There are too many people I want to thank. So I’m not going to thank everyone who deserves thanks here—I’ll reserve that for many in-person thank-yous.
Instead, I want to focus only on those people who have directly contributed to this book. I want to start by thanking you, dear reader. Thank you for coming with me on this journey. You and I know how hard it is to make creativity work—and we both know it’s a complicated and messy process. But you stuck with me, and you read this book (even my acknowledgments, it appears), and I appreciate your support and interest. I wrote this book for the person who truly wants more creativity in the world and aims to champion change. So if you are that person, I wrote this book for you. Please visit my website, jennifersmueller.com, or drop me a line or a comment via email so we can keep the dialogue going and help each other.
And then there are the people without whom this book would not exist. And I’m not just talking about my mom, with her wonderful illustration in Chapter 1 and her warm encouragement, or my dad, who inspired me to be a scientist in the first place; I’m talking about the people who literally told me that this was the book I was going to write. If you are reading this book and liked it, you should thank them too. I want to thank Giles Anderson, my agent, for pushing this book forward. And, of course, Rick Wolff, my editor at Houghton, who had the vision that made this book a reality. Rick rejected my first proposal, and my second, and said, “Jen, nobody wants to read a book from some researcher. You need to make these stories relatable and come to life.” And he pushed me to do that. I also want to thank Peter Economy for helping improve my writing and encouraging me to make this book more cogent (and shorter).
Many of the ideas in this book were directly shaped by conversation and collaborations with Matthew Cronin and Jeffrey Loewenstein, whose insights and passion for the subject continue to inspire me.
In addition, to my research coauthors and collaborators, for the work I built upon to write this book, you deserve my heartfelt thanks: Teresa Amabile, Jack Goncalo, Shimul Melwani, Jennifer Deal, Sarah Harvey, Dishan Kamdar, Ethan Burris, Julia Minson, Rick Larrick, Vish Krishnan, Cheryl Wakslak, Jennifer Overbeck, Sigal Barsade, Scott Eidelman, Barry Staw, Priya Kannan-Narasimhan, and Mandy O’Neil.
I would also like to thank those who contributed to interviews and examples in the book, namely Thomas Fogarty, Jeffrey Solomon, Rob Cook, Rob B. McClary, Andrea Matwyshyn, Jenna Vondrasek, Austin Jacobs, Annie Ngo, Sean Wilson, Tim Cushanick, and Daniella Lisle.
Of course, where would I be without the person who inspired creative change for me—Steven Bengis—my husband, to whom I’ve dedicated this book. Thank you to my immediate family, Juliet, Kevin, Julia, Chet, Jonah, Ava, Ann, Cliff, Elke, Jeffrey, and Pete, for cheering me forward. And then there are the dogs—Butchy and Sammy—whom I thank for snuggling me throughout the writing process.
Now, let’s go make some creative change.