Ted Tuesday: Brené Brown: The Power of Vulnerability

“You’re imperfect, and you’re wired for struggle, but you are worthy of love and belonging.” Brené Brown studies vulnerability, courage, authenticity, and shame.

Good Morning Folks.

Brené Brown, Ph.D., LMSW is a research professor at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work. She has spent the past decade studying vulnerability, courage, worthiness, and shame.

Her 2010 TEDx Houston talk on the power of vulnerability is one of the most watched talks on TED.com, with over 18 million views. She gave the closing talk, Listening to Shame,  at the 2012 TED Conference in Long Beach.

Brené is the author of the #1 New York Times Bestseller Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead (2012). She is also the author of the #1 New York Times Bestseller The Gifts of Imperfection (2010), and I Thought It Was Just Me (2007).

Brené is also the founder and CEO of The Daring Way – a teaching and certification program for helping professionals who want to facilitate her work on vulnerability, courage, shame, and worthiness.

Brené Brown studies human connection — our ability to empathize, belong, love. In a poignant, funny talk, she shares a deep insight from her research, one that sent her on a personal quest to know herself as well as to understand humanity. A talk to share.

Here’s the thing: Brown: A few years ago she had a nervous breakdown and started to see a therapist. 'The therapist said to me, “You have to embrace your vulnerability,” and I was like, “Screw that.”’

In her new book she writes, 'We are hardwired to connect with others, it’s what gives purpose and meaning to our lives… Before I knew it, I had been hijacked by my research participants who, when asked to talk about their most important relationships and experiences of connection, kept telling me about heartbreak, betrayal and shame – the fear of not being worthy of real connection.’

As part of her work she tried first to understand why a handful of people believe in their own worthiness; she calls these people 'Wholehearted’. She loses me a bit here. Is Wholehearted another word for happy, I ask her? 'No,’ she says adamantly. 'In fact I think our capacity for Wholeheartedness can never be greater than our willingness to be broken-hearted. It means engaging with the world from a place of vulnerability and worthiness. It’s about being all in, saying, “I’m here and I’m going to love you fully and if you cheat on me you’re going to devastate me and break my heart, but I’m not holding back because this is short.”’

Tears spring to her eyes as she says this. In fact, it was her realization that she herself fell far short of Wholehearted that tipped her over the edge.

Have a look at Brené Brown: The power of vulnerability:

Brené Brown is an absolute legend. This is groundbreaking - not in terms of peoples awareness of these subjects and what they mean... But in these messages enhanced communication made accessible to a wider audience on this level. Really awesome stuff.

Thanks to The Telegraph for inspiring me to watch this talk, and to you for listening.

Have a GREAT Day,



Mitchell D. Weiner
Chief Happiness Officer  

Ideas are not set in stone. When exposed to thoughtful people, they morph and adapt into their most potent form. TED Tuesdays on MitchWeiner.com highlights some of today's most intriguing ideas. Look for more talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design -- plus science, business, global issues, the arts and much more— HERE.  

About FSO Onsite Outsourcing
Recognized on the Inc. 5000 list of the nation's fastest growing companies for the third consecutive year, and lead by industry pioneer, Mitch Weiner, FSO's growth and success can be attributed to making a positive and powerful impact on their clients' bottom lines, as well as their employees' careers and lives.

About TEDx 

x = independently organized event In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)

Ted Tuesday: Choose Yourself— The One Secret For Doing A TED Talk (Or Any Talk)

“If you don’t make the choices in your own life, then someone else is going to end up making them for you, and it won’t be good.”

Good Morning Folks,

Today a must watch of James Altucher, an amazing writer at TED talk! James has helped me CHOOSE MYSELF in the past year through his books, blogs and Podcasts.

James is a successful entrepreneur, chess master, investor and writer. He is the author of the WSJ and Amazon Best-Sellers “Choose Yourself” and “The Power Of No” as well as ten other books. He has started and run more than 20 companies, and sold several of those businesses for large exits and failed miserably at all the rest. His book “Choose Yourself” explains how he rose from repeated failure to find success. He has also run venture capital funds, hedge funds, is an active angel investor, and currently sits on the boards of several companies.

Says James, "Giving a talk is the worst thing you can do to your body. First off, you want to pee, crap, and puke right before you go on stage. In other words, your body thinks it's about to die."

His secret: "I've already written that before I give a talk I listen to standup comedy. It triggers the mirror neurons in my brain and helps me to relax, and maybe mimic how they work their voices and bodies, and helps me to connect better with the audience."

This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. James Altucher is now considered to be a renowned author and serial entrepreneur, but in this brutally honest talk, injected with outrageous humor, he reveals how at one point failure led him to consider suicide, and how he turned his life around by following five key practices.

Improve your physical health (focus on exercise and diet), improve your emotional health (be around people that you love and trust), improve you spiritual health (always expressing gratitude), capture your brilliance (write down ten ideas every day), and finally, give without expectation (give your ideas away).

“If you don’t make the choices in your own life, then someone else is going to end up making them for you, and it won’t be good.” Have a look:

EXCELLENT job, James. I love the honesty, the vulnerability, the humor, & teachings. Well done. :)

Have a GREAT Day,



Mitchell D. Weiner
Chief Happiness Officer  

Ideas are not set in stone. When exposed to thoughtful people, they morph and adapt into their most potent form. TED Tuesdays on MitchWeiner.com highlights some of today's most intriguing ideas. Look for more talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design -- plus science, business, global issues, the arts and much more— HERE.  

About FSO Onsite Outsourcing
Recognized on the Inc. 5000 list of the nation's fastest growing companies for the third consecutive year, and lead by industry pioneer, Mitch Weiner, FSO's growth and success can be attributed to making a positive and powerful impact on their clients' bottom lines, as well as their employees' careers and lives.

About TEDx 

x = independently organized event In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)