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What it argues
Playing Big is Tara Mohr's guide to the internal barriers that prevent women — and many men — from contributing at the level they're capable of. Mohr, an executive coach, focuses not on external obstacles like bias and structural barriers, which she acknowledges are real, but on the inner critic, fear, and self-protective patterns that lead capable people to stay small. The premise is that changing your relationship to your own thinking is necessary, even when external change is also required.
The book's organizing concept is the distinction between two types of fear: "pachad" (the Kabbalistic term for projected fear, imagining dangers that may not materialize) and "yirah" (the awe and expansion that comes with stepping into something genuinely bigger). Mohr argues that most of the fear people feel about speaking up, taking a risk, or leading is pachad — a mental projection — while the discomfort of actual growth feels more like yirah. Learning to tell them apart is, for Mohr, one of the most useful skills available to someone trying to play bigger.
What it gets right
- 1.
Most fear about playing bigger is pachad — imagined, projected fear — rather than yirah, the real awe of growth. Learning to distinguish them changes how you respond.
- 2.
The inner critic is a character, not a truth-teller. Giving it a name and noticing its script allows you to act despite it rather than deferring to its warnings.
- 3.
The inner mentor — the wisest, most courageous version of yourself — is a more useful guide than external validation when deciding how to act.
What it covers
Who wrote it
Tara Mohr is a coach, author, and founder of the Playing Big leadership program, which has been taken by thousands of women across more than 100 countries. She holds an MBA from Stanford University and an undergraduate degree from Yale. Before launching her coaching practice she worked in management consulting and corporate strategy. Playing Big, published by Gotham Books in 2014, was named one of the best business books of the year by Inc. magazine. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.
