Revealing

A groundbreaking roadmap to harnessing the surprising power of vulnerability for greater impact in work and life, from a celebrated Harvard Business School professor and leading expert on privacy.

‘Will change how you think about every decision to open up or hold back’ Katy Milkman

‘A fascinating look into how we can all communicate better’ Arthur C. Brooks

‘Unflinchingly honest, rigorously researched and funny to boot’ Ethan Kross

Our goal should not be to eliminate vulnerability, but to harness its power. This is a roadmap for figuring out how.

We know the gut-wrenching feeling- that post-conversation replay, cringing at how much we just revealed. We live in fear of saying too much, so we keep quiet, guard our emotions and lock away our most personal thoughts.

But what if we’ve been worrying about the wrong thing?

A growing body of research shows we vastly underestimate the value of oversharing, with our spouses, friends, colleagues and even strangers. Vulnerability and openness can unlock some of life’s richest rewards- deeper friendships, stronger professional relationships, greater well-being and, yes, even love.

Drawing on over a decade of research and real-life stories, here behavioural scientist Leslie John explores why we hesitate to open up, when sharing really does backfire, and how to strike a balance between too much and too little.

Revealing empowers us to make smarter, bolder and more satisfying decisions about just how much we want to share and why.

Author Biography

Leslie K. John is a behavioural scientist and leading privacy expert at Harvard Business School whose research focuses on how we make decisions. She has been published in leading academic journals and has influenced scholars, companies, NGOs, and governments around the world.

She’s worked with organisations including Facebook, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. Her work has also received broad media coverage in outlets including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, and Time Magazine and she also writes for Harvard Business Review.