Neither of us has written a book before, so we leaned on many people to help us through this process. One thing we learned is hardly surprising: There is a big difference between reading a book and writing one. While reading a good book is an adventure, writing one is like embarking on the Iliad.
Our journey began in a booth at a trattoria in New York’s Gramercy Park, where we met Tina Bennett of William Morris Endeavor. As neophytes to the publishing world, we were a little surprised, but more than delighted, when she agreed to work with us as our literary agent. And work with us she has! She has not only helped map our journey but traveled with us on it. Tina helped us find the book within us, navigate each step, and advised us as we refined chapters, pages, and even words. We’ve also benefited from working closely with Tina’s colleagues at WME, Laura Bonner and Tracy Fisher, who guided us through the international publishing process.
The single biggest step Tina helped us take was to the doors of Penguin Press. We knew Scott Moyers was the right editor as soon as we sat in his office. We held our breath as we waited for publishers’ bids to arrive and exhaled when it was clear Scott’s enthusiasm was mutual. Since that day, Scott has provided gentle but clear feedback, and we’ve heeded his words. He and assistant editor, Mia Council, have turned around material at a speed that’s as fast as anything we’ve seen in the tech sector, which was vital to maintaining our hectic schedules. When the writing and editing was complete, Penguin’s crack marketing team, including Colleen Boyle, Matthew Boyd, Sarah Hutson, and Caitlin O’Shaughnessy, took the book to market. It has been a delightful partnership from beginning to end.
This project wouldn’t have been possible without the support of several people at Microsoft, starting with Satya Nadella. As an author himself, he appreciated the opportunity the book offered both to think more deeply and engage more broadly on the issues technology is creating for the world. And he read and provided feedback as our work progressed. Frank Shaw brought his keen eye and good judgment to our draft, as he does for every aspect of our public communications. And Amy Hood, as always, shared her keen intellect and practical wisdom while providing both moral support and a little laughter from down the hall.
As we advanced, we benefited enormously from individuals who gave generously of their time, providing a bit more distance from and a broader perspective on our efforts. The first was Karen Hughes, who took her varied public communications expertise and applied it to an early draft. Our dinner with her in Washington, DC, was not just a detailed editorial review but a penetrating communications workshop. It was yet another reminder of why we turn to her for advice when we need to navigate big communications challenges.
As we approached a complete draft, huge help came from David and Katherine Bradley and their son Carter, who generously gave us their time to read and share detailed reactions, both in person and with their written notes. Their thoughtful and multigenerational feedback improved our book in multiple places.
As we neared the finish line, David Pressman read the entire manuscript thoroughly and offered both an assessment of some weaknesses and constructive suggestions to address them. He provided an experienced diplomat’s perspective on the human rights and international relations challenges that increasingly have defined today’s tech sector.
Throughout the writing and editing process, a few people played outsized roles in helping us with research and fact-checking, including Jesse Meredith, whom we met as a post-doctorate history student at the University of Washington and is now teaching at Colby College in Maine. Stephanie Cunningham, a librarian at the Microsoft Library, provided blazingly fast and accurate answers even to our most obscure questions. The Library is a vital resource on our Redmond campus. And what would we have done without Maddie Orser, who dusted off her master’s degree in history to fact-check our historical references and help perfect our endnotes? A special thanks also goes to Microsoft’s Thanh Tan, who not only has a bloodhound’s nose for a good story, but can find the right person to tell it and get invited to their home for dinner.
We also relied heavily on Dominic Carr, who was critical to the initial conception of the book, helpful as we took each step, and vital as we approach the broader public conversations we hope the book will encourage. As we juggled our work and writing, we were backed by the small team that shares our corridor on Microsoft’s Redmond campus—most notably, Kate Behncken, Anna Fine, Liz Wan, Mikel Espeland, Simon Liepold, Katie Bates, and Kelsey Knowles. We also relied on Matt Penarczyk as the lawyer who negotiated the publishing contracts on behalf of Microsoft.
