Stories and Heart tells the life story of president and CEO of Build A Bear, Sharon Price John. I enjoyed reading about the many obstacles and mindset barriers she had to overcome in order to become the leader she is today. She holds nothing back in this book and provides the reader with examples of the many ways everyday moments create who we become on our life path. She encourages her readers to tap into our own inner power in order to unlock the potential of our life story and creative potential. Every move we make, interaction we have, relationship we build and decision we commit towards has a direct impact on our path towards becoming.

As a therapist, I enjoyed the tools shared throughout the book to help readers consider their goals and actually manifest them- among these are a goal tree with a horizon of the next five years and a visualization process to help us internalize the desires of our heart. Sharon asks readers whether or not we have the confidence needed to calibrate our goals because without the necessary confidence persistent negative thoughts will hold us back. She shares her story of overcoming self-doubt and the comparison trap on her way up the corporate ladder and in business school.

As a long time fan of the Build A Bear franchise it was meaningful as a reader to hear directly from Sharon about building the vision for the company and persevering through hard economic times. Thank you to the author and publisher for the e-arc copy!