Brené Brown on authenticity

This morning, Scott Stratten shared this inspiring TED talk from Brené Brown. Brown is as funny as she is self-depreciating as she asks: How do we engage in our lives from a place of authenticity and worthiness? It’s well worth the time, but if you don’t have 20 minutes to borrow from your day, here’s the cliff notes.

People living with a deep senes of wholeheardedness … had, very simply, the courage to be imperfect. They had the compassion to be kind to themselves first and then to others, because, as it turns out, we can’t practice compassion with other people if we can’t treat ourselves kindly. And the last was they had connection, and — this was the hard part — as a result of authenticity, they were willing to let go of who they thought they should be in order to be who they were.

That kind of authenticity is rare in people. That’s my new goal this new year: The courage to be imperfect, the compassion to be kind to myself and others, and to let go of expectations to be truly authentic.

It’s also rare in marketing. Even in “for a good cause” marketing. What would your organization look like if you had the courage to be imperfect? If you didn’t have all the answers?

In other news, read Scott Stratten’s book UnMarketing.