Shame on Exhibit

Art, Secrets and Freedom to Read

Shame needs you to believe you are alone.  –Brené Brown, Atlas of the Heart

The Shame Queen and Me

More than once in my life, I’ve talked myself into doing a hard thing through the format of a satirical list. Give me the right combination of the most exaggerated, ridiculous and funny reasons to walk a plank, and I might sign up.

As a pep talk when I needed courage to take the first steps toward leaving a big organization where I’d worked for almost two decades, I made one of these silly lists in favor. 

My inner critic speaks fluent MBA, and she had been telling me that my you have got to be kidding me reaction to some of the behavior around me was just evidence of my “failure to rise to the challenges before me with executive presence.” Engaging my sense of humor, I could acknowledge my feelings and hear their message: it’s time for a change.

One of the items on the list captured this particularly well: When I leave I will never need to read Brené Brown again!

Don’t get me wrong. The Sh…