Brown shares that her main purpose in writing Dare to Lead is to encapsulate her two decades of life experience and professional research into “actionable” advice on how to become a great leader (3). Her ideas are based on data Brown has collected in interviews and from her several studies on leadership. Brown is a CEO herself and admits that being in a leadership position is “humbling” and challenging (4). Brown believes that real leaders are people who recognize and foster their employees’ potential, and she hopes that her work contributes to inspiring leaders who are kind and courageous.

Brown believes that one key element of positive leadership is creating a “culture of belonging” in a workspace (5). She notes that in her interviews with people in senior corporate positions, many interviewees discussed the need for courageous managers to help lead companies through challenging times. The interviewees gave different reasons why courage is helpful, and most described it has a personality trait rather than a concrete set of skills. They found it easier to describe negative workplace behaviors than specify which leadership actions they found courageous.

Brown finds these negative behaviors useful to understand, since it is important to identify what “gets in the way” of success (7).