Brené Brown

Episode 11 of The Curiosity Shop drops today. Adam Grant and talk about our favorite and least favorite paradoxes, vampire movies, and Harvard's new grading policy. We had too much fun to call it work!

The Stockdale Paradox has really changed the way I lead and the way I think about our organization:

“This is a very important lesson. You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end—which you can never afford to lose—with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.”

Admiral James Stockdale

Whew! We renamed this paradox as "gritty faith and gritty facts" and it's a core value in our work.

I want everyone to be accountable for bringing both faith and facts to the table. No one has the luxury of taking one role. We need balance in everyone. This really unlocked my "fact-only" folks - they became some of our best dreamers!

I'd love to know what you think!

You can listen wherever you download your podcasts or watch us on Youtube!

In Episode 13, I talk to Adam about the strong reactions I feel when I'm on the receiving end of AI plagiarism and "work slop."

The definition of work slop: AI-generated work that "masquerades as good work, but lacks the substance to meaningfully advance a given task"; its insidious effect is transferring effort from creator to receiver."

The term and research behind it are attributed to researchers at the BetterUp Labs in partnership with the Stanford Social Media Lab (HBR, Sept 2025). https://lnkd.in/gA4P-GNs

For me, it's the "transferring effort from creator to receiver" that's so hard. Additionally, I start to immediately question the validity of the work, and the sender's discernment abilities.

Curious about this community's experience with being on the receiving end and practices that you're following to limit this experience. We're leaning into training, coaching, and practice. But it's not easy. Especially when folks who struggle with writing confidence and/or skills can send something slick and perfectly edited for the first time.

To listen or watch the full episode, head to YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts.

The Curiosity Shop With Brené Brown and Adam Grant

When I go into an organization where kindness is seen as weakness—and the opposite of performance—where toughness and love can’t co-exist, my assessment is almost always:

1. Mental models have been developed to cover a lack of daring leadership skills.

2. Power-over and shame are embedded in behaviors and systems.

3. Productive challenge, experimentation, and learning (which are essential to performance) are suffocated.

4. Protecting ego is more important than winning.

5. Fear drives almost everything.

Several years ago, when I was facilitating Dare to Lead with a squadron of U.S. Air Force fighter pilots, I approached their leader—a very fierce and intimidating General—and said, “I’m going to share new research findings that position caring for and connection with the people on our team as prerequisites for daring leadership.”

He looked at me and said, “Are you telling me this in case it’s counter to our culture here?”

I nodded.

He said, “Caring for and connecting with people” is a low bar for us. We are serious about our work and our mission. We insist on leaders developing deep affection for the people they lead, and we help them learn how to do that. That’s how we get our jobs done.”

GO SPURS!

To listen or watch episode 12, head to YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts.

The Curiosity Shop With Brené Brown and Adam Grant
Adam Grant

In Episode 10 of The Curiosity Shop, Adam Grant and I talk about my 30 years of sobriety and why joyful life experiences are as likely, if not more likely, to lead to relapse than tough experiences. We also tackle our very different responses to cringey comedy, and the art and science of gracefully exiting conversations.

The conversations on exits came up because Adam and I were at the same conference two weeks ago and he said, "How do you pull away from the small talk huddles with such ease?"

I'm not sure I'd describe it as ease, but I've always thought about pulling away while leaving positive relationship residue. It probably helps that I'm a relational person and "closings" can feel like opportunities for connection to me.

I've never thought about exits as a process that is started by an individual but requires collaboration and signaling. For me, digging into the research put words to what I grew up watching my parents do (which is how I think I learned).

The takeaways on this image are a combination of my experiences and the research cited below.

You can listen wherever you download podcasts or watch on YouTube!

1. Mastroianni, A. M., Gilbert, D. T., Cooney, G., & Wilson, T. D. (2021). Do conversations end when people want them to? PNAS, 118(10), e2011809118. https://lnkd.in/gz_WNNf7

2. Schegloff, E. A., & Sacks, H. (1973). Opening up Closings. Semiotica, 8(4), 289–327. https://lnkd.in/gn__iStd

The Curiosity Shop With Brené Brown and Adam Grant