I have been undeservedly lucky throughout my life to work with people who are more talented than I am, and to get to steal their wisdom and gracefulness and pass it off as my own.
Which is why you are reading this book, and why I have so many people to thank.
Andy Ward acquired The Power of Habit before he even started as an editor at Random House. At the time, I did not know that he was a kind, generous, and amazingly—astoundingly—talented editor. I’d heard from some friends that he had elevated their prose and held their hands so gracefully they almost forgot the touch. But I figured they were exaggerating, since many of them were drinking at the time. Dear reader: it’s all true. Andy’s humility, patience and—most of all—the work he puts into being a good friend make everyone around him want to be a better person. This book is as much his as mine, and I am thankful that I had a chance to know, work with, and learn from him. Equally, I owe an enormous debt to some obscure deity for landing me at Random House under the wise guidance of Susan Kamil, the leadership of Gina Centrello, and the advice and efforts of Avideh Bashirrad, Tom Perry, Sanyu Dillon, Sally Marvin, Barbara Fillon, Maria Braeckel, Erika Greber, and the ever-patient Kaela Myers.
A similar twist of fortune allowed me to work with Scott Moyers, Andrew Wylie, and James Pullen at the Wylie Agency. Scott’s counsel and friendship—as many writers know—is as invaluable as it is generous. Scott has moved back into the editorial world, and readers everywhere should consider themselves lucky. Andrew Wylie is always steadfast and astute in making the world safer (and more comfortable) for his writers, and I am enormously grateful. And James Pullen has helped me understand how to write in languages I didn’t know existed.
Additionally, I owe an enormous amount to the New York Times. A huge thanks goes to Larry Ingrassia, The Times’ business editor, whose friendship, advice and understanding allowed me to write this book, and to commit journalism among so many other talented reporters in an atmosphere where our work—and The Times’ mission—is constantly elevated by his example. Vicki Ingrassia, too, has been a wonderful support. As any writer who has met Adam Bryant knows, he is an amazing advocate and friend, with gifted hands. And it is a privilege to work for Bill Keller, Jill Abramson, Dean Baquet and Glenn Kramon, and to follow their examples of how journalists should carry themselves through the world.
A few other thanks: I’m indebted to my Times colleagues Dean Murphy, Winnie O’Kelly, Jenny Anderson, Rick Berke, Andrew Ross Sorkin, David Leonhardt, Walt Bogdanich, David Gillen, Eduardo Porter, Jodi Kantor, Vera Titunik, Amy O’leary, Peter Lattman, David Segal, Christine Haughney, Jenny Schussler, Joe Nocera and Jim Schacter (both of whom read chapters for me), Jeff Cane, Michael Barbaro and others who have been so generous with their friendship and their ideas.
Similarly, I’m thankful to Alex Blumberg, Adam Davidson, Paula Szuchman, Nivi Nord, Alex Berenson, Nazanin Rafsanjani, Brendan Koerner, Nicholas Thompson, Kate Kelly, Sarah Ellison, Kevin Bleyer, Amanda Schaffer, Dennis Potami, James Wynn, Noah Kotch, Greg Nelson, Caitlin Pike, Jonathan Klein, Amanda Klein, Donnan Steele, Stacey Steele, Wesley Morris, Adir Waldman, Rich Frankel, Jennifer Couzin, Aaron Bendikson, Richard Rampell, Mike Bor, David Lewicki, Beth Waltemath, Ellen Martin, Russ Uman, Erin Brown, Jeff Norton, Raj De Datta, Ruben Sigala, Dan Costello, Peter Blake, Peter Goodman, Alix Spiegel, Susan Dominus, Jenny Rosenstrach, Jason Woodard, Taylor Noguera, and Matthew Bird, who all provided support and guidance. The book’s cover, and wonderful interior graphics, come from the mind of the incredibly talented Anton Ioukhnovets.
I also owe a debt to the many people who were generous with their time in reporting this book. Many are mentioned in the notes, but I wanted to give additional thanks to Tom Andrews at SYPartners, Tony Dungy and DJ Snell, Paul O’Neill, Warren Bennis, Rick Warren, Anne Krumm, Paco Underhill, Larry Squire, Wolfram Schultz, Ann Graybiel, Todd Heatherton, J. Scott Tonigan, Taylor Branch, Bob Bowman, Travis Leach, Howard Schultz, Mark Muraven, Angela Duckworth, Jane Bruno, Reza Habib, Patrick Mulkey and Terry Noffsinger. I was aided enormously by researchers and fact checkers, including Dax Proctor, Josh Friedman, Cole Louison, Alexander Provan and Neela Saldanha.
I am forever thankful to Bob Sipchen, who gave me my first real job in journalism, and am sorry that I won’t be able to share this book with two friends lost too early, Brian Ching and L. K. Case.
Finally, my deepest thanks are to my family. Katy Duhigg, Jacquie Jenkusky, David Duhigg, Toni Martorelli, Daniel Duhigg, Alexandra Alter, and Jake Goldstein have been wonderful friends. My sons, Oliver and John Harry, have been sources of inspiration and sleeplessness. My parents, John and Doris, encouraged me from a young age to write, even as I was setting things on fire and giving them reason to figure that future correspondence might be on prison stationary.
And, of course, my wife, Liz, whose constant love, support, guidance, intelligence and friendship made this book possible.
—September, 2011