Why You Should Read This   Our fear holds us hostage from becoming who we are meant to be.  When you are courageous to banish your fears, you can take steps to expand your horizons.  Here is the link to the Audible version of the book. But I highly encourage you to buy the book to reference the last half of the book that contains “A Fear Less Manifesto.

While Dr. Sarah Lewis’s The Rise shifted my focus on work from Perfectionisms to Mastery, Dr. Pippa Grange (who is the real-life version of the title character of the Emmy award winning television series, Ted Lasso – just Google her!) reshaped the mechanism to achieve Mastery – through the conduit of reclaiming my personal value.  We often times conflate success with value and instead she defines why these must always be treated as separate and unequal.  She is known for extolling the virtues of the “deep win,” which are the successes where you know what your partners need, and they know what you need, and you work together because you respect, trust, and value each other.  Because of this, you create a win that propels your long-term collaborations. 

Shame and fear lie at the core of perfectionism.  In her book, Fear Less: Face Not-Good-Enough to Replace Your Doubts, Achieve Your Goals, and Unlock Your Success, the author articulates in each chapter how fear inhibited people from believing in themselves like a geometric proof being taught by a beloved family member.  This book delineates how heartbreakingly destructive fear is and offers and alternative to it so that you can achieve your goals by using your curiosity and courage to replace fear with purpose, real connection, passion, and laughter. 

How You Can Apply This   Use this book to unlock your value and that of others so that you find greater engagement with the people who are important in your life.  Courage and curiosity are contagious, and I hope you reflect on the importance of not only owning any fears that might be holding you back from your ability to grow but that you also invest in yourself by investing in your relationships to build deep wins for today and years to come.  Your value and those of others should never be tied to successes, which are singular points in time that are not a reflection of your value.  And I encourage you to choose the course of transformation over transaction whenever the option presents itself.

Additional Materials For Reinforcing What You Learned  If you want to reinforce what you gained from this book by listening to a podcast, you might enjoy: Reid Hoffman’s 2022 Commencement Address to Vanderbilt University where he focused on the importance of building and then tapping into long lasting relationships – it is an investment you make in yourself.  If you want to take it further, listen to Brené Brown’s conversation with Aiko Bethea.  This moving and mindset reframing podcast deeply discusses what support and allyship means to establishing deep wins. 

And for fun, binge-watch the first two seasons of Ted Lasso to watch the deep and shallow wins unfold.  Fear shows itself rather quickly.  But courage and curiosity are the antidote to creating an environment where psychological safety is built, thereby enabling people to thrive together as a team.

This book review was written by Shelley A. Svoren, VP – Leader Development for IAWA and who is the CEO + Founder of Infinite Branches.  You can DM her on LinkedIn.  If you are inspired by deep wins, put a #deepwin in your LinkedIn posts.