Finding your strong ground with Brené Brown is the secret to adulting is sitting around talking about feelings like that’s going to fix anything. Well, maybe this time it’ll stick.
New York Times Bestseller Brené Brown returns to school us on “courageous leadership,” because apparently yelling louder and throwing tantrums isn’t cutting it anymore.
I am talking about her 2025 book: Strong Ground: The Lessons of Daring Leadership, The Tenacity Of Paradox, And The Wisdom Of The Human Spirit.
In a world where cluelessness masquerades as confidence and jerks get promoted, Brown drops some brutal truths.
She’s dragged 150,000 leaders across 45 countries through her Dare to Lead grind, and Strong Ground is the cheat sheet.
Whether you’re a CEO drowning in chaos or a clueless Gen Z newbie.
Think you’re ready for AI and constant chaos?
Nope. Brown’s prescription: find your strong ground—that rare spot where you don’t fall apart as the world loses its mind.
Finding Your Strong Ground With Brené Brown
It’s all about connection, discipline, humility, and brutal unlearning.
Basically the opposite of your last Zoom call.
Pay attention. This might save your career.
If you want a no-BS guide to not completely falling apart while pretending to lead, this is where it starts.
Of course there are more funny stories about Brené Brown’s negative capability obsession, and her paradox obsession.
Chapter 1: Strong Ground
Or: How Pickleball, Pain, and a Trainer Named Tony Became the Avengers of Midlife Crisis Recovery
Let’s set the scene: Brené Brown, academic badass turned motivational oracle of vulnerability, nearly meets her match on the battlefield of midlife recreation—pickleball.
Yes, pickleball.
The only sport where your biggest opponents are plantar fasciitis and your own delusions of athletic grandeur.
Within the first five pages, Brené:
- Almost dies on a makeshift court,
- Writhes (literally, not metaphorically,
- Screams for drugs like she's in a Breaking Bad audition,
- And ends up on the floor of her house while her pediatrician husband is like, “Damn, this is worse than the time you refused Advil for a hangnail.”
The Fitness Assessment From Hell
Enter Tony. A trainer who sounds like he walked straight out of a deleted scene from Friday Night Lights and into Brené's life with a single mission: to crush her spirit with fitness assessments.
And somehow awaken her glutes in the process.
Tony gives her a 10 out of 22, which, in self-help terms, is basically flunking out of Hogwarts.
Brené responds like every overachiever who’s ever gotten a B+ and considers it emotional terrorism.
But the real kicker?
She finds out her core is trash.
Her body’s been freeloading on her quads and shoulders while her poor lats and glutes are basically in Witness Protection.
“We will not build on dysfunction.”
Which is adorable, because that’s exactly what the self-help industry has been doing for decades.
But sure, let's all pretend we’re building the emotional Burj Khalifa on a solid foundation of mindfulness and yoga poses.
Finding The Ground... And Losing Your Patience
Two months later, Brené still can’t find her lats, but she does discover “the ground”.
The plot twist, isn’t the hardwood floor she faceplanted on, but some metaphorical space between spiritual awakening and squats.
Tony says:
“Find the ground. Not the floor. THE GROUND.”
She has an existential epiphany mid-squat while whispering to herself, “Strong ground, Brené, strong ground.”
Which sounds like a CrossFit mantra if your gym also offered therapy and essential oils.
This is the kind of deep inner work where pulling a carry-on from an overhead bin becomes a flex,
And we all nod along as if that’s not the saddest test of strength ever invented.
Tech-Based Transformation
In a fit of productive avoidance, Brené does what any modern woman confronting her mortality would do:
Buys an iPad, downloads 14 productivity apps, and doodles her name in bubble letters.
Forget core strength, she’s on a quest for organizational enlightenment via Japanese stationery and digital calligraphy.
Unfortunately, bullet journaling doesn’t fix your spine, your mindset, or your glutes. Who knew?
Eventually, she drags herself back to her trusty Moleskine, realizing that no app, no algorithm, no sexy new planner will fix the fact that she still doesn’t want to do lunges.
Mindfulness, But Make It Sweaty
As she tries to rebuild her body, Brené accidentally stumbles onto every leadership coaching buzzword known to humankind:
- Agility
- Resilience
- Grounded confidence
- “Systemic change across your life”
- “Dynamic, adaptive, intentionality over intensity”
By the end of the chapter, we’re knee-deep in crossover metaphors where corporate leadership is basically just physical therapy.
And don’t worry, she wraps it all up with a keyword search that uncovers the thematic spine of her entire personality: Ground.
The literal, the metaphorical, the emotional, and the academic kind. (God forbid we forget grounded theory methodology—nothing says “I’m healing” like footnotes.)
TL;DR: Chapter 1 Takeaways
- Pickleball is dangerous, especially when your ego outpaces your core strength.
- There’s no app for transformation. But there are apps that will waste hours of your life while you procrastinate becoming a better human.
- You cannot “out-journal” weak glutes.
- Strong ground = Brené’s midlife battle cry.
- Don’t build on dysfunction… unless you’re Silicon Valley, in which case: profit!
Snarky Quotes About Strong Ground
Here are some prime quotes from the first chapter slayed by Snarky Suzie:
“We will not build on dysfunction. We’re not going to start lifting and pushing until we understand what’s going on with your body.”
“The gift of middle age—your body will get your attention, one way or another.”
“I had always been told that I was disconnected from my body because I lived in my head—I was too much of a thinker.”
“He (Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn) defines mindfulness as the “awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally…in the service of self-understanding and wisdom.”
“There is no courage without vulnerability. If there’s no uncertainty, risk, or exposure, we’re not being brave.”
Keep Pushing Forward:
👉 More from Brené Brown’s Strong Ground:
- The Tush Push With Brené Brown
- The Thrill Of Victory And Agony Of Defeat With Brené Brown
- Thinking Like A Scientist In Self-Help
