Dare

by Becky Blalock
5/5 stars
Jossey-Bass, 2013
216 pages
Adult Non-Fiction Leadership

Source: Received an ARC through Amazon Vine in exchange for an honest review.

As I've previously mentioned on my blog, one of my goals for 2014 was to read more business/leadership books and to see how I could implement them in my own career for my professional development. Well, no time like the present so I grabbed this book when I saw it and eagerly ate it up.

The title really grabbed me as it brought to mind Brene Brown's Daring Greatly and its allusion to that excellent Theodore Roosevelt quote "Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.” I want to be a leader in the business world and I was very inspired by the insight shared in this book.

On the one hand, I don't normally think of myself as a big daredevil (and I work in compliance so that's not really the most desirable trait anyway in my opinion). On the other hand, I'm at the beginning of my career, I want to lean in, and I want to really grow and nurture my career. I definitely need advice and as a reader, books are an important component of that for me. After reading this, I felt that I have made some good decisions so far but am also reminded of my weak spots. There are a couple of points I intend to try out and explore in real life to see what impact I can make.

Besides Blalock's advice, there are additional words from other powerful businesswomen. All of this combines to produce an incredibly uplifting and inspirational book. It made me think about the women who have paved the path for me, making my own journey just that much easier in addition to reminding me that there are people who will root for me (sometimes I struggle with knowing that.) It's a very generous book; Blalock recognizes her blessings and wants to give back and she encourages the reader to do the same.

One thing I would have liked would have been a clearer picture of Blalock's career trajectory (as well as that for some of the other women who so graciously shared). She shares about several key positions and what she learned from them but I'm still a bit confused on how she exactly made each move to reach where she is now and how long that took.

Overall: Incredibly inspiring-definitely a fave read of the year and one I plan to go through at least one more time this year as I make plans and goals for 2014.