Brené Brown on Being a Steady Leader in Tumultuous Times
Timestamps are as accurate as they can be but may be slightly off. We encourage you to listen to the full context.
Podcast Summary
In this HBR IdeaCast episode, renowned researcher and author Brené Brown discusses the challenges of leading during periods of massive instability and unpredictability. (03:05) Brown argues that we're living in an era where our ability to forecast even short-term outcomes has been completely disrupted, requiring leaders to fundamentally change their approach. She introduces the concept of "strong ground" – a leadership philosophy that emphasizes grounding oneself in values to provide both stability and agility during turbulent times. (10:21) Drawing from sports metaphors and her own physical training experience, Brown explains how leaders can develop what she calls "pocket presence" – the ability to make strategic decisions under pressure while maintaining systems thinking and avoiding reactive behaviors.
- The episode focuses on developing grounded leadership competencies that help executives navigate uncertainty while staying true to their core values rather than leading from fear.
Speakers
Brené Brown
Brené Brown is a renowned researcher, professor at the University of Houston, and bestselling author known for her groundbreaking work on vulnerability, courage, and leadership. She is the author of multiple bestsellers including "Dare to Lead" and her latest book "Strong Ground: The Lessons of Daring Leadership, The Tenacity of Paradox, and The Wisdom of the Human Spirit." Over the past six years, Brown has trained over 150,000 leaders across 45 countries through her courageous leadership programming, establishing herself as one of the foremost experts on transformational leadership in uncertain times.
Key Takeaways
Lead by "Settling the Ball" Rather Than Reactive Decision-Making
Brown uses a powerful soccer metaphor to describe how leaders should respond to crisis situations. (03:23) Instead of making fast, non-strategic decisions like five-year-olds trying to kick balls coming at head height, effective leaders need to "settle the ball" - catch it with their chest, drop it to the ground, put their foot on it to maintain possession, and then look strategically down the field. This approach requires leaders to resist the urge for immediate action and instead take time to assess situations systematically before responding. The key insight is that in periods of uncertainty, leaders often abandon their strategic thinking skills not because they lack them, but because scarcity mode prevents them from deploying what they know.
Develop "Pocket Presence" as a Collective Leadership Competency
Brown introduces pocket presence as a measurable alternative to the vague concept of executive presence. (16:09) Borrowed from football terminology, pocket presence encompasses three critical skills: anticipatory thinking (making decisions based on where situations are heading, not where they currently are), temporal awareness (having an accurate internal sense of timing and pressure), and situational awareness (understanding how your team operates within organizational, market, and geopolitical systems). Unlike executive presence, which can introduce bias, pocket presence is observable, measurable, and teachable. (17:38) Leaders can develop this by practicing these three awareness types in high-pressure situations and recognizing that it's a collective competency that requires team coordination.
Values That Can Be Abandoned Based on Administration Aren't Real Values
In addressing the current politicized business environment, Brown makes a critical distinction between authentic values and performative branding. (08:31) She argues that if a company's stated values around sustainability, diversity, or integrity can be abandoned based on who's in political power, they were never truly core values but rather marketing ideas. (09:09) Real values may evolve in their expression over time - for instance, a company with integrity as a value should expand that to include data governance and privacy in the digital age - but the fundamental value itself should remain constant. Leaders who abandon values based on political winds will face consumer backlash and lose long-term credibility.
Replace Armor with Grounded Confidence Through Pattern Recognition
Through extensive research with 150 transformational leaders, Brown discovered that fear isn't the barrier to courageous leadership - armor is. (19:58) When leaders don't have emotional awareness to recognize they're operating from fear, they put on protective armor that actually hinders their effectiveness. The antidote is grounded confidence, which includes developing pattern recognition skills. (21:12) Pattern recognition works as a cognitive process where the mind quickly filters through past experiences to identify successful approaches to similar situations. Leaders can develop this skill by ensuring open discussions about failures and setbacks, creating mental file systems that sharpen their intuitive decision-making abilities for future challenges.
Create Time Where None Exists for Strategic Thinking
Brown's most immediate advice for leaders is learning to create breathing space for thoughtful decision-making even in high-pressure environments. (28:00) She emphasizes that leaders need to figure out how to slow down rooms, run premortems on major decisions, and invite red teams to challenge their thinking. (28:59) The most dangerous phrase she hears repeatedly across companies is "I don't have time to think about it." This reactive approach leads to poor strategic outcomes. The solution isn't taking months for decisions, but creating minutes of grounded thinking before acting. This requires leaders to settle themselves first, then settle the people around them, enabling better strategic outcomes even under intense pressure.
Statistics & Facts
- Brown trained over 150,000 leaders across 45 countries through her courageous leadership programming over the past six years, providing extensive data on leadership behaviors during uncertain times. (22:51)
- An MIT study mentioned in the episode found that 95% of AI projects do not have a positive return on investment, which Brown attributes to leaders making reactive decisions without proper systems thinking or strategic planning. (06:43)
- In Brown's initial leadership study of 150 transformational leaders (defined as those who created enviable performance results while maintaining cultures where people wanted to work), all leaders gave the same answer when asked about the future of leadership: the need for braver leaders and more courageous cultures. (19:40)
