This book was truly a team effort. I want to thank my incredible wife of 34 years, Gayle, who has stood by me every step of the way. Gayle is the most courageous individual I have ever known. She is a two-time breast cancer survivor who never gave up on life and who persevered and continues to persevere to help others through her work as a registered nurse. Gayle is a remarkable role model for our entire family. Gayle, I love you.
Our four children—Jared, 30; Nick, 27; Kristina, 23; and Matt, 20—your love is my strength. I love you. I want to thank my father-in-law, Mr. Bill O’Halloran, for his many years of support and love and for giving me the gift of his daughter Gayle. I want to thank my late parents, Dominic and Jane Mattone, and my late mother-in-law, Jean O’Halloran, who I know looks down on me and my family. I want to thank by brothers-in-law, Dr. John O’Halloran, a truly gifted sports medicine expert, Michael O’Halloran, a talented professor of management at Bentley University, and Paul O’Halloran, one of the top high school basketball coaches in America. More than anything, these men are great fathers and husbands. We go forward every day with character, conviction, and confidence beneath our wings.
I want to thank all my clients and participants who have attended my speeches and programs and those whom I have had the privilege to coach throughout the years. I have learned so much from you, and I want to thank you for your contributions to this book. I especially want to thank Jan Jones from Jan Jones Worldwide Speakers Bureau, who is my friend and manager. I must thank my good friends Jill Gallagher, Rich Longhurst, and Steve Anastasio from Navy Federal Credit Union—thanks for everything. Special thanks also to Bill Logue, CEO of FedEx Freight, and to Sheila Harrell, Vice President, Customer Service Operations, FedEx TechConnect, both of whom are close friends and incredible business leaders. I want to thank Steve Francis, Charl Butler, and the entire team at AgFirst Farm Credit Bank for being great friends and colleagues. I also have to thank John Plunkett from Cobb Energy and Melanie Polonofsky from BASF.
Thanks go to my close friends and business partners—Bonnie Hagemann, CEO; Annette White-Klososky, partner; and Dawn Ciarlone, Director of Operations of Executive Development Associates and the entire EDA team; Jim Higgins, Ron Gross, Carla Higgins, and the entire Mercer consulting team; Cabot Jaffee Sr., Cabot Jaffee, and Glen Jaffee from AlignMark; Vegar Wiik, Sybil Alfred, Natalya Sabga, Debra Delach-Dodd, and the entire team from Florida Atlantic University’s Executive Education Department; Elaine Eisenman and Joe Weintraub from Babson College’s Executive Education team; Tony Colao, founder of MasterMedia Speakers Bureau; and especially Berthony Poux, Mark Goldberg, Morsell Allison, and the entire Talent Management Alliance team. I want to extend special thanks to Des Dearlove and Stuart Crainer from the Thinkers50 for their belief in me and my work. Thanks go to Dan Hoeyer, CEO of Business Educators, for his support. And, of course, I want to thank all our speaker bureau partners for their support as well. Thanks are due to all my executive MBA students at Florida Atlantic University. I want to extend a special thank-you to my good friend and personal coach, Linda Mattia Potts, who has given me many gifts along the way, but the ones I most cherish are her honesty, wisdom, and inspiration.
I want to thank my colleagues Clayton Christensen and Jim Collins for their professional support and their belief in me. Special thanks go out to my friend, colleague, and close advisor, Dr. Marshall Goldsmith, who is recognized worldwide as the number one leadership thinker and expert in the field. Marshall, thanks for your guidance, support, and friendship.
Lastly, this project would not have been possible without the outstanding efforts of editor Christina Parisi, Michael Sivilli, and the entire AMACOM team, as well as the copyediting work of Fred Dahl. Thank you very much.