Strong Ground: Brené Brown’s Best Guide to Daring Leadership

If your team looks busy but isn’t breaking through, Strong Ground shows why—and how—to stop playing not to lose and start playing to win.

Build Strong Ground—a stance that blends grounded confidence, paradox thinking, and disciplined humanity—so you can hold gritty faith and gritty facts at the same time and lead real transformation.

Brown grounds her approach in years of organizational research and practice (150,000+ leaders in 45 countries) and anchors key lessons to validated ideas like the Stockdale Paradox and the “Genius of the AND.”

Strong Ground is best for leaders and learners who want evidence-based courage skills and a practical, humane system; not for anyone hoping for quick-fix hacks or charisma-first leadership.

1. Introduction

“Strong Ground: The Lessons of Daring Leadership, the Tenacity of Paradox, and the Wisdom of the Human Spirit” is Brené Brown’s newest leadership book (Vermilion/Ebury; UK hardback published 23 September 2025.

Across genres—leadership, management, organizational psychology, and personal development—the book extends Brown’s “Dare to Lead” research with a sharper focus on paradox, disciplined strategy, and the embodied practices of grounded confidence she calls “strong ground.” Brown’s credentials span two decades of research, six #1 New York Times bestsellers, and large-scale transformation programs.

Her central thesis is simple and demanding: courageous leadership in 2025+ requires holding paradox (faith and facts), building daring mindsets (not just skills), and operationalizing humanity at scale through concise strategy, emotionally resonant communication, and relentless accountability.

It’s a playbook for uncertain times.

2. Background

Brown frames Strong Ground as the athletic stance leaders need to withstand volatility and launch fast, decisive action—stability and explosiveness together. She argues: “Finding our strong ground—that athletic stance—is the only thing that can provide both unwavering stability… and a platform for fast, explosive change.”

The philosophical backbone is paradox. Drawing on Jim Collins, she shows how visionary organizations reject the “Tyranny of the OR” by practicing the “Genius of the AND” (purpose AND profit; discipline AND creativity), and she illustrates the Stockdale Paradox as gritty faith plus gritty facts.

In practice, that means no more dreamers versus reality-checkers; everyone must do both, with rhythm and rigor, or culture degrades and execution stalls.

Paradox becomes liberation instead of whiplash.

3. Strong Ground Summary

Big picture

Brown’s central thesis: in a world of accelerating change (AI included), volatility, and performative “leadership,” the only way individuals and organizations can do courageous, high-impact work is to stand on strong ground—a felt connection to our values, bodies, teams, and shared humanity—and then move with paradoxical thinking, grounded confidence, and disciplined practice.

Don’t stack new tools on top of old dysfunction; build core stability first (in people and culture), then layer skills, systems, and strategy.

Highlights

• Strong ground is embodied, not abstract. Brown learns—through painful injury and rehab—that stability and power come from “finding the ground” (literally anchoring your stance and recruiting the right muscles), then translating that to leadership: don’t build on dysfunction; build core strength before intensity or scale. Organizations mirror bodies—overusing the “wrong” muscles (heroics, fear, speed) when the core (trust, clarity, accountability, connection) is weak.
• There is no app for transformation. Sustainable change requires rigorous assessment, time for real practice, new mindsets + new habits, and continual system checks. Magical thinking (“a tool will fix it”) is seductive but stalls true change.
• People are the organization’s core. In fast, unstable markets and tech shifts, investing in people—and protecting human wisdom and connection—is the only way to generate both stability and explosive performance. Technology on a dysfunctional culture = amplified dysfunction.
• The “tush push” lesson (Newtonian teamwork). Teams advance when each person finds their footing and pushes in disciplined unison; ground reaction force beats talent in mid-air. The metaphor: collective, grounded alignment > solo heroics.
• Be great at being human. Fear- and shame-based leadership, the allergy to vulnerability, and false ROI dichotomies (performance vs. culture) keep people dysregulated and disconnected. The research case: vulnerability is the source code for courage; fully alive, supported people are “unstoppable.”
• Paradox is a leadership muscle. Progress comes from holding tensions long enough for a wiser third way to emerge—purpose and profit; discipline and creativity; gritty faith and gritty facts (Stockdale Paradox). The “Genius of the AND” liberates organizations from either/or traps.
• Negative capability. Keats’s idea—staying with uncertainty without “irritable reaching after fact & reason”—is a core grounding tool for daring leadership. It expands perspective, slows bad decisions, and honors complexity.
• Think like a scientist (intellectual humility). Brown highlights Adam Grant’s nudge to search for reasons you might be wrong and to notice when you’ve slipped into preacher/prosecutor/politician modes. Curiosity keeps your footing.
• Plumbing and poetry. Great leaders build systems (plumbing) and craft meaning (poetry). Operational excellence must sit with evocative, purpose-rich storytelling that mobilizes people.
• Practices you can use today.
• Find your athletic stance before big moments—settle your body, then choose deliberate action.
• Recruit the right muscles for the job—translate to work by matching skills to tasks and not overusing “compensation” behaviors (e.g., speed, control) that injure culture.
• Mission clarity over mission sprawl; pocket presence under pressure; above/below the line awareness; lock-in vs. lock-through power (book’s later chapters by title) all extend the core playbook of grounded execution plus meaning.

