ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

As with any book, this one came to be as a result of the support, courage, and brilliance of so many. The entire Arrive and Thrive™ Project was inspired by the legacy of the late Ellen Gabriel, who founded Deloitte’s first women’s initiative.

The Deloitte Ellen Gabriel Chair for Women in Leadership was established in 2005 by her Deloitte colleagues. The endowed fellowship is a tribute to Ellen’s legacy and steadfast commitment to gender equity. Negotiation, gender, and leadership scholar Dr. Deborah M. Kolb was named as the first to hold the chair, followed by women on corporate boards expert Dr. Susan M. Vinnicombe, CBE, and mentoring expert, Dr. Stacy Blake-Beard. Susan MacKenty Brady was named to the chair by Simmons University President Helen Drinan and provost Katie Conboy in 2019.

THE IDEA

With Ellen’s legacy in mind, Helen and Susan pulled together a luncheon with Deloitte’s Vice Chair of External Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Terri Cooper, and Susan Esper, the Deloitte partner responsible for Simmons’ initiatives. The four women spent the majority of the lunch chatting about their own experiences leading, when the idea of collaborating on a book for accomplished women leaders emerged. The idea felt like kismet and Ellen’s spirit was undoubtedly with us that fateful day. It was Terri who instantly thought Janet Foutty would be a terrific coauthor for the project on the Deloitte side, and Helen Drinan in equal speed suggested that the incoming Simmons President Lynn Perry Wooten serve as a coauthor as well. This was how our “author trio” was born. The rest, as they say, is history. (Or, perhaps her-story.)

Susan, Janet, and Lynn got to work and identified the 7 Practices, shared their learning and lessons about each with one another, and engaged others to contribute insight, wisdom, and advice to the project.

OUR THANKS

Our brilliant editors:

Donya Dickerson of McGraw Hill, you believed in this project from the start and jumped at the chance to publish this book. Always as patient and kind as you are wise, thank you for guiding us to make even better what we have here for our readers. Candi Sue Cross, our “first editor” partner-in-crime, you continue to zero in on what matters most on the page and refine meaning with speed and grace.

Our supportive teams:

We thank the entire Simmons University Institute for Inclusive Leadership team, The Simmons University Office of the President, including Chelsea Ginsberg and LaTanya Maxwell for their everyday leadership, and other members of the Simmons Community whose work, support, and energy impacted this book, especially Kathleen Rogers and Zick Rubin who leaped into all things contracting and led the legal aspects of the project on our behalf. Laura Wareck and the Simmons Marketing Communications team for their magic with words, branding, visuals, and social media. Regina Pisa, partner and chairman emeritus of Goodwin Procter and board chair of Simmons University, for exemplifying visionary and authentic leadership.

Elisa van Dam for her expertise honing Practice 7, Annelle Rivera-Beckstrom for saving the day with speedy research turnarounds, Kristen Palson for leading permissions and the creative manifestation of all things Arrive and Thrive beyond this book, Kerry Brady Seitz for helping to hone and scrub the Values Exercise as well as the practices at the outset, Abby Bays for project management along the way, and Michele Houston, Tracie Charland, Gavin McGuire, and Art Corriveau who will take the goodness in this book and continue to make magic out of it.

Thank you to our colleagues at Deloitte, particularly Alicia DiGennaro and Donna Comerford for the myriad of contributions they made to bring every aspect of the book to meaningful life. We also thank Ashlyn Hoff, Jen Rood, and Rachel Orrison who were always at the ready to advise on research, marketing, design, and everything in between.

Thanks to Lynn’s coauthors and collaborators, especially Dr. Erika James, Dr. Laura Morgan Roberts, Dr. Julie Ivy, Sonya Jacobs, Whitney Williams, Shannon Polk, Dr. Valerie Myers, and Dr. John Tropman who have been thought partners for inspiring research that makes a positive difference for the practice of leadership.

Our inspiring contributors:

For their invaluable perspectives, stories, and advice, we thank Gail Boudreaux, Dr. Albert Bourla, Anne Chow, Tiffany Dufu, Dr. Helen Drinan, Sandra Fenwick, Jen Fisher, Bill Flynn, Beth Ford, Carla Harris, Dr. Jim Harter, Dan Helfrich, Sally Helgesen, Linda Henry, Whitney Johnson, Natalie Martinez, Indra Nooyi, Jill Robinson, Dr. Richard Safeer, General Chuck Wald, and Amy Weaver.

Our encouraging supporters:

In addition to all those previously mentioned, the authors also want to thank a few people who impacted this work and/or served as a support during its inception. Thank you to Margaret Alferi, Dr. Gary Bailey, Deborah Brittain, Dr. Sharron Credle, Sarah Cuthill, Jennifer Eckert, April Evans, Ann Fudge, Jenn Hernandez, Bill and Dagmara MacKenty, Mardee Moore, Suzie Murphy, Dr. Brian Norman, Kavitha Prabhakar, Lisa Rudgers, Tony Scoles, Darlene Slaughter, Paula Sneed, Lynn Tetrault, Estrella Traczik, Joe Ucuzoglu, and Tal Zlotnitsky.