The Ryan Leak Podcast - Keep Going

Episode Date: June 21, 2026

In 1989, a 23-year-old social worker started teaching classes and researching a topic nobody wanted to touch. For 21 years, almost nobody outside her department read her work. Then she gave a 20-minute talk, and it changed the conversation in boardrooms, classrooms, and living rooms across the world. Ryan unpacks her story and the timeline most people never see behind the breakthrough everyone celebrates.If you’re a teacher wondering if your students are listening, a parent who can’t tell if anything is landing, a pastor whose sermons feel like they’re falling on deaf ears, or a creative whose work gets 12 likes, this episode is for you. Sometimes you get to see the difference you made. Sometimes you just have to trust that it’s happening anyway.

What's going on, my friends? Welcome back to the Rine League podcast, where we love to keep things short and sweet for you each and every week. Today's nugget of inspiration is very, very simple in that I want to encourage you to keep going. Yeah, I want to encourage you to keep going. I heard a story recently that made me want to keep going, and I thought I would share it with you. In 1989, there was a clinical social worker. that taught her first class at the University of Houston, and she was just 23 years old. She was paid in adjunct wages.

And her research topic was shame, not leadership, not innovation, not productivity. Shame. The thing that nobody wants to talk about at dinner. That is for sure. And it's definitely not something that people want to fund a research grant for. Her colleagues thought she was actually limiting her career. Studying shame was what some would consider academic quicksand. Nobody wanted to publish it.

Nobody wanted to read it. Nobody wanted to sit in a conference room and discuss it. And for 21 years, she taught classes, conducted interviews, wrote academic papers, and built a body of work that almost nine. nobody outside her department even knew existed. 21 years. That's not a season. That's a generation.

And then in 2010, she gave a 20-minute talk in Houston called The Power of Vulnerability. And her name is Brunei Brown. That talk became a TEDx talk. The TEDx talk became one of the most viewed in TED history. That talk became a book. That book became five books. Those books became a Netflix special. The Netflix special became a,

a podcast. The podcast became a research institute. The research institute became a licensed curriculum used by Fortune 500 companies, universities, and even the U.S. military. Bernay Brown, she didn't just give a good speech. She built an entire ecosystem and speaking was at the center of it, but that ecosystem didn't start on a stage. It started in a classroom that nobody was watching, doing research that nobody was reading on a topic that nobody wanted to touch for 21 years, two decades. And I think about that timeline a lot

because we live in a world that worships the overnight success story. We see the TED Talk with 60 million views and think that's where it started. But it didn't start there. We started 21 years earlier with a 23-year-old who believed, leaves her work mattered before anyone ever agreed with her.

And here's the part that gets me. She didn't know. She didn't know the TED Talk was coming. She didn't know the books would land. She didn't know Netflix would call. She didn't know the military would use her curriculum. She just kept showing up. She just kept researching.

She just kept teaching. She just kept being faithful with a thing right in front of her. And that's the nugget for today. Keep going. Keep doing the right thing for the right reason. And trust that it's making a difference, even when you can't see it, because here's the truth. Most of us will never get a TED talk. Most of us, well, we don't write a bestseller or land of Netflix deal, but that doesn't mean our work isn't creating ripples. We can't see it. Bray Brown, just so you're aware of just even just, you know, doing a lot of work in corporate America.

She's literally shifted the entire conversation in business. I mean, executives now are talking about vulnerability in boardrooms. Leaders are discussing shame in team meetings. Companies are building cultures around emotional courage. Things that were considered soft 10 years ago are now considered essential. One woman's research changed the vocabulary of an entire generation of leaders. but I have to wonder what if she had quit in year seven

what if she had quit in year 12 year 19 what if she quit at year 20 because you know 20 is like oh I've been doing this 20 years and maybe this thing just didn't work I mean that's just a long time wondering if your work matters

and I just wanted to record this podcast today because maybe maybe you're a teacher and your students just don't seem to care or maybe you're a pastor and your sermons feel like they're falling on deaf ears, or maybe you're a parent raising a child, and you can't tell if anything you're saying is landing. I don't know, maybe you're a social worker,

and the system just feels broken beyond repair. Maybe you're a coach, and your players just feels like your words are going in one ear or not the other. Maybe you're a volunteer. And nobody notices the hours you put in. Maybe you're a researcher. And your papers sit unread. Maybe you're a creative and your content gets like 12 likes, right?

And it's just so deflating. Maybe you're building a business and the growth is so slow. It feels like regression. I just want to encourage you today. Like, I get it. I've been there. There have been so many years in my career where I was doing work that nobody saw and speaking in small rooms and creating content that they didn't move the needle

and pouring into people who it just seemed like nothing was making an actual difference. But here's what I've learned. Sometimes you get to see the difference you've made. A student comes back 10 years later and says you've changed my life. client sends you a note and says, hey, that thing you said stuck with me, your kids grow up and repeat the very wisdom you thought that they were ignoring. Those moments are beautiful. You should treasure them. But sometimes you don't get to see it. Sometimes you just have to trust that it's happening anyway. Trust that the seeds you're planting or taking root somewhere

you can't see. Trust that faithfulness in the small is building something. something bigger than you realize. Trust that the right thing done for the right reason is never wasted, even when the results don't show up on your timeline. Bray Brown didn't need a TED talk to validate 21 years of work. The work was already valid. The stage just gave the world a chance to catch up to what she had been doing all along. So, whatever you're doing today, wherever you are in the timeline, I just want to encourage.

you to keep going. Keep teaching. Keep researching. Keep parenting. Keep coaching. Keep creating. Keep serving. Keep being faithful with the thing in front of you. Because you might be one conversation away from a breakthrough you can't see coming, or you might be raising the person who changes everything. Or you might never know the full impact of your life, this side of heaven. Either way, keep doing the right thing for the right reason and trust that it matters because I believe it does. My friend, thank you so much for listening to the Ryan League podcast. If today's episode inspires you, I'd encourage you not to keep it to yourself, but share it with a friend. And hey, it would mean the world to me if you would take a moment to rate review and subscribe.

Your support helps us reach even more people with these short and sweet nuggets of inspiration. Thanks for being a part of the journey. We'll catch you next time.