How the book unfolds

1) Strong Ground (Chs. 1–3).

Brown opens with a visceral injury story that becomes metaphor and method: stop building on dysfunction; strengthen the core; cultivate mindfulness as a stabilizer; and recognize that transformation is deep, broad, and disciplined—not a kit. She names today’s organizational scramble (AI, geopolitics, climate) and its cultural cost when leaders lean on fear or speed without care. The human center—connection, trust, accountability—is the strong ground.

2) The Team Physics of Change (Ch. 2).

The Eagles’ “tush push” explains why grounded, synchronized teams beat reactive, airborne defenders. Translation: practice coordinated starts, short-yardage gains, and alignment rituals that keep every role on the ground and moving together.

3) Embodiment, Art, and Awe (Ch. 3).

Sport and performance make invisible skills visible—focus, composure, courage, recovery. Leaders need embodiment too; office work has disembodied many of us. Awe and poetry aren’t luxuries; they refuel meaning and resilience.

4) The Tenacity of Paradox (Ch. 4).

Paradoxes don’t let go; we do. Hold competing truths—freedom and commitment—long enough for a better answer to form. Brown threads Jung, Richard Rohr, Jim Collins, and even Demis Hassabis to show paradox across spirituality, strategy, and AI. The leadership posture is “Yes, and.”

5) Negative Capability (Ch. 5).

Keats’s counsel—stay in uncertainty without rushing to fake certainty—builds the nerve to say “I don’t know,” slow critical decisions, and see people beyond our boxes. This is a grounding tool and a courage practice.

6) Rethinking & Intellectual Humility (Ch. 6).

Adam Grant’s “think again” frame: notice when you slip into preacher/prosecutor/politician modes; return to scientist mode—hypothesis, test, revise. This mindset keeps teams agile and honest.

7) From ideas to operating system (later chapters by theme).

From the table of contents and cross-references, Brown extends the playbook with:

• Lessons from daring leadership & anatomy of transformation (mindsets → skill sets → coaching sets → systems).
• Mission clarity over vague ambition; above/below the line self-regulation; pocket presence in chaos; grounded confidence as a taxonomy of skills (previewed earlier).
• Expert dialogues (Amy Webb, Sarah Lewis, Dan Pink, Abby Wambach, Aiko Bethea, Ginny Clarke) to translate concepts into strategy, mastery, symphonic thinking, and team practice—always returning to core stability + paradox + humanity (per TOC).

What you can do with this

1. Audit your core. Where are you “compensating” (overusing speed, heroics, or a few stars) because the cultural core (trust, role clarity, feedback norms) is weak? Fix the foundation before adding tools.
2. Name your paradoxes. Write the ANDs you need to hold this quarter (e.g., “short-term deliverables and long-term platform bets”). Keep both visible in planning and reviews.
3. Practice negative capability. In high-stakes meetings, allow “I don’t know yet—here’s what we’ll test.” Delay closure until you have enough truth to act.
4. Run your tush-push. For near-term wins, orchestrate short-yardage plays where every role knows the snap count and ground contact—no freelancing mid-air.
5. Plumbing & poetry reviews. Pair operational metrics with meaning: “What system improved?” and “What story are we telling that unlocks effort?”

Why it matters now

Brown argues we’re in a connection and courage recession at precisely the moment we need deep collaboration, tough conversations, and fast yet wise adaptation. Strong ground—held individually and collectively—offers the rare combination of stability (so we don’t tip over) and explosive energy (so we can move decisively). That dual capacity is the book’s promise—and its challenge.

If you’d like, I can turn this into a one-page brief or a workshop agenda aligned to your team’s current paradoxes.

4. Strong Ground Analysis

Evaluation of Content

Brown’s evidence base is mixed-method, field-tested, and unusually transparent about dates and limits. She explicitly notes that “no data presented in the Dare to Lead book were collected after 2017,” then examines how those same ten challenges still hold in a world reshaped by AI acceleration, pandemics, and geopolitical shocks.

From a research standards view, that candor matters—and she updates the program by adding “daring mindsets” to the original courage skill sets, a shift consistent with contemporary leadership science that emphasizes cognitive flexibility and unlearning. (Compare Adam Grant’s “Think Again,” which operationalizes rethinking and intellectual humility.)

