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Brené Brown — keynote speaker on Leadership

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Leadership keynote speakers

Brené Brown

Research Professor & Bestselling Author of Dare to Lead & Daring Greatly

Speaking feeFee on requestConfirmed for your date on request
  • Keynote · Fireside chat · Virtual
  • English
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Signature keynotes

What your audience walks away with

  • Outcome

    Dare to Lead — Daring Leadership (current flagship)

    Drawn from a seven-year study of what makes braver leaders and more courageous cultures, this is Brené's definitive leadership keynote. She makes the research-backed case that the future of leadership is courage — and then makes it practical: how to have the hard conversations, give and receive difficult feedback, hold yourself and others accountable, reset after failure, and build the trust a team actually runs on. Leaders leave with a clear picture of what daring leadership looks like in daily practice.

  • The Power of Vulnerability

    The talk that reached tens of millions. Brené shares the research at the heart of her life's work: why vulnerability — the willingness to show up and be seen when you can't control the outcome — is not weakness but the birthplace of courage, connection, creativity, and innovation. A moving, funny, deeply human keynote that reframes what strength really means.

  • Rising Strong — Resilience & the Comeback

    Everyone falls; what separates people and teams is what they do next. From her research on resilience, Brené walks a room through the reckoning-rumble-revolution process of getting back up: how to face the emotion of a setback, get honest about the story you're telling yourself, and come back stronger and wiser rather than smaller and more armored.

  • Braving the Wilderness — True Belonging

    In a divided, sorted world, Brené makes the counterintuitive case that true belonging requires the courage to stand alone — to belong to yourself so fully that you can be part of something and still hold your own. A keynote about connection, courage, and building genuine belonging inside a team or community.

  • Atlas of the Heart — The Language of Human Experience

    Empathy and connection depend on being able to name what we feel — and most of us have a tiny emotional vocabulary. Drawing on Atlas of the Heart and its map of 87 emotions and experiences, Brené shows how emotional literacy is the practical foundation of empathy, trust, and meaningful relationships at work and at home.

  • Wholehearted Culture — Courage, Trust & Empathy at Work

    The bridge from insight to operating system. Brené translates courage, empathy, and trust into the everyday habits, language, and norms of a team — how leaders build a culture where people can be brave, tell the truth, take smart risks, and recover from failure together.

The story

Who Brené actually is

Brené Brown is a research professor at the University of Houston, where she holds the Huffington Foundation – Brené Brown Endowed Chair at the Graduate College of Social Work, and a visiting professor in management at the University of Texas at Austin's McCombs School of Business. For more than two decades she has studied courage, vulnerability, shame, and empathy, and she is the author of six #1 New York Times bestsellers. Her work has reshaped how a generation of leaders thinks about connection, trust, and what it takes to lead well.

She earned her bachelor's and master's degrees in social work at the University of Texas at Austin and her PhD in social work at the University of Houston. Her 2010 TEDxHouston talk, "The Power of Vulnerability," became one of the five most-viewed TED talks in the world, with tens of millions of views, and introduced her research to a global audience. She went on to write The Gifts of Imperfection, Daring Greatly, Rising Strong, Braving the Wilderness, Dare to Lead, and Atlas of the Heart — each a #1 New York Times bestseller — and to build the Dare to Lead leadership program out of a seven-year study of what makes braver leaders and more courageous cultures.

Beyond her books and research, Brené reached an even wider audience through her 2019 Netflix special, The Call to Courage, and her 2022 HBO Max docuseries, Atlas of the Heart. She hosts the award-winning podcasts Unlocking Us and Dare to Lead, and in 2024 she launched a new weekly show, The Curiosity Shop, co-hosted with organizational psychologist Adam Grant. She leads the Brené Brown Education and Research Group, which turns her research into tools and training that teams and organizations use to build courage-based cultures.

On stage, Brené is rare: a genuine research scientist who is also one of the most gifted storytellers of her generation. She does very few outside keynotes, and those she does are in high demand — she brings hard data and hard-won stories together into a keynote that leaves leaders both moved and equipped to lead with more courage.

The receipts

Books & publications

  • The Gifts of Imperfection

    2010

    letting go of who we think we're supposed to be and embracing who we are; the guideposts for wholehearted living.

  • Daring Greatly

    2012

    how the courage to be vulnerable transforms the way we live, love, parent, and lead.

  • Rising Strong

    2015

    the research on resilience: how we reckon, rumble, and rise strong after a fall.

  • Braving the Wilderness

    2017

    the quest for true belonging and the courage to stand alone.

  • Dare to Lead

    2018

    brave work, tough conversations, whole hearts: the culmination of a seven-year study on the future of leadership.

  • Atlas of the Heart

    2021

    mapping 87 emotions and experiences, and the language of meaningful human connection.

Gravity

Career highlights & recognition

  • Credential

    Research professor, University of Houston

    Huffington Foundation – Brené Brown Endowed Chair, Graduate College of Social Work

  • Credential

    Visiting professor in management, UT Austin McCombs School of Business

    expanding the Dare to Lead research

  • Credential

    Author of six #1 New York Times bestsellers

    The Gifts of Imperfection, Daring Greatly, Rising Strong, Braving the Wilderness, Dare to Lead, and Atlas of the Heart

  • Milestone2010

    One of the five most-viewed TED talks in the world

    "The Power of Vulnerability" (TEDxHouston, 2010), 70M+ views

  • Milestone2019

    Netflix special The Call to Courage (2019)

    and HBO Max docuseries Atlas of the Heart (2022)

  • Credential2024

    Host of the Unlocking Us and Dare to Lead podcasts

    plus The Curiosity Shop with Adam Grant (launched 2024)

  • Milestone

    Two decades of original research

    on courage, vulnerability, shame, and empathy

  • Credential

    Founder, Brené Brown Education and Research Group

    courage-building tools and training for teams and organizations

  • Milestone

    Premium, limited-availability speaker

    booked well in advance and by request

Booking with confidence

What to expect when you book Brené

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    Compiled from public sources

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  • 02

    Availability and fees, confirmed

    Tell us your date and brief, and we confirm Brené's availability and current fee on request. We never publish a fabricated figure or imply an exclusivity we do not hold.

  • 03

    Managed end to end

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Answers

Booking questions, answered

What is Brené Brown's speaking fee?

Brené's fee is provided on request. It varies by date, location, format, and whether the engagement is in person or virtual. Share your brief and we'll come back with current pricing and availability.

Is Brené Brown available for my event date?

Availability changes with Brené's schedule and the season. Tell us your date and we'll confirm whether Brené is open, and hold the slot while you decide.

What formats does Brené offer?

Brené is available for Keynote, Fireside chat and Virtual engagements. We'll match the format to your audience and run-of-show.

What does Brené speak about?

Brené's keynote themes include Team & Culture, Social Science and Mindset. Each talk is tailored to your audience and outcomes.

What languages does Brené present in?

Brené presents in English.

Where does Brené travel from?

Brené is based in Houston, TX and travels internationally for engagements; virtual sessions are also available.

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