Courageous Leadership
FOR A DEMANDING WORLD
LEADERSHIP IS HARD. LET’S DO IT TOGETHER.
Many leaders today are exhausted — not just from the weight of daily demands, but from navigating systems and policies that too often get in the way of the very impact they’re trying to make. Leading with integrity, courage, and compassion in this environment takes more than good intentions — it takes skill, practice, and support.
Dare to Lead™ is a courage-building program based on the research of Dr. Brené Brown. It helps leaders build the resilience and clarity needed to stay grounded in their values while doing the hard stuff: initiating difficult conversations, making the best decisions even when they’re unpopular, and choosing what is right over what is easy. The program takes place in an open, supportive environment alongside other leaders who are learning and growing together.
Led by Dr. Julie McDonald, a Certified Dare to Lead™ Facilitator trained by Brené Brown, this experience invites participants to strengthen their leadership from the inside out. Julie brings this transformative work to life with deep authenticity, humor, and years of experience supporting leaders across sectors.
WHY NOW?
Because your work matters. Because you’re tired of holding so much alone. Because courageous leadership isn’t something we’re born with — it’s something we practice, together.
Dare to Lead™ is the Freakonomics equivalent of management training. It provides a different way of looking at the conventional wisdom of leading people. McDonald Graham’s Dare to Lead™ seminar is an opportunity to learn about a new and better way to approach leadership. A “can’t miss” for new and experienced managers!
-Doug Schneider, Chief Marketing Officer, Balch & Bingham LLP
PROGRAM OVERVIEW
Dr. Brené Brown has spent 20 years studying daring leadership. Her research includes more than 500,000 pieces of data, experiences inside of hundreds of organizations, and interviews with 150 global C-level leaders on the future of leadership. The research indicates that the demands on leaders today are very different than they were 10-15 years ago.
Leaders today are called to:
- manage uncertainty and complexity,
- navigate the unrelenting pace of change,
- meet an insatiable need for innovation,
- stay grounded with seemingly unmanageable changes,
- constantly shifting goals and expectations, and
- lead people through discomfort.
The Dare to Lead™ program teaches the skills needed to lead effectively in this environment. It is an empirically based courage-building program designed to be facilitated by organizational development professionals. The most significant finding from Brené’s latest research is that courage is a collection of four skill sets that are teachable, measurable, and observable. The Dare to Lead™ program focuses on developing these courage-building skills through workshops, trainings, and coaching to help individuals, teams, and organizations move from armored leadership to daring leadership.
It’s not another 5 steps to be a better [fill in the blank]! This is the best investment for our team, and I’m confident this group is better for it and will deploy this into the company DNA.
-Ryan Austin, President, Hoar Program Management
THE FOUR SKILLS SETS OF COURAGEOUS LEADERSHIP
Rumbling with Vulnerability
Vulnerability is the emotion we experience during times of uncertainty, risk, and emotional exposure. Many of us were taught that vulnerability is weakness.
Vulnerability is absolutely required to be a courageous leader (and human). It’s the willingness to show up and be seen when we don’t know the outcome. Participants will learn how to get comfortable with the discomfort of vulnerability (rumble with vulnerability), earning grounded confidence and courage.
Living Into Our Values
Values are the beliefs that are most important to us, that help us find our way in the dark, and fill us with a feeling of purpose.
Since we know it’s easier to talk about values than to live them, participants will identify their guiding values and clearly name the behaviors that are required to live them.
BRAVING Trust
Trust is a learned skill and is the culmination of seven essential elements: Boundaries, Reliability, Accountability, Vault, Integrity, Non-judgment, and Generosity (B.R.A.V.I.N.G.)
Participants will practice a framework for building trust and learn to use that framework to guide (hard) conversations with others.
Learning to Rise
Learning to Rise requires recognizing that, as leaders, we are also human. We get hooked by emotion and inadvertently offload hurt, anger, or anxiety. The way we deal with our emotions can quickly derail effective leadership.
Participants will learn how to own their stories, how to deal with the emotions attached to them, and how to bounce back
after failure.
McDonald Graham’s Dare to Lead™ workshop will push you out of your comfort zone, but you will not regret it. You will learn a lot of great tools and techniques for becoming a truly courageous leader.
-Hope Thomas, EVP Transformation, Regions Bank
WORKSHOPS & PRESENTATIONS
The full Dare to Lead program can be delivered over two days (8 hours/day), over three days (six hours/day), or as an 8-session program delivered over several months. With each of these options, participants dive deeply into each of the four skill sets. The program may be delivered internally to organizations or across companies in an open-enrollment format. For a copy of our flyer about Dare to Lead™, click here.
Select skill set sessions may be separated and delivered via short, customized workshops or presentations. To learn more about Dare to Lead™ workshops or presentations, connect with us.
This program is one of the best investments you can make for yourself, your co-workers, your career, and your friends and family. It will transform your leadership and your life
-Christopher Gagliano, Vice President Customer Experience, Spire
F.A.Q.s FOR DARE TO LEAD™
Who is best suited to participate in this program?
Dare to Lead™ is for current and emerging leaders. The program teaches foundational skills that enable leaders to do the hard things that they have to do but often avoid – initiate difficult conversations, make decisions that may be unpopular, and choose what is the right over what is easy.
Why is the program taught in groups?
The group coaching format is an important element of the curriculum. The format builds rapport among participants and fosters the development of a new support network that we hope will continue to benefit participants long after the program has ended.
What will participants get out of the program?
By the end of the program, participants will have a knowledge of the four skill sets of courageous leadership and an understanding of how to implement them in their lives.
Do you offer shorter Dare to Lead workshops?
The Dare to Lead™ program may be separated and delivered via short, customized workshops. Contact us to discuss a customized workshop or presentation for your organization.
You offer two group coaching programs. How do I know which one is right for me/ my team?
Transforming Success® and Dare to Lead™ are complementary programs, and we recommend individuals participate in both. While each program is distinct, some overlap exists in the topics addressed. Participating in both programs equips participants with self-awareness and self-management tools that enable them to be more effective leaders of themselves and of their teams — at both work and in life. Either program is an appropriate entry point to this work. If you are trying to choose between Transforming Success® and Dare to Lead™, we are happy to help you think through your needs and to recommend a starting point.
ABOUT BRENÉ BROWN
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. She also holds the position of visiting professor in management at The University of Texas at Austin McCombs School of Business. Brené has spent the past two decades studying courage, vulnerability, shame, and empathy and is the author of six #1 New York Times bestsellers, including Dare to Lead, which is the culmination of a seven-year study on courage and leadership.
Further information is available at https://daretolead.brenebrown.com/