8 Brené Brown Speeches That Will Leave You Feeling Insanely Empowered
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If you think vulnerability is a bad thing, Brené Brown has more than a few words for you. Brown is a research professor at the University of Houston — where she focuses on shame, empathy, vulnerability, and the effect they all have on the way we love, parent, and strengthen relationships — and she's bringing her words of wisdom to Netflix in the form of a new special, Brené Brown: The Call to Courage, now streaming.
The special shares the hour-long speech she gave in Royce Hall at UCLA, but lucky for us, there are plenty more videos that feature Brown's thoughts on the relationship between courage and vulnerability. Read on to hear Brown's best speeches of all time (including, of course, the 2010 TED Talk that has since changed the definition of vulnerability for millions of viewers).
The Power of Vulnerability
In her insanely popular 2010 TEDx Houston talk, Brown discusses how leaning into the discomfort of uncertainty, risk, and emotional exposure can actually open the door to a variety of experiences that those reluctant to exposing vulnerability might miss out on, such as love, belonging, trust, joy, and creativity.
Listening to Shame
In her follow-up TED talk to The Power of Vulnerability, Brown focuses on the unspoken epidemic of shame, explaining the difference between shame and guilt (guilt being the feeling that we did something bad, and shame the feeling or belief that we are bad) and how shame leads to some of the most destructive forms of behavior.
The Price of Invulnerability
Soon after making her TEDx Houston debut, Brown appeared at appeared at TEDx Kansas City to explain how closing off the parts of our lives and selves that make us feel vulnerable actually forces us to sacrifice the most important tool for navigating uncertainty: joy.
Why Your Critics Aren't the Ones Who Count
Presented at the 2013 Adobe 99U conference, this talk examines that frightening moment when we expose our ideas to the world and how refusing to "armor up" or shut ourselves off from criticism can actually help us better cope with critics and self-doubt.
Daring Classrooms
In her 2017 SXSWedu keynote speech, Brown discuss the importance of courage in the classroom, where engaging with vulnerability allows both teachers and students to recognize and combat shame and make for a better, stronger, and more honest learning environment.
Sunday Sermon
In this sermon delivered to the Washington National Cathedral, Brown shares her own experience with spirituality, explaining how the spiritual practice of believing in yourself and belonging to yourself allows you to share your most authentic self with the world.
On Belonging
Before delivering The Power of Vulnerability, Brown gave this talk at the 2009 UP Experience, explaining how the human need to live with authenticity and a deep sense of love and belonging is at the heart of all of her work.
On Building Hope
Brown gave another speech at the UP Experience in 2011 about why failure is necessary to building resilience and hope, as hopeful people do not allow their failures to define them and that power allows them to persevere.