The Curiosity Shop with Brené Brown and Adam Grant

This episode is a master class in coaching as Aiko Bethea, one of the most respected senior leadership coaches in the country, takes Brené through a current leadership conflict in real time, showing just how hard it is to slow down and lead from your values instead of your urgency. The coaching session is underpinned by Aiko's new "Anchored, Aligned, and Accountable" framework that focuses on why self-leadership is so critical in today's complex operating environment. Together, they dig into the difference between assuming good intent and believing someone is doing the best they can, and why that distinction changes what accountability actually looks like in practice. Aiko also introduces and models the powerful coaching practice of "three levels of listening" and how it's central to developing a coaching mindset.

Aiko Bethea — Aiko Bethea, aikobethea.com

Dare to Lead Hub — Brené Brown, brenebrown.com

Audre Lorde — Mariana Brandman, 2021, National Women's History Museum

bell hooks — Asami Robledo-Allen Yamamoto, 2025, National Women's History Museum

RARE Coaching | Aiko Bethea (@rare_coach) — Aiko Bethea, n.d., Instagram

Psychological Safety and Learning Behavior in Work Teams — Amy Edmondson, 1999, Administrative Science Quarterly

This Is Our Reminder of What Courageous Leadership Looks Like — Brené Brown, 2026, LinkedIn

One of the Greatest Joys of My Career Has Been… — Brené Brown, 2026, LinkedIn

Futurist Amy Webb on What's Coming (and What's Here) — Brené Brown, 2024, Dare to Lead podcast

Brené with Aiko Bethea on Inclusivity at Work: The Heart of Hard Conversations — Brené Brown, 2020, Dare to Lead podcast

Rising Strong — Brené Brown, 2015, Random House

Feeling Powerless at Work? Here's Where Your Agency Still Lives — Jessi Hempel, 2026, Hello Monday with Jessi Hempel

Without Accountability, Just Throw It All Away — Aiko Bethea, 2023, LinkedIn (Street Lights newsletter)

Post on Learning and Development (#learninganddevelopment) — Aiko Bethea, 2026, LinkedIn

Dare to Lead — Brené Brown, 2018, Random House

Stop Outsourcing Your Judgment: Brené Brown in Conversation with Leadership Coach Aiko Bethea — Brené Brown, 2026, Fast Company
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Previously released on Dare to Lead, this is part of a special six-part series with Adam Grant on Brené's book, Strong Ground. Brené and Adam unpack the difference between effort and excellence, why coaching matters more than judgment, and how unclear priorities can quietly derail even the hardest-working teams. From there the conversation moves further into prioritization, a consequential 2x2 decision-making framework, and how leaders inadvertently signal the wrong priorities through their emotional reactions. Circling back to effort, they also discuss why the first question leaders should ask when results fall short is whether they set their team up for success in the first place. Plus, Brené has a real-time realization that her own team may not be aligned on what's actually consequential.

Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know – Adam Grant, 2021, Viking

Strong Ground: The Lessons of Daring Leadership, the Tenacity of Paradox, and the Wisdom of the Human Spirit – Brené Brown, 2025, Random House

No, You Don't Get an A for Effort – Adam Grant, 2024, The New York Times

Mindset: The New Psychology of Success – Carol Dweck, 2006, Random House

Praise for Intelligence Can Undermine Children's Motivation and Performance – Mueller & Dweck, 1998, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

What Having a “Growth Mindset” Actually Means – Carol Dweck, 2016, Harvard Business Review

“Both/And” Leadership – Wendy Smith, 2016, Harvard Business Review

Genius of the AND – Jim Collins, n.d., JimCollins.com

Reversible and Irreversible Decisions – Shane Parrish, n.d., Farnam Street

The Highly Sensitive Person: How to Thrive When the World Overwhelms You – Elaine Aron, 1996, Broadway Books

Sensory-Processing Sensitivity and Its Relation to Introversion and Emotionality – Elaine Aron, 1997, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

Above/Below the Line Practice – Brené Brown, 2025, BrenéBrown.com

Fairy Tales and Script Drama Analysis – Stephen Karpman, 1968, Transactional Analysis Bulletin (Origin paper for the villain/rescuer/victim model of conflict)

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Previously released on Dare to Lead, this is part of a special six-part series with Adam Grant on Brené's book, Strong Ground. The conversation opens on time scarcity, the devaluation of future time, and whether hope is actually a strategy. From there they discuss how great leaders don't need all the right answers (just the right questions) and the difference between executive presence and pocket presence. While digging into how the five C's of delegation build the situational awareness and critical thinking that pocket presence requires, Adam has a breakthrough realization that pocket presence isn't just an individual skill, it's a collective capability. Executive presence, they agree, is "party of one."

