At the beginning of this book, I told you the story of my mother, and how the experiences we had at two different hospitals when she fell critically ill demonstrated—in no uncertain terms—the power of actionable intelligence. My hope is that once you get to this part of the book you have the same kind of appreciation and, importantly, some pragmatic recommendations and tools that will help you very quickly and effectively implement an actionable intelligence strategy at your own organization.

I wish I could end the book by telling you that after my mother was cared for by the good doctors at Columbia she pulled through and went on to experience good health for years. We were able to take her from Columbia and place her in a wonderful long-term care facility in Queens, New York. And we did get some more time with her, praying, singing, and even watching episodes of her favorite show, Murder, She Wrote. She couldn't participate, but she was there, and when she smiled it brightened the entire world for me.

My mother passed in December 2010. She was a believer in Christ, a prayer warrior for our family, and a lovely person. We sent her off to heaven with a celebration at Memorial Presbyterian Church in New York. Alan Singer, her colleague and professor at Hofstra University, wrote a wonderful obituary about her on the Huffington Post. Hundreds of people came to her funeral, and many shared how she had touched their lives.

One of the dreams my mother had was to write a book. She had written and published books in the 1970s, and wrote curriculum in the 1990s. We talked about the book in passing conversation for about five years, but we never had time to discuss it in a focused manner. We were just both too busy. In a cruel twist, she had all the time in the world to write after she had her stroke, but had lost the ability to do so.

I miss my mother, and she continues to be an inspiration to everything I do and lives on in my children and me.

One of her final gifts to me was perspective. From her experience I learned the need to follow your dreams—right now, today. When the National University of Singapore invited me to lecture, I jumped at the opportunity and moved with my family to Asia. I had always wanted to live in that part of the world, and, after 13 years in New York, it was a good time for my wife to return to her family, who live there. I also looked forward to the rigorous education that I knew my children would get in Singapore's public schools.

I consider all of the good things that are happening to me in my life products of actionable intelligence. I also know that my ability to effectively deal with any bad things is a direct result of actionable intelligence. So, you can see why I am such an ardent evangelist.

I hope that you can follow your own dreams, and that one of them is to deliver—and live by—actionable intelligence!