“Nobody can do it for you,” Ralph Cordiner, the long-ago CEO of General Electric, remarked when discussing the need for business executives to develop their leadership skills. The same could certainly be said of authors, who must rely on a huge reservoir of self-motivation to take an idea for a narrative, flesh it out through many years of research and rumination, and then shape it onto the page.
Yet, as solitary as this pursuit is, no writer goes it alone.
This is my third book for PublicAffairs, and I can’t imagine being at any other publisher. The house’s commitment to telling the most important stories in the most engaging ways is all too rare. I will always be grateful to Peter Osnos and Susan Weinberg for bringing me in, and to Clive Priddle for keeping me around.
This book is undoubtedly better because of my editor, Ben Adams. He pushed on just the right spots, which is no small talent. I hope we’ll get to collaborate again.
My longtime agent, Kris Dahl, is simply the best in the business. I am lucky to have her.
My mom, mother-in-law, two amazing kids, and friends—including Jeff Strauss and Mindy Schultheis, Erica and John Huggins, Mark Arax, Ellie Herman and David Levinson, Kathryn Kranhold and Lisa Banes, Kevin Conran, and Barry Greenberg—have never failed to ask me, with genuine curiosity and affection, “How’s the book going?” And considering that I began this project back in 2009, that’s a lot of asking. Their love and support have been sustaining.
No book like this can succeed without the ability to travel extensively to hunt through archives, transcribe endless hours of interviews, and purchase a library’s worth of source material. You’ve got to have the stuff. Jeff and Madeleine Moskowitz helped to make that possible. I can’t thank them enough for their generosity.
My colleagues at the Drucker Institute, now led by Zach First, have also been unfailingly supportive. Their passion for our mission—strengthening organizations to strengthen society—is an inspiration, and I hope that they will see some of that same spirit reflected in this work. Bridget Lawlor, the institute’s archivist, deserves special thanks for the countless times she tracked down an article or congressional testimony for me, often at a moment’s notice. “Can you just grab this one, too” are words that she will surely be delighted not to hear again. (At least not until my next book.)
Bryan Price, my researcher, provided excellent assistance along the way.
And then there were my readers. Paul Adler, my friend and a leading management scholar, furnished thoughts on some of the early chapters that helped to make the book stronger. The economist Jared Bernstein also shared valuable insights on pieces of the manuscript. And Anne Reifenberg, my dear friend and one of the most gifted editors I know, put her sharp eyes on every word.
No one, though, did more to nurture this book than my wife and best friend, Randye Hoder. One of the smartest and most widely read people I know, she pored over every chapter and offered the keenest criticism. At the same time, she has always been my most enthusiastic cheerleader. This book wouldn’t be what it is without her. Neither would I.
A final note, in the interest of full disclosure: because of my position at the Drucker Institute, I’ve worked closely with a good many companies and executives, and some of them are part of this story. Former Coca-Cola executive Jack Bergstrand, who is a main character in chapter 9, is a personal friend, as well as a board member of and major donor to the Drucker Institute. Bill Casey, who is also quoted in chapter 9, has been a financial supporter of the institute. And the late Don Keough, Coca-Cola’s former president, served on the Drucker Institute board before he died in 2015. Finally, the Drucker Institute at one point explored a business partnership with the Jack Welch Management Institute. But it didn’t go anywhere.