At the heart of the book, Brown reiterates the three truths of daring leadership: “You can’t get to courage without rumbling with vulnerability… Self-awareness and self-love matter… Courage is contagious.” That last line is the hinge—culture copies what leaders do.

Her strongest chapter threads strategy with paradox. She quotes James March—“Leadership is plumbing and poetry”—then translates that into process: strategy emerges from rigorous debate, iterative decision-making, and the discipline to connect vision → strategy → tactics. The book’s strategic section includes a compact, quotable summary: “Great strategy is the product of debate, challenge, and disciplined thought.”

This is not armchair theory. Brown shows how teams move from “LEGO complexity” to “DUPLO simplicity” by forcing North Star messages to one page and testing for memorability in the field. “This needs to be one page… I need DUPLO simplicity,” she writes, later hearing installers reference “our North Star paper” a year on—hard evidence of cascade and stickiness.

Most importantly, she operationalizes paradox with the Stockdale Paradox—“never confuse faith that you will prevail… with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts”—and shows how that single idea broke a dreamers-vs-realists standoff inside her organization. (Stockdale’s imprisonment lasted 1965–1973; he was tortured 20+ times—historical anchoring matters.)

What about external corroboration? Collins’s original articulation remains canonical in strategy literature and is independently documented.

The book also integrates contemporary ecosystem moves—most notably Brown’s June 26, 2024 partnership with BetterUp to launch the Center for Daring Leadership, giving the program measurable coaching infrastructure at scale. That decision aligns with her claim that transformations require “coaching sets” to lock in behavior change.

Does Strong Ground fulfill its purpose? Yes—because it tackles the modern leadership paradox head-on: we need more speed and more care; more accountability and more empathy; more risk and more recovery. The pages model how to hold those tensions without breaking the culture, and they show their limits and updates plainly.

Contribution to the Field

The most durable contribution is methodological: courage is not charisma, it’s a set of teachable skills and mindsets that can be assessed, coached, and audited in systems—trust rituals, language, values, and strategy cadences. The four “sets” Brown insists on (mindsets, skill sets, tool sets, coaching sets) create a flywheel that many change frameworks miss.

Equally useful: the BRAVING trust framework is re-emphasized (boundaries, reliability, accountability, vault, integrity, nonjudgment, generosity) and threaded into transformation, though here Brown focuses more on behavior than checklists. (See index cross-references to BRAVING and trust.)

Strategically, the “hedgehog” reminder (what you’re passionate about, best at, and what drives your economic engine) keeps teams from chasing shiny objects—again connecting paradox to disciplined focus.

6. Reception

The UK publisher lists Strong Ground as a New York Times bestseller, positioning it squarely in the mainstream leadership canon; the site also cites impact data (150,000+ leaders in 45 countries) that indicate reach beyond traditional readership.

Influence extends into practice ecosystems. BetterUp’s Center for Daring Leadership embeds Brown’s curriculum into an evidence-based coaching platform—an infrastructure move that often separates one-off learning from durable change. (Public announcement: June 26, 2024.)

Reasonable critiques? Some readers will want more fresh, peer-reviewed datasets post-2017 and more granular measures of transformation ROI beyond case-style narratives; Brown acknowledges the date boundary and addresses it by expanding the mindsets layer and partnering for measurement.

7. Comparison with similar other works

If “Good to Great” taught leaders to confront brutal facts and focus with the hedgehog concept, Strong Ground teaches leaders to stand—to embody paradox and build culture-first execution (“plumbing and poetry”).

Read together, Collins supplies the discipline; Brown supplies the human systems and language that keep discipline from turning into dogma.

Against Adam Grant’s “Think Again,” Brown’s emphasis on unlearning aligns tightly: both insist that modern leadership is a practice of rethinking assumptions and building intellectual humility, with Brown adding vulnerability and trust mechanics at the team level.

James March’s framing of leadership as “plumbing and poetry” appears throughout Brown’s narrative; Brown’s contribution is to show how to operationalize that balance through one-page North Stars, emotionally resonant rally cries, and clear cascade plans.

8. Conclusion

Recommendation: Read Strong Ground if you lead people, products, classrooms, or communities and you’re tired of performative hustle. It’s suitable for general audiences (clear language, strong stories) and indispensable for executives and operators who need an evidence-informed, human-centered roadmap that scales.

It will especially resonate if you’re building transformations that require better coaching, stronger trust norms, and paradox thinking in an AI-accelerated world.

And if you’ve ever been burned by optimism bias or doom-scrolling fatalism, memorize Stockdale’s line: “Never confuse faith that you will prevail… with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts.” Hold both, stand strong, and lead.