Feet to the Fire

By Kathy Gardarian with Tinker Lindsey

Finding My Soul in Success

“Kathy Gardarian’s Feet to the Fire grabbed me from the first line and never let go. You’ll find yourself in the challenges Kathy faced, and overcame, as she built a multi-million dollar business, uncovering wisdom that will guide you on your own path to discovering what really matters in life.”

—Chris Attwood, Co-author of the NYT Best Sellers, The Passion Test and Your Hidden Riches

“It’s about making mistakes, learning, and growing. I had to learn how to be brave; how to hold my feet to the fire; how to invite deep change while tolerating acute discomfort.”
– Kathy Gardarian

For some women passion, commitment and determination are powerful tools for achieving personal and business success. For Kathy Gardarian, they describe a way of life.

Kathy walked into my life about twenty-eight years ago at the invitation of my partner, the world-renowned scholar and futurist Willis Harman. Willis believed Kathy’s unique blend of personal ambition and spiritual awareness would mesh well with the basic tenets of the World Business Academy.

Kathy enrolled me in the story of her life’s business challenge: to be a capable woman who could prove that her personal drive would create a highly successful company using openhearted love as her motivational tool, and defy the traditional male business influences who informed her she could not succeed without a man. They told her she would never make it. She knew they were wrong. Her life has been a concrete demonstration that a woman with evolved personal values can not only succeed, but do so beyond any normal expectation. More importantly, she lovingly went about her business in a unique way that honored her identification with “the feminine principle,” and without recourse to traditional male stereotypes of how to achieve success in the marketplace.

Over the years I have sat with Kathy for hundreds of days, in an extraordinarily wide variety of circumstances, at meetings that have occurred on four separate continents. I have watched her and listened to her evoke the essence of the feminine as she addressed what otherwise would have been a “normal” business question. In fact, I personally recommended her to the chairman of the Vans Board of Directors for service in that company (she served ten years on that board) specifically because she could be counted upon to always bring the transcendent and the feminine into all her board deliberations. Kathy has served as a role model for all business people, of both genders, but particularly for young women who otherwise might falsely believe that the only path to success is to emulate the patriarchy, rather than to honor the feminine. Kathy gently yet firmly articulates her beliefs, and lives them fully in her life, both as a spiritual person and a successful professional. This book is a natural extension of her ongoing mission to invite and inspire others to do the same.

Rinaldo S. Brutoco
President, World Business Academy

Finding My Soul in Success

“Kathy Gardarian’s Feet to the Fire grabbed me from the first line and never let go. You’ll find yourself in the challenges Kathy faced, and overcame, as she built a multi-million dollar business, uncovering wisdom that will guide you on your own path to discovering what really matters in life.”

—Chris Attwood, Co-author of the NYT Best Sellers, The Passion Test and Your Hidden Riches

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For some women passion, commitment and determination are powerful tools for achieving personal and business success. For Kathy Gardarian, they describe a way of life.

Kathy walked into my life about twenty-eight years ago at the invitation of my partner, the world-renowned scholar and futurist Willis Harman. Willis believed Kathy’s unique blend of personal ambition and spiritual awareness would mesh well with the basic tenets of the World Business Academy.

Kathy enrolled me in the story of her life’s business challenge: to be a capable woman who could prove that her personal drive would create a highly successful company using openhearted love as her motivational tool, and defy the traditional male business influences who informed her she could not succeed without a man. They told her she would never make it. She knew they were wrong. Her life has been a concrete demonstration that a woman with evolved personal values can not only succeed, but do so beyond any normal expectation. More importantly, she lovingly went about her business in a unique way that honored her identification with “the feminine principle,” and without recourse to traditional male stereotypes of how to achieve success in the marketplace.

