Brené Brown

Brown describes her household as family-focused rather than organized around either the children or the parents.

“It's not the kids at the parents' cost or the parents at the kids' cost. It's the family. And it is remarkable”

The Tim Ferriss Show: #880: Relationship Tools That Work — Esther Perel, Brené Brown, Dr. Sue Johnson, Terry Real, and More on Conflict, Repair, and Lasting Love (Aug 19, 2026) · Listen from 11:00

Brown says that when the couple's combined energy falls below 100 they sit down and make a plan of kindness.

“So we know that we have to sit down at the table anytime we have less than 100 combined. and figure out a plan of kindness toward each other”

The Tim Ferriss Show: #880: Relationship Tools That Work — Esther Perel, Brené Brown, Dr. Sue Johnson, Terry Real, and More on Conflict, Repair, and Lasting Love (Aug 19, 2026) · Listen from 9:10

Brown rejects the idea that marriage is a 50-50 split, saying she and her husband instead quantify their available energy.

“So everyone says marriage should be 50-50. It's the biggest crock of bullshit I've ever heard. It's never 50-50”

The Tim Ferriss Show: #880: Relationship Tools That Work — Esther Perel, Brené Brown, Dr. Sue Johnson, Terry Real, and More on Conflict, Repair, and Lasting Love (Aug 19, 2026) · Listen from 8:34

Brown criticizes the current U.S. administration for publicly humiliating European allies.

“Look at the current administration in the U.S. humiliating every day for the last three weeks, Europe, our allies”

The Curiosity Shop with Brené Brown and Adam Grant: The Emotion Few Talk About, But Many Feel (Apr 23, 2026) · Listen from 50:20

Brown defines humiliation, based on recent studies, as internalized public shaming.

“what I think is the definition of how I would think about humiliation based on these studies is internalized public shaming”

The Curiosity Shop with Brené Brown and Adam Grant: The Emotion Few Talk About, But Many Feel (Apr 23, 2026) · Listen from 17:24

Brown says new evidence overturned her earlier views about humiliation.

“So we have new evidence and everything I said before about humiliation was wrong”

The Curiosity Shop with Brené Brown and Adam Grant: The Emotion Few Talk About, But Many Feel (Apr 23, 2026) · Listen from 10:13

Brown says her physical signs of shame mirror a trauma response, which helps her recognize it.

“time slows down, I get tunnel vision, my armpits tingle, It is the exact same we have found in the research for 20 years, trauma response”

The Curiosity Shop with Brené Brown and Adam Grant: The Emotion Few Talk About, But Many Feel (Apr 23, 2026) · Listen from 36:35

Brown argues empathy is the antidote to shame because it shows people they are seen and not alone.

“Shame cannot survive empathy because what empathy does is empathy first and foremost helps us believe and see I can be seen and I'm not alone”

The Curiosity Shop with Brené Brown and Adam Grant: The Emotion Few Talk About, But Many Feel (Apr 23, 2026) · Listen from 32:15

Brown says shame grows through silence, secrecy, and judgment.

“it needs three things to grow exponentially into every corner and crevice of your life. Silence, secrecy, and judgment”

The Curiosity Shop with Brené Brown and Adam Grant: The Emotion Few Talk About, But Many Feel (Apr 23, 2026) · Listen from 31:35

Brown argues shame underpins much of capitalism, advertising, and media by selling products that promise to make people lovable.

“Shame is how a lot of pillars of capitalism are built in work and certainly advertising and media”

The Curiosity Shop with Brené Brown and Adam Grant: The Emotion Few Talk About, But Many Feel (Apr 23, 2026) · Listen from 30:23

Brown reports that most adults her team interviewed recall a shaming school experience that changed how they saw themselves as learners.

“85% of all adults we've interviewed over two decades can remember something so shaming that happened at school”

The Curiosity Shop with Brené Brown and Adam Grant: The Emotion Few Talk About, But Many Feel (Apr 23, 2026) · Listen from 27:27

Brown frames shame with three premises: everyone has it, no one wants to talk about it, and not talking about it increases it.

