For higher ed HR professionals looking to strengthen how they lead through uncertainty, “Dare to Lead” by Brené Brown offers practical insights on building trust, navigating difficult conversations and leading with greater self-awareness.
Why This Book Resonates With Higher Ed HR
One reason “Dare to Lead” continues to resonate with HR leaders is its emphasis on practical leadership behaviors rather than abstract management theory.
Corrie Grint, content specialist at the University of Utah, recommends the book because it offers takeaways leaders can use immediately: “We use it in our Management Essentials program because it consistently leads to thoughtful conversations that participants can apply in their day-to-day work.”
Leaders build stronger teams when they communicate openly, embrace uncertainty and lead authentically.
At the center of the book is one of Brown’s core leadership beliefs: Courage requires vulnerability. Brown challenges the idea that strong leaders should always project certainty or have all the answers. Instead, leaders build stronger teams when they communicate openly, embrace uncertainty and lead authentically.
Building Trust Through Everyday Leadership
Brown emphasizes the role trust plays in creating workplace cultures where employees feel safe speaking honestly with leadership.
Joe Coeling, senior HR business partner at the University of Michigan, said the book resonated with him because it directly addressed challenges many organizations continue to face around employee confidence and upward feedback.
He first encountered “Dare to Lead” after engagement surveys at his institution revealed recurring concerns around employees feeling uncomfortable speaking candidly with leaders and lacking trust when giving feedback across levels of the organization.
One of the book’s biggest takeaways for Coeling focused on how employees perceive power in workplace relationships and the assumptions they make about how leaders will respond to concerns.
“The book encouraged questions and careful feedback instead of fawning and agreeing with everything your boss says,” he said.
Challenging Assumptions and Leading Better Conversations
One of the ideas Corrie Grint found most valuable is Brown’s concept of “the stories we tell ourselves” — the tendency people have to fill in missing information with assumptions about other people’s intentions.
“The book challenged me to pause and ask, ‘What facts do I actually know, and what assumptions have I added?’”
“The book challenged me to pause and ask, ‘What facts do I actually know, and what assumptions have I added?'” she said. “That simple shift from certainty to curiosity has changed the way I approach conversations.”
As someone who works in learning and development, Grint regularly helps others recognize this tendency in themselves. “Once we realize we’re reacting to a story rather than the facts, we can become more curious, ask better questions and approach conversations with greater understanding instead of assumption.”
Why It’s Worth Adding to Your Reading List
Leadership books can sometimes be adopted as temporary workplace trends rather than meaningful long-term development tools, Coeling said.
His perspective reinforces one of the book’s most valuable lessons: Leadership growth happens when organizations not only embrace new ideas but put those ideas into practice.
For Grint, that practical application is exactly what makes the book valuable. “It doesn’t provide all the answers, but it offers a few simple frameworks that are surprisingly useful anytime humans are involved,” she said.
“Dare to Lead” is a reminder that strong leadership begins with trust, honest communication and the willingness to approach workplace challenges with greater curiosity and self-awareness. For those looking to strengthen how they lead and support others, “Dare to Lead” remains a thoughtful, member-recommended resource worth exploring.
If you have a favorite book or resource you think fellow CUPA-HR members would benefit from, we’d love to hear from you. Share your recommendation or idea with us anytime at [email protected]. While we can’t feature every suggestion, we always appreciate hearing what’s inspiring and informing your work.