Leadership is one of the most popular non-fiction topics.

Amazon alone has over 60,000 results for "leadership books". And I've lost count of the number of leadership books I've read.

But by far the best book on leadership I've found is Dare to Lead by Brené Brown.

1. It covers what other leadership books don't

Most leadership books cover topics like strategy, influence, getting people to buy into your ideas, management, team-building, finance etc. They'll even cover topics like sacrifice and legacy.

Dare to Lead is different.

Brené Brown shows that leadership is inextricably entwined with feelings and behaviours.

Fear. Courage. Shame. Pride. Anger. Hope. Sadness. Joy.

You and your team will feel strong feelings, perhaps every day.

And yet most leadership books are silent on feelings. They're hard. And most leaders shy away from dealing with such hard stuff.

But shying away is not an option. The quote that sums this up best is:

"Leaders must either invest a reasonable amount of time attending to fears and feelings, or squander an unreasonable amount of time trying to manage ineffective and unproductive behaviour."

For example, think about the unproductive behaviour of "rumours around layoffs".

Those rumours are driven by fear, power-plays, or a lack of information or trust. These are all dynamics you can address. Dare to Lead shows how.

2. It's about how to build a high performing culture

In 2015, Google found that psychological safety was the #1 dynamic of a high performing team.

Yet most books don't paint a clear picture of how to achieve it.

In contrast, Dare to Lead contains actionable advice.

It works through the foundational principles of psychological safety (e.g. trust, empathy, respect, listening). It also gives concrete examples of dialogue around hard topics.

3. It takes you to a depth where real change happens

This book moved me to tears 4 times.

The first time because I had a strong empathic response to a powerful case study. Another time because I had to examine where my own personal feelings of not being "enough" came from (a feeling familiar to anyone who's ever felt imposter syndrome).

After reading Dare to Lead, I'm not convinced you can become a great leader if you don't look deep inside yourself, or strive to be truly empathetic with others.

You can't change embedded behaviours - of yourself or others - without challenging deeply held beliefs and feelings. So this book goes deep.

You'll take the learnings into your personal life too.

Summary

If you are at all interested in building a high performing, psychologically safe team, I can't recommend this book enough.

If you've read Dare to Lead, do you agree? What other book would you recommend?