We love Brene!

I'd like to think that the Internet is a meritocracy, and that Brene Brown won "most viewed Ted talk" by merit alone. So, then, anyone with a truly meaningful Ted talk could easily go viral. ... Uh, good luck with that!

I don't really know how the Internet algorithms work, but I thank them for helping Brene Brown become a superstar. I have a feeling that, one way or another, we have run across Brene Brown's work, and we love it. What is there not to love?

Brene's Ted talks went viral in 2010. Today, she just keeps getting bigger with a Neflix special earlier this year and major exposure. What she preaches is counter to the trends we see today.

Shame. Vulnerability. What it means to be whole-hearted.

I love the depth of Brene Brown's words and work, and, I'll take her word for it — she has the research to back it up. 

Y'know, let me digress about qualitative vs. quantitative research. I often find that qualitative research is dismissed. I am not sure why. To me, to really go in depth and have a deeper understanding of human beings the much-revered quantitative research is limited by statistics. I hope the research world, in general, is thawing out about over-stressing numerical data above actual truth.

Let's face it. The computers are either taking over or have taken over already in many ways of our lives. But that should free us up for better lives. Actual deeper understanding of our emotions and human traits should become much more of a premium as opposed to how to get a quality silk tie the fastest way.

Just like the first entry of Malcolm Gladwell, I recommend the entire library of Brene Brown. If I had to pick one book, I'd go with Daring Greatly (2015), which gets its name from the famous "Man in the Arena" quote from Theodore Roosevelt.

Beware, though, many of the Brown's key themes are repeated throughout her books. I swear I saw exact passages repeated, but when a friend asked me which ones, I couldn't come up with them. So maybe I was just tripping on that, or they were just extremely similar.

The point is that I do love Brene Brown, and I believe that I and others respond to her so much because she "goes beyond the number data." We need depth and understanding with vulnerability and shame. We need truth. We need deeper human understanding, and she has conveyed that in her work.

She is unabashedly a Texan, and for her tough yet charming attitude, Stevie Ray Vaughn comes to mind.