Kristin Harper - The Heart of a Leader: Fifty-Two Emotional Intelligence Insights to Advance Your Career

Kristin Harper is CEO of Driven to Succeed, LLC, a leadership development company that provides keynote speaking and brand strategy consulting. An award-winning businesswoman, Kristin has more than thirty years of brand and business experience, from grassroots startups to global iconic brands. She started her first business at the age of fourteen and rose through the ranks to become a global vice president of a Fortune 15 company in her thirties.

Kristins experience spans both business to consumer and business to business. She built deep general management, brand management, and marketing experience over twenty years at Procter & Gamble, The Hershey Company, and Cardinal Health, respectively. She has led teams to develop strategies, innovation, and equity-building marketing that drive increased sales, profit, and share for global iconic brands, including but not limited to Crest, Oral-B, and Hersheys KISSES. Utilizing proven approaches, Kristin helps businesses, organizations, colleges, and high achieving individuals build clear and compelling brands that drive results.

She is deeply committed to her community as an active lifetime member of Delta Sigma Theta (public service sorority), minister at her church, and cofounder/board president of Pacesetters Unlimited, Inc., which provides mentoring and scholarships to African American youth. Kristin received her bachelors and MBA degrees from Florida A&M University (FAMU) and understands what it means to lead as a woman. During college, she was elected the first female student government president in nearly a decade and now serves as an appointed member on the FAMU Board of Trustees.

Connect with Kristin at www.KristinHarper.com.

F irst and foremost, I thank God, who has given me the talent, passion, and will to realize my calling and purpose. Thank you for giving me the vision to write this book and to contribute to the world in a new, meaningful way. To Andre, my faithful husband, thank you for your enduring love, support, and wisdom. Youve made so many sacrifices in support of my career growth and have been a steady hand through lifes highs and lows. To our children, Celeste, Montgomery, and Prescott, thanks for being patient with Mommy when work obligations and travel took me away from you. Thank you to my mom and dad, Joan and Richard Tucker, for supporting every creative endeavor from baking cookies to writing books. Mom, the experiences you afforded me leading Princess House crystal parties at such a young age made me a confident communicator. This has been an invaluable asset in my life and career.

I owe who I am as a leader to some of my most influential role models in organizational leadership: Dr. Charles E. Booth, Dr. Frederick Humphries, Dr. Sybil Mobley, Pastor Damon Lynch, Jr., Matt Barresi, Diane Dietz, Alfredo Marrero, Jim Taylor, Roslyn Bolden, Diane Lorello, Rafa Garibay, Don Casey, Mike Kaufmann, George Barrett, Mike Duffy, Mike Buck, Valerie Pitteroff, Ramon Gregory, Kathryne Reeves, Nadine Thompson, Cynthia Butler-McIntyre, Pastor Jerry Revish, and Lady Danielle Revish. There are many other leaders who showed me how I did not wish to be. While they will remain nameless, their contributions have been just as valuable.

Thanks to my executive coach, Rasheryl McCreary, for helping to smooth out the rough edges and leading me on an amazing journey of self-discovery and refinement. You have been a blessing in my life, and I am grateful to you for writing the foreword. Leonora, thank you for encouraging me to consider traditional publishing to share this message on a broader platform. Your mentorship, friendship, and generosity mean the world to me. To my friends and cheerleaders along this journeyAriana and Kevin Martin, Beverlyn and Orvell Johns, Julius and Trishawnda Cabbagestalk, Sherry and Kevin Lloyd, Tramayne Whitney, James Booth, Nehal Patel, April Mills, Veronica Farris, Terrie Ragland, LaKesha Woodard, Natasha Austin, and so many othersthank you! Tashawna Otabil and Lawrence Brown, thank you for giving me the first opportunities to be a keynote speaker at your respective organizations.

Finally, to Leticia Gomez, my amazing literary agent, and my editor, Suzanne Staszak-Silva with Rowman & Littlefield Publishing, thanks for believing in me and this work. To Laraleigh Moffitt, thank you for editing my manuscript. You were invaluable. My sincere hope is that this book will transform the minds and heart of people around the world, both personally and professionally.

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