“One, we all have it. Two, no one wants to talk about it. And three, the less you talk about it, the more you have it”

The Curiosity Shop with Brené Brown and Adam Grant: The Emotion Few Talk About, But Many Feel (Apr 23, 2026) · Listen from 3:46

Brown argues AI is presenting in workplaces more as a trust and agency issue than a skills issue.

“I don't even think AI is presenting as a skills issue as much as it's presenting as a trust and agency issue”

The Curiosity Shop with Brené Brown and Adam Grant: The Emotion Few Talk About, But Many Feel (Apr 23, 2026) · Listen from 54:53

Brown says her research has consistently found fear of irrelevance to be the top workplace shame trigger, which she links to AI.

“the number one shame trigger at work across the board has not changed in our research over 20 years. The fear of irrelevance”

The Curiosity Shop with Brené Brown and Adam Grant: The Emotion Few Talk About, But Many Feel (Apr 23, 2026) · Listen from 53:53

Brown argues that leaving pauses unedited is honest and that rushing to fill silence impedes deep thinking.

“the rush to fill them is one of the greatest barriers to deep thinking deep conversation and meaningful”

The Curiosity Shop with Brené Brown and Adam Grant: What the Return-to-Office Debate Gets Wrong (Apr 30, 2026) · Listen from 43:00

Brown considers birth order not predictive but a useful data point with compelling lived experience.

“I think birth order really can be very significant and very helpful. I don't think it's predictive, but I think it can be a data point”

The Curiosity Shop with Brené Brown and Adam Grant: What the Return-to-Office Debate Gets Wrong (Apr 30, 2026) · Listen from 36:26

Brown says that rather than asking for evidence, she would ask leaders about their core beliefs and fears, since evidence makes them defensive.

“what are your core beliefs about what happens when people are at home?”

The Curiosity Shop with Brené Brown and Adam Grant: What the Return-to-Office Debate Gets Wrong (Apr 30, 2026) · Listen from 27:14

Brown argues leaders who mandate office attendance must explain the underlying mental model or risk losing top talent.

“If you believe it enough to mandate it, then you should have the discipline to get under the mental model and walk people through it”

The Curiosity Shop with Brené Brown and Adam Grant: What the Return-to-Office Debate Gets Wrong (Apr 30, 2026) · Listen from 26:03

Brown argues that addressing problems at deeper levels of the iceberg yields greater leverage and more lasting change.

“the lower you go in the iceberg to answer the questions, the greater leverage and more lasting and meaningful the change”

The Curiosity Shop with Brené Brown and Adam Grant: What the Return-to-Office Debate Gets Wrong (Apr 30, 2026) · Listen from 23:01

Brown argues weak ties are the primary carriers of novel information and that the office functions as creative infrastructure.

“being in the office is less about socializing and more of a creative infrastructure”

The Curiosity Shop with Brené Brown and Adam Grant: What the Return-to-Office Debate Gets Wrong (Apr 30, 2026) · Listen from 9:43

Brown argues that framing the return-to-office question solely around productivity is the wrong frame.

“of return to office just being about productivity is not the right frame”

The Curiosity Shop with Brené Brown and Adam Grant: What the Return-to-Office Debate Gets Wrong (Apr 30, 2026) · Listen from 4:15

Brown says her early academic imposter feelings were partly engineered to drive deference to tenured faculty.

“early in my academic career, I had a lot of imposter syndrome and it was engineered”

The Curiosity Shop with Brené Brown and Adam Grant: The Emotion Few Talk About, But Many Feel (Apr 23, 2026) · Listen from 47:45

Brown says current shame research identifies unwanted identity as the key elicitor of shame.

“a lot of the research on shame now will talk about unwanted identity. is really the quintessential elicitor of shame, is unwanted identity”

The Curiosity Shop with Brené Brown and Adam Grant: The Emotion Few Talk About, But Many Feel (Apr 23, 2026) · Listen from 42:30

Brown describes, citing the Stone Center, how people protect themselves from shame by withdrawing, people-pleasing, or fighting shame with shame.

“One, when we're in shame, we move away. We withdraw, we hide. Two, we move toward, we people please”

The Curiosity Shop with Brené Brown and Adam Grant: The Emotion Few Talk About, But Many Feel (Apr 23, 2026) · Listen from 33:45