Acknowledgments

Writing a book about a topic that's changing so quickly is a difficult task, but it's been made much easier by the connection we've had to our coworkers and industry colleagues, both in-person and online, in social media. It's inevitable that we'll leave people out here who shouldn't have been, and for those we do, we hope to make it up in subsequent notes in social media and elsewhere.

First and foremost, we thank Jeff Dachis, CEO of Dachis Group, our employer, for allowing us to take the time to write this book and create such a complete yet distilled view of social business. Our editor, Karen Murphy, tirelessly pushed us to get this done, and done as well as it possibly could be. We'd be sorely remiss without listing those who drove the early conversations that continue to inspire and influence us, as well as creating the foundational thinking of the industry in its early years, including Andrew McAfee, John Hagel, Charlene Li, JP Rangaswami, Sameer Patel, Tim O'Reilly, Josh Bernoff, Ross Dawson, Sandy Carter, Ross Mayfield, Rachel Happe, Susan Scrupski, Jeremiah Owyang, Luis Suarez, David Armano, Jevon MacDonald, Lee Bryant, Dave Gray, and Clay Shirky.

We also thank the real-life practitioners who have moved the practice of social business forward and have informed the principles in this book through their work in the field. They include Mark Yolton, Sherri Maxson, Marisa Thalberg, Dan Beranek, Laurie Buczek, Bert Sandie, Kirk Kness, Mitchell Rose, Steve Lawley, Michael Donnelly, and Yuvi Kochar.

Those who helped us produce this book have been amazing as well, especially Bill Keaggy, who developed the figures throughout this book with the Dachis Group XPLANATiONS process. Support to make this happen came from our colleagues, including Kate Niederhoffer, David Mastronardi, Amanda Johnson, Chad Costello, and April Downing, who provided data or much-needed legal, contract, and logistical support.

Final thanks go to those who provided personal support and give us a reason for doing what we do. For Dion, that's Kate Allen. For Pete, they are Barbara, Mackensie, and Caroline.