Who guessed it? The clues we posted on Friday to our mystery UP Alumni guest all point to one person, Brené Brown!
Brené wowed attendees in 2009 with a frank, engaging and moving talk on her studies of shame in our society. Her research has gone on to focus on leadership, vulnerability and “wholeheartedness.” She’ll join us again at UP 2011 for an update on the last few years of her work.
Check out her talk from UP 2009 here.
If you are not already familiar with Brene, she holds her Ph.D, LMSW, and is a research professor at the University of Houston Graduate School of Social Work. Her sense of humor, along with 10 years of research studying vulnerability, courage, authenticity, and shame make her an extraordinary presenter who helps us all look at the UP side of being vulnerable.
Brené spent the first five years of her decade-long study focusing on shame and empathy, and is now using that work to explore a concept that she calls Wholeheartedness. She poses these questions: How do we learn to embrace our vulnerabilities and imperfections so that we can engage in our lives from a place of authenticity and worthiness? How do we cultivate the courage, compassion, and connection that we need to recognize that we are enough – that we are worthy of love, belonging, and joy?
Brené is the author of The Gifts of Imperfection: Letting Go of Who We Think We Should Be and Embracing Who We Are and I Thought It Was Just Me (but it isn’t): Telling the Truth About Perfectionism, Inadequacy, and Power. She is also the author of Connections, a psycho-educational shame-resilience curriculum that is being facilitated across the nation by mental health and addiction professionals. Her next book, Wholehearted: Spiritual Adventures in Falling Apart, Growing Up, and Finding Joy, will be released in 2011.
Register now to see Brené in October!