In addition to being a talented researcher, Brené Brown is also a gifted storyteller. She brings her groundbreaking research to life through stories that are honest, funny, heartbreaking, revealing and triumphant.
In Part One of Brené's latest book "Dare To Lead" (which I highly recommend), she illustrates a point about vulnerability being foundational to good/strong/effective/daring leadership by sharing a story as told by Colonel DeDe Halfhill, the director of innovation, analysis and leadership development for Air Force Global Strike Command. In this story, Colonel Halfhill tells of a breakthrough moment when she was able to genuinely connect with squadron leaders who expressed feeling tired. Instead of letting the issue sit at the surface, which would have been the comfortable/easy thing to do, Colonel Halfhill dug deeper (got vulnerable) and discovered that underneath tiredness was loneliness.