Dr. Brené Brown is a research professor at the University of Houston where she holds the Huffington Foundation Endowed Chair at the Graduate College of Social Work and serves as visiting professor in management at the University of Texas at Austin McCombs School of Business, having dedicated the past two decades to studying courage, vulnerability, shame, and empathy. Brown is the author of six #1 New York Times bestsellers translated into more than 30 languages, including “Atlas of the Heart,” “Dare to Lead,” “Braving the Wilderness,” “Rising Strong,” “Daring Greatly,” and “The Gifts of Imperfection,” and alongside Tarana Burke, she co-edited the bestselling anthology “You Are Your Best Thing: Vulnerability, Shame Resilience, and the Black Experience.” Her 2010 TED talk “The Power of Vulnerability” ranks among the top five most-viewed TED talks worldwide with over 60 million views, she became the first researcher to have a filmed lecture on Netflix with “Brené Brown: The Call to Courage” (2019), and in 2022 she debuted the HBO Max series “Atlas of the Heart” based on her latest book, while hosting two award-winning podcasts, “Unlocking Us” and “Dare to Lead.” Brown spends most of her time working with organizations globally to cultivate braver leaders and foster more courageous cultures, and in 2024 was named Executive Chair of the Center for Daring Leadership at BetterUp, bringing her research-based insights on vulnerability, shame resilience, and wholehearted living to leaders and organizations worldwide.
Why their voice matters: Brown’s rigorous research transforms abstract concepts like vulnerability and shame into practical frameworks that challenge cultural narratives equating vulnerability with weakness, demonstrating instead that vulnerability is the birthplace of courage, innovation, and meaningful connection, while her accessible storytelling makes decades of social science research actionable for individuals and organizations seeking to build cultures where people can show up authentically, take risks, and lead with both strength and tenderness.