Breaking Brave

A Memoir of Resilience and Reinvention

Sylvia Ann Hewlett

The revealing and extraordinarily inspirational memoir from acclaimed economist, bestselling author, and award-winning thought leader Sylvia Ann Hewlett.

Sylvia Ann Hewlett has spent most of her adult life in the public eye. She's one of Harvard Business Review's most published writers, she's testified before Congress and spoken at international gatherings like the World Economic Forum at Davos. And most important, she has built a devoted following—especially among women who see in her a guiding light in how to succeed in business and in life. Yet despite focusing her professional energies on issues "close to home"—children, raising a family, career advancement—a part of her remained closely guarded.

Sylvia now turns inward to tell the deeply private story that shaped her influential life and professional vision. Breaking Brave is narrative rooted not only in scholarship and leadership, but in profound personal loss, resilience, and reinvention. In these pages, we will experience her childhood in post-War Welsh coal country. She and her six sisters grew up in near-poverty and she witnesses first-hand how little women and girls are valued, whether it is her mother’s stymied life or the graves of young girls not deemed fit for a churchyard.

Her anchor amidst a tumultuous home life was her brilliant, vibrant older sister Roselle. She was Sylvia's lodestar, inspiring her to strive to break free of the classism and sexism around her and earn a spot at Cambridge. Roselle's tragic death in their twenties shattered Sylvia. How would she go on?

As many who have suffered in the deep well of grief can releate, the loss of Roselle catalyzed a lifelong inquiry into power, purpose, and justice for Sylvia. For the first time, Sylvia reveals how her lived experience—often painful, always galvanizing—laid the foundation for the rest of her life. From the halls of Columbia to a high-risk pregnancy, to misogyny and more devasting loss as well as love and fulfillment, Sylvia found her purpose illuminating the lives of those who are often sidelined. She testified before Congress in support of parental leave. With Cornell West, she co-authored The War Against Parents, that focused on lifting the circumstances of underprivileged children. Throughout these years, Sylvia continued her work focusing on women—their paths to success and the impediments that lay in their way. She was among the very first to articulate what we now know: having it all is a myth, and that each of us, especially women, need to make choices about the families we do or do not have, the careers we build, and our relationships with our partners.

Vulnerable yet with a warm heart and sharp wit, Sylvia brings her full self to the page—offering a compelling narrative voice, rich with insight and emotional clarity. She shares with her readers the very personal roots of her groundbreaking work—and the very real connection between policy and real people’s lives. Breaking Brave will resonate deeply with readers navigating loss, change, or the quiet reckoning of middle and later life, and show that they are not alone.

Sylvia Ann Hewlett is the founding president of the Center for Talent Innovation, a Manhattan-based think tank where she chairs a task force of eighty-two multinational companies focused on fully realizing the new streams of labor in the global marketplace. Her book Forget a Mentor: Find a Sponsor was named one of the ten best business books of 2013 and won the Axiom Book Award.  She is the author of Executive Presence, When the Bough Breaks (winner of a Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Book Award), and several other books. 

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Endorsements & Reviews

"On one level, Sylvia Hewlett’s memoir, Breaking BRave, which traces an arc from her childhood in a Welsh coal-mining village to academia, the bestseller list, and the C-suite, might be read as a how-to manual for successful career invention and reinvention. But in fact it’s a book about the challenges and costs of such a journey, particularly for women—prejudice, illness, family tragedy, professional reversal—and the effort it takes to overcome them. Breathtakingly candid, it’s a story of grit, determination, inspiration, and love." Amanda Vail, author of Pride and Pleasure winner of the Pulitzer Prize

"A magnificent book. The grit and resilience Sylvia Ann Hewlett displays in this exquisitely rendered memoir stirs the soul. I've had the privilege of being a small part of Sylvia's remarkable journey from Welsh coal-mining village to Cambridge, Harvard, and a life of consequence in the world. What touches me most deeply about Breaking Brave is its raw honesty. Some passages take my breathe way. In moments of triumph as well as tragedy she shows us her soft underbelly with just enough poignant, searing detail that readers understand the price paid by women (and some men) for standout success. Anyone who has faced serious setbacks in life or is tangled with the tradeoffs that thread through their jobs and professions, will find this book a page turner. " Cornel West, author of Race Matters and Democracy Matters

"A powerful book that speaks to our times. Sylvia Ann Hewlett’s remarkable journey from coal mining valley to Cambridge, Harvard and beyond was driven by her intellect, personal courage and sense of mission, but she was helped along by post-war reforms that opened-up – and paid for – university education for disadvantaged young people. Sylvia’s gripping story underscores the payoff to educational investment, and the price nation’s pay when they close off avenues of social progression." John Eatwell, Economist, Member of the House of Lords