I hope I’ve made it clear in these pages that innovation is a team sport. The same could be said about the effort to get Troublemakers out of my head and onto the page. While I wrote every word and bear responsibility for every error, the team that I was able to call on for assistance was the best anyone could ever hope for.
I owe a huge debt to the North 24th Writers. Allison Hoover Bartlett, Leslie Crawford, Frances Dinkelspiel, Kathy Ellison, Sharon Epel, Susan Freinkel, Katherine Neilan, Lisa Wallgren Okuhn, Gabrielle Selz, Julia Flynn Siler, and Jill Storey: thank you for your wisdom, your humor, and your edits!
The people listed on pages 391 to 392 have been essential sources of information and inspiration as they sat through interviews and pointed me to other sources. To all of you: thank you for sharing your time, your stories, your papers, your memories, and your ideas.
What do you call someone who advises your dissertation, goes on to become your most important mentor, and somehow manages simultaneously to devastate and encourage you every time he reviews an early draft of your work? David M. Kennedy. Thank you, David, for reading and dissecting a draft of the full manuscript. Julia Flynn Siler did the same, even coming to my house to sit on my sofa and talk through her excellent recommendations. And after Randy Stross spent hours reviewing the draft, he for some reason felt obligated to take me to lunch. Thank you all for your help.
Thank you, too, to the five hearty and gracious souls who conducted technical reviews of select chapters and saved me from much embarrassment: Raiford Guins, Sally Smith Hughes, Mark Seiden, Doogab Yi, and Henry Lowood. Henry, my boss at Stanford for nearly fifteen years, has been endlessly supportive of this book and much more. Danke, Henry.
A deep bow to these people who shared their expertise and assistance: the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences 2012–2013 fellows, Janet Abbate, Bob Andreatta, David Brock, Carolyn Caddes, Martin Campbell-Kelly, Catherine de Cuir, Beth Ebben, Benj Edwards, Bret Field, Terry Floyd, Daniel Hartwig, the HP Alumni Association, Paula Jabloner, Kathy Jarvis, Laurene Powell Jobs, Kris Kasianovitz, Mike Keller, Chigusa Kita, Greg Kovacs, Steven Levy, Sara Lott, Anna Mancini, Natalie-Jean Marine Street, John Markoff, Pam Moreland, Mary Munill, Tim Noakes, Bill O’Hanlan, Margaret O’Mara, Sue Pelosi, Nadine Pinell, Sarah Reis, Paul Reist, Nora Richardson, James Sabry, Larry Scott, Lenny Siegel, Lisa Slater, Kurt Taylor, Bill Terry, and Fred Turner.
Two men who have no idea I exist have been an important part of writing this book. John August and Craig Mazin host a podcast called Scriptnotes. It’s about “screenwriting and things that are interesting to screenwriters.” I am not a screenwriter, but I have learned a great deal about story telling (and movies!) from John, Craig, and their guests.
At Simon & Schuster, I’ve been lucky enough to work with a wonderful editor, Ben Loehnen, along with Jon Karp, Cat Boyd, and Amar Deol. Many thanks to my agents Christy Fletcher, Don Lamm, and Sylvie Greenberg; and to Mark Fortier and Pamela Peterson.
My family is the axis on which my life turns, and I am so lucky to be able to call you all mine. Rick, Corbin, and Lily Dodd: you are my stars. Steve, Vera, Jessica, and Loren Berlin; Jim, Liz, Ryan, and Rob Dodd; Debbie, Brian, John, Olga, Katie, Lukas, Trevor, Sadie, Fiona, and James: you are the best.