Over the years I have sat with Kathy for hundreds of days, in an extraordinarily wide variety of circumstances, at meetings that have occurred on four separate continents. I have watched her and listened to her evoke the essence of the feminine as she addressed what otherwise would have been a “normal” business question. In fact, I personally recommended her to the chairman of the Vans Board of Directors for service in that company (she served ten years on that board) specifically because she could be counted upon to always bring the transcendent and the feminine into all her board deliberations. Kathy has served as a role model for all business people, of both genders, but particularly for young women who otherwise might falsely believe that the only path to success is to emulate the patriarchy, rather than to honor the feminine. Kathy gently yet firmly articulates her beliefs, and lives them fully in her life, both as a spiritual person and a successful professional. This book is a natural extension of her ongoing mission to invite and inspire others to do the same.

Rinaldo S. Brutoco
President, World Business Academy

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Praise for “Feet to the Fire”

“Feet to the Fire is a treasure of a book. I literally could not put it down. While love, business, and success may seem like strange bed fellows, Kathy’s empowering story, told as a series of clear and concise lessons, is a powerful guide to living the life of your dreams. You will want to buy a carton to give to family and friends.”
—Joan Borysenko, Ph.D. NYT Best Selling Author of Minding the Body, Mending the Mind

“Feet to the Fire is for anyone interested in true success. Using her own story as an example, Kathy Gardarian offers useful, accessible tools for transformation combining business with self-awareness.” —Deepak Chopra, M.D.

“An amazon book by an amazingly powerful and successful woman.”
—Menas C. Kafatos, Ph.D, Co-author with Deepak Chopra of NYT Best Seller, You Are the Universe

“Kathy Gardarian’s Feet to the Fire grabbed me from the first line and never let go. You’ll find yourself in the challenges Kathy faced, and overcame, as she built a multi-million dollar business, uncovering wisdom that will guide you on your own path to discovering what really matters in life.”
Chris Attwood – Co-author of the NYT Best Sellers, The Passion Test and Your Hidden Riches

“Kathy Gardarian has an amazing life story and Feet to the Fire is truly a wonderful book. It reads like a novel and could have a very important positive influence on both women and men, struggling to find their inner compass, their true north, so that they can be both personally and professionally fulfilled.”
—James A. Cusumano, Ph.D. – Author of Life is Beautiful: 12 Universal Rules

“This fascinating book is not just about a great woman’s journey in business and in life but is a guide to new ways of being in a world of so much change and transition. Kathy Gardarian is a new kind of heroine. With both pluck and passion, she masters the challenges of women in business while offering the key to women’s genius and creativity. In doing so she has touched many lives of women and men and now offers her gifts to you, the reader.”
—Jean Houston Ph.D. Author of A Passion for the Possible

5 Stars – Inspiring
“A friend recommended this book to me. I’m glad she did. I found the book inspiring and refreshingly frank in describing the struggles that Kathy went through as a woman building a very successful business, but at the same exploring and expanding her spiritual self. I would highly recommend this book to both men and woman. Great lessons to be learned.”
– Ricky G Kuhn – Amazon Customer

5 Stars – Inspiring to any business owner regardless of gender
“The book was an easy and amazing read and I think it will offer something to any business owner or anyone that desires achievement regardless of their gender. It offers a great perspective on how to succeed through adversity, and how to connect with your own fulfillment in life. The book is full of conversations that really put me right into the moment of events that happened and kept me turning just one more page. I finished it over a weekend but thoughts about the content in the book and “a-ha moments” still come up for me weeks after reading which has prompted me to write this review. I really enjoyed the book. Thank you Kathy for sharing your amazing experiences!”
– Ang S. – Amazon Customer

5 Stars – An Appreciated Gift to My “Bright and Ambitious” Daughters
“Daughters Megan and Alicia are advanced degree holders and focused on futures of accomplishment and contribution. I agree so strongly with Jean Houston’s review and won’t repeat her wise words here. Meg and Ali LOVED this book — and for Dad, their thanks are all I need to endorse it.”
– Robert White – Amazon Customer

5 Stars – This book was a joy from beginning to end
“This book was a joy from beginning to end! Not only was it an excellent tell-all about how to succeed in a man’s world but how to retain your heart and soul along the way. A terrific must-read for any new entrepreneur or businessperson finding their way!”
– Christine Borrelli – Amazon Customer