Resource Slack and Propensity to Discount Delayed Investments of Time Versus Money – Gal Zauberman, 2004, Journal of Experimental Psychology

Time for Happiness – Ashley Whillans, 2019, Harvard Business Review

Can We Afford to be Time Poor? The Hidden Tax of Time Poverty – Celestine Rosales, 2024, The Decision Lab

The Will and the Ways – C. R. Snyder, 1991, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

Hope Theory: Rainbows in the Mind – C. R. Snyder, 2002, Psychological Inquiry

Golden Eggs and Hyperbolic Discounting – David Laibson, 1997, The Quarterly Journal of Economics

Some Empirical Evidence on Dynamic Inconsistency – Richard Thaler, 1981, Economics Letters

Future Self-Continuity: How Conceptions of the Future Self Transform Intertemporal Choice – Hal Hershfield, 2011, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

The stranger within: Connecting with our future selves – Cynthia Lee

April 9, 2015, UCLA Newsroom

We normally think of a weakness as a strength you lack, but it can also be a strength you overuse – Adam Grant, July 10, 2018, LinkedIn

Stop Overdoing Your Strengths – Robert Kaplan, 2009, Harvard Business Review

Strong Ground: The Lessons of Daring Leadership, the Tenacity of Paradox, and the Wisdom of the Human Spirit – Brené Brown, 2025, Random House

Research: Vague Feedback Is Holding Women Back – Shelley Correll, 2016, Harvard Business Review

The New Rules of Executive Presence – Sylvia Ann Hewlett, 2024, Harvard Business Review

Pocket Presence (Video) – Emmanuel Acho, n.d., TikTok

Metacognition and Cognitive Monitoring: A New Area of Cognitive-Developmental Inquiry – Flavell, 1979, American Psychologist

Essential social work theories & models – Syracuse University, n.d., OnlineGrad@Syracuse

The 5 Cs of strategic thinking, decision making, and delegating – Brené Brown, n.d., brenebrown.com

Atomic Habits – James Clear, 2018, Avery

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Previously released on Dare to Lead, this is part of a special six-part series with Adam Grant on Brené's book, Strong Ground. They dig into the Buddhist concept of near and far enemies- and why the biggest threat to your values isn't the opposite of them, it's what masquerades as them. From there they move into discussion around the value of paradoxical thinking, why some tensions aren't meant to be resolved, and why sports are leadership theater. Plus a conversation about why future time is always undervalued.

Strong Ground: The Lessons of Daring Leadership, the Tenacity of Paradox, and the Wisdom of the Human Spirit – Brené Brown, 2025, Random House

The Near Enemies of the Heart – Jack Kornfield, n.d., jackkornfield.com

Almost Everything: Notes on Hope – Anne Lamott, 2018, Riverhead Books (Chapter 2: “Inside Job”)

12 truths I learned from life and writing – Anne Lamott, July 13, 2017, TED (Video)

Anne Lamott's thoughts on love, writing, and being judgy – Adam Grant (Host), April 16, 2024, ReThinking with Adam Grant, TED Audio Collective

Genius of the AND – Jim Collins, n.d., jimcollins.com

Exploration and Exploitation in Organizational Learning – James G. March, 1991, Organization Science

Putting Feelings Into Words – Lieberman et al., 2007, Psychological Science

How to Tame Reactive Emotions by Naming Them – Mitch Abblett, 2022, Psychology Today

Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule – Paul Graham, 2009, paulgraham.com

The Tush Push Explained – Kyle Brandt & Dr Neil DeGrasse Tyson, 2024, NFL (Video)

Togethxr’s ‘Everyone Watches Women’s Sports’ T-shirts go viral – Callie Holtermann, June 28, 2024. The New York Times

Dr. Linda Hill on leading with purpose in the digital age – Brené Brown (Host), April 18, 2022, In Dare to Lead, Vox Media

The Pre-Mortem Method – Gary Klein, 2021, Psychology Today

Golden Eggs and Hyperbolic Discounting – David Laibson, 1997, Quarterly Journal of Economics (PDF)

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In this Re:Thinking podcast episode recorded at Authors@Wharton, Brené joined Adam to dig into her book, Strong Ground. They explore why courage now has to mean being a learner instead of a knower, and why values aren't just what you care about-- they're what you sacrifice for. The conversation moves through the four skill sets of courage, why a value that isn't operationalized into behavior is just a poster with an eagle on it, and how to use the "story I'm making up" framework for hard conversations. They also get into executive presence, vulnerability, care, and why fake courage is easy to spot.

Strong Ground: The Lessons of Daring Leadership, the Tenacity of Paradox, and the Wisdom of the Human Spirit – Brené Brown, 2025, Random House

Research – Brené Brown (n.d.).

The discovery of grounded theory – Glaser & Strauss, 1967, Aldine

Awareness of dying – Glaser & Strauss, 1965, Aldine

De-tabooing dying control – Thulesius et al., 2013, BMC Palliative Care

Never Split The Difference – Chris Voss, May 24, 2016, TEDx University of Nevada

Expectancy Theory (Victor Vroom) – The Decision Lab, (n.d.)

Dare to lead: List of values – Brené Brown, 2018

Dare to Lead Hub – Brené Brown

Brené Brown brings Dare to Lead program to UT – University of Texas at Austin, 2020, UT News

Neural processing of narratives – Jääskeläinen et al., 2020, Frontiers in Human Neuroscience

The New Rules of Executive Presence – Sylvia Ann Hewlett, Jan-Feb 2024, Harvard Business Review

The Gifts of Imperfection - Your Guide to a Wholehearted Life: 10th Anniversary Collection – Brené Brown, 2010

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