At my best friend's wedding in May, I caught up with a friend from college I hadn't seen in a few years. She offhand mentioned Brene Brown and I asked who that was. Her response included "you are basically what Brene Brown is all about." So when I made it back home I watched her first TED talk on the Power of Vulnerability, immediately followed by her second TED talk on Listening to Shame. Within 5 minutes of finishing I texted my friend and said how obsessed I had become with this message...how honored I was to be thought of as "whole-hearted"...and she sent me Brene's Daring Greatly book and I read it start to finish. It's safe to say it has been a life-changing reframe for me. I read the "Man in the Arena" aka "Daring Greatly" quote often to stay grounded and inspired.
If you have no idea what I'm talking about, I'd encourage you to take some time to listen to her TED talks in order. For the purposes of this blog....finding inspirations that will keep us going...I enjoyed discovering Brene's talk to 99u, which is about supporting the "99% perspiration" principle in the creative community. In it, she focuses on the sweat we expend because of fear of criticism and she extends the arena metaphor to walk us all through how to deal with critics and how to make sure we reserve the best seats for our champions and ourselves.
I love this talk (and I re-listen to it often!) because I think the messaging of feedback and criticism is missing what this brings to it. In business school you have to be open to feedback and it's seen as extremely negative if you are not. But we know there is some criticism that is not helpful, on the far end, there's bullying and trolls and the like. So how do we differentiate constructive feedback from criticism and more importantly, how do we forge ahead when faced with a landslide of criticism? The power is immense in what she's saying here...knowing what the critics will say and saying back: "I see you, I hear you, but I'm going to show up and do this anyway". Bless.
Steep yourself in some Brene Brown...you won't regret!
If you have no idea what I'm talking about, I'd encourage you to take some time to listen to her TED talks in order. For the purposes of this blog....finding inspirations that will keep us going...I enjoyed discovering Brene's talk to 99u, which is about supporting the "99% perspiration" principle in the creative community. In it, she focuses on the sweat we expend because of fear of criticism and she extends the arena metaphor to walk us all through how to deal with critics and how to make sure we reserve the best seats for our champions and ourselves.
I love this talk (and I re-listen to it often!) because I think the messaging of feedback and criticism is missing what this brings to it. In business school you have to be open to feedback and it's seen as extremely negative if you are not. But we know there is some criticism that is not helpful, on the far end, there's bullying and trolls and the like. So how do we differentiate constructive feedback from criticism and more importantly, how do we forge ahead when faced with a landslide of criticism? The power is immense in what she's saying here...knowing what the critics will say and saying back: "I see you, I hear you, but I'm going to show up and do this anyway". Bless.
Steep yourself in some Brene Brown...you won't regret!
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
-President Theodore Roosevelt
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