Tony D’Amelio and Harry Rhoads of the Washington Speakers Bureau; Sherri Schaefer of Southern California Edison; Katy Wild and Jeri Mueller of Freeman Company; John Longstreet of Quaker Steak and Lube; Carl Sewell, Allison Cohen, and Dawn Betrus of Sewell Automotive; Linda Dirksmeyer of Aurora Health; Tina Haddad of the City of Santa Clarita, California; Ted Dwyer, Andy, Brian, and Rick DiSabatino of EDiS Corporation; Greg Miller and Robby Miller of Miller Brothers; Nabil Moubayed of Hotel Monaco Chicago; Lorena B. Harris and Jeremy Fishel of Convergys; The late Ron Zemke; Steven S. Little; Carol Roth; Penni Conner of NStar; Sara Sefcovic of Sloane & Company; Paul Cardis of Avid Ratings; Tom Morris; Dave Stauffer; Tammy Richards-LeSure of Richards Public Relations; Nettie Hartsock, Internet Publicist; Dick Leatherman; Tom Berger of the CBC Group of Merrill Lynch; Louis Delarnoux; Pat Stocker of the University of Maryland; Jim Kouzes; Christine Churchill of The Service Institute; Chris Jackson of Allstate; Diane Barton and Mike Lang of Manheim;Tom Connellan of The Connellan Group; Meghan Flynn of Stew Leonard’s Dairy Store; Lisa McLeod; Janelle Barlow of TACK-USA; Dave Harris and Ted Selogie of the Oakbrook Marriott; Jack Covert of 800CEORead.com; Jason Tebeau of Savi Baby; Kitty Scott of Children’s Memorial Hospital in Boston; Carolyn Castel of CVS/pharmacy; Kim Beach of Kindred Health Care; Lee Olivier and Johnny Magwood of Northeast Utilities; Jill Applegate of Performance Research Associates; and Susan Oldham, Sandra Tacuri, Fran Sims, Mike Horn, Mary Johnson, Lindsay Willis, Catherine Glawson, Jane Goldner, and Mari Pat Varga of The Chip Bell Group.
This book has had a special cast of helpers. Leslie Stephen, our world-class editor and long-term friend, was there, as always, with her special brand of vernacular wisdom. She consistently amazed us with her capacity to quickly and skillfully make our babble sound brilliant. Neal Maillet, our Berrett-Koehler editor, was our guide, coach and inspirational leader. All the other great folks at Berrett-Koehler, especially Stephen Piersanti, Jeevan Sivasubramaniam, Dianne Plattner, Mike Crowley, David Marshall, our book designer, Adriane Bosworth, and our book producer, Detta Penna. Finally, we give a special thanks to our life partners, Nancy Rainey Bell and Katie Bunch Patterson, for their unconditional love, unrelenting patience, and ingenious inspiration. Very late at night and too early in the morning when we were our most “wired and dangerous,” they never ceased their unending support. To all of you, our heartfelt thanks.