Brené Brown is an research professor and Doctor of Social Work who primarily focuses on communication and workplace behavior. She is especially interested in leadership qualities and explores what positive leaders should and shouldn’t do to excel in their positions. Brown became well known after publishing her books The Gifts of Imperfections and Rising Strong and performing a widely viewed TED talk on vulnerability. Brown’s decades of research and consulting in the corporate environment provide a strong foundation of data for Dare to Lead. She often cites her own research findings and regularly compares them to other researchers’ findings to establish her work as authoritative and evidence based.

Steve is Brown’s husband and is featured regularly throughout Dare to Lead in Brown’s personal anecdotes. These stories help to give color to Brown’s research and show how her work has influenced her marriage. Steve is presented as a communicative partner that helps Brown become more aware of her own mistakes and misunderstandings and to grow as a person and professional.

John Gottman is a relationship researcher who is renowned for his work on marriage and divorce. He famously labeled the behaviors “criticism, defensiveness, stonewalling, and contempt” the “Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” which signaled an impending divorce (32).