ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This book would not have been written at all were it not for an introduction made by Jeb Blount, of Sales Gravy, and the encouragement of Lauren Murphy, our acquisitions editor at John Wiley & Sons