.
New leadership skills must drive deep collaboration, deep thinking, and deep connection. If we want individuals and teams who drive performance, we're going to need leaders who can reconnect to their humanity : their poetry, their grounded confidence, their strength in navigating paradox, and their ability to see patterns and make meaning. What we don't need are more leaders who run from the beautiful and often frustrating inherent tensions of being human, and toward technology or tools that make empty promises of certainty.
Organizations that build and maintain strong ground do so by first respecting and protecting human wisdom and connection as foundational and the most reliable source of functional strength. Technology built on dysfunction is dysfunction, regardless of the genius of the code or the power of the algorithm. Strong ground is the only thing that can provide both unwavering stability in a maelstrom of uncertainty and a platform for the fast, explosive change that the world is demanding.