In the final stages, we turned to many additional colleagues and friends to review and check our facts. Inside Microsoft this included Eric Horvitz, Nat Friedman, Harry Shum, Fred Humphries, Julie Brill, Christian Belady, Dave Heiner, David Howard, Jon Palmer, John Frank, Jane Broom, Hossein Nowbar, Rich Sauer, Shelley McKinley, Paul Garnett, Dev Stahlkopf, Liz Wan, Dominic Carr, Lisa Tanzi, Tyler Fuller, Amy Hogan-Burney, Ginny Badanes, Dave Leichtman, Dirk Bornemann, and Tanja Boehm. Hadi Partovi and Naria Santa-Lucia checked the accuracy of our writing regarding their organizations. Jim Garland and his team at Covington & Burling then added a careful legal review of certain sensitive issues, as did Nate Jones, from his new consulting firm.
A special thanks goes to Microsoft graphic designers Mary Feil-Jacobs and Zach LaMance, for moonlighting on the book’s cover art.
We’re also indebted enormously to the many colleagues, peers, and friends inside and outside Microsoft who played vital roles in the events that are captured in the book.
This starts with the extraordinary trio of Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer, and Satya Nadella, the three individuals who have served as CEO of a company that has had a truly remarkable history. Very few people have had the opportunity to work closely with all three. Each is different from the other, but they share the broad curiosity and passionate pursuit of excellence that it takes to truly make a difference in the world. And that’s just for starters.
Especially important as well are the members of Microsoft’s Senior Leadership Team and Board of Directors, and the members of the Senior Leadership Team of the company’s Department of Corporate, External, and Legal Affairs. In so many ways, they represent the tiny tip of an enormous iceberg of people whom we’re so lucky to know. The opportunity to contribute to world-changing technology brought each of us into the tech sector. But the chance to work with wonderful people and forge lasting friendships is a big part of what keeps us here.
We also want to thank the many other people we have the continuing opportunity to work with, including at other tech companies, among governments around the world, across the nonprofit sector, and with many journalists around the world. Hopefully, you’ll find our references to you at least reasonably fair. That was our goal. At the end of the day, we each often approach these issues from different perspectives, but it’s our collective ability to formulate a common understanding that will shape technology’s connection with the world.
We also would be remiss without recognizing the individuals and groups that work at Microsoft under Rajesh Jha who create the tools that enabled us to be so productive and efficient. For a book like this, Microsoft Word remains an author’s best friend. It’s perhaps easy for people on some days to take its widely varied features for granted. We most definitely did not, whether it was for the formatting of hundreds of endnotes or the use of Word Online that enabled us to write and edit at the same time, on the same manuscript from different locations. Other products like OneNote and Teams helped us collaborate on research, interviews, and notes, and OneDrive and SharePoint helped us organize, store, and share all of our work. One of our favorite tools was one of the company’s newer products, the To-Do app, which we used to create shared lists tracking the project’s many tasks.
Over the course of the year that we worked on this book, our “day jobs” took us to meetings, events, and public presentations in twenty-two countries on six continents, as well as to numerous places across the United States. It all helped shape our thinking, and many of these experiences are reflected in the stories we share in Tools and Weapons. But it also meant that the writing, especially over the course of six intense months, took place for both of us during many early mornings, late nights, on weekends, and even on vacations and holidays.
All this required a lot from our families, and to them we owe our greatest gratitude. They’ve always provided love and support even when work has involved a global travel schedule or interruptions on the weekends. And this book required even more of their help. Our respective spouses—Kathy Surace-Smith and Kevin Browne—read perhaps more chapters than they wanted, offered helpful insights and suggestions, and supported the whole project with the patience of saints. We each have two children, and in important ways the book became a bit of a family affair. At times, our two families came together so life could continue apace with our work, and we’ll always smile as we think about editing during the day and playing board games with our families in the evening.
As all this reflects, this was both a happy adventure and an arduous journey. As it reaches a conclusion, we want to thank everyone who made it possible.
Brad Smith
Carol Ann Browne
Bellevue, Washington