Every book is a team effort. This one especially benefited from wise advice and helping hands at every stage. Long before I dared imagine this book, Henry Riggs, Don Fehrenbacher, Lois Amsterdam, and William Mills Todd III stretched my horizons in college. John Kelliher and Norm Pearlstine kept me on track during a college-to-career transition that could have gone south many times.
This book’s central arguments gradually took shape in the pages of Forbes magazine, where editors Randall Lane, Caroline Howard, and Bruce Upbin offered patient support along with some inspired bits of word craft. During that formative period, from 2012 to 2015, Marc Bodnick at Quora, Larry Rout at the Wall Street Journal, Nanette Byrnes at Technology Review, and Daniel Roth at LinkedIn also provided excellent platforms for a writer trying to make sense of his own material.
In the autumn of 2015, Christine Cavalier, Josh Stephens, Nanci Schiman, Vicki Reid, Malcolm Reid, and Brian Eule helped me clear out the clutter in early drafts of my book proposal. They ensured that each iteration (and there were a lot!) became a little crisper. My agents at Inkwell Management, Kim Witherspoon and William Callahan, were exceptionally thoughtful about helping this book find the right publishing home. At Little, Brown and Company, executive editor John Parsley provided the perfect blend of encouragement and exhortation. He believed in this book’s message with a conviction that inspired me to work harder and more resourcefully than on any other project I’ve tackled in the past twenty years. It’s a privilege to be one of his authors.
Being a solo researcher for many months can be the hardest part of making a book come together. This time around, I was fortunate to connect with allies new and old at every stop along the way. Alice Harra, Kevin Myers, Beth Throne, Tammy Halstead, Sonia Elliot, Ma’Ayan Plaut, Chris Teare, Jane Salerno, Sharon Jones, Paul Christesen, Loni Bordoloi, Desiree Vasquez, and Frank Christianson were gracious hosts during campus visits and conference sessions. Each introduced me to more helpful people than I can count. Mark Tomljanovich, Pancho Savery, Brian Stinchfield, and Carol Auster invited me into their classrooms; I appreciate their bravery in doing so. Carling Spelhaug, Aimée Eubanks Davis, Mara Zepeda, Laurie Friedman, Joe Stadlinger, and Will Bunker broke down barriers in the employer and alumni communities with equal gusto.
Peggy Raybon transcribed interviews with good cheer and precision. Jay Penn set me up in a fine office. On the road, longtime friends Loch Rose and Andy Davis in Illinois, Dwain Doty in Mississippi, and Brett Fromson in New York made sure I did not go hungry. Our noisy, messy meals together were the best. Jeff Bailey, Sophie Egan, Alan Drummer, Charlene Drummer, John Rosenberg, Heather Parry, and Sara Schiman all shared valuable feedback on chapter drafts.
Little, Brown’s publishing team brought this book to the finish line with great skill and professionalism. Gregg Kulick designed a brilliant cover. Gabriella Mongelli helped make each chapter better, with consistently excellent questions and suggestions. Artificial intelligence will never take over the world as long as Tracy Roe is copyediting; her knowledge of everything from Irish history to crime-scene research helped make this a more accurate book. Lauren Velasquez brought ingenuity and excitement to our marketing meetings; Zea Moscone did the same on the publicity front. Pamela Marshall and Elisa Rivlin were unfailingly sure hands as they guided the manuscript through production and legal review.
This book isn’t a memoir, but its structure and message have been influenced greatly by the events of my own family’s life. My parents were both educators, and I’m grateful for the ways their curiosity spilled into my upbringing. My wife, Betsy Corcoran, has rebuilt her career in thrilling ways the past few years; she is the first person I think of when someone says, “You can do anything.” As for our sons, Matthew and Peter, they have become the first readers of many chapter drafts. They’re fearless, they’re funny—and they’re usually right. If I had not had such close family support, this book wouldn’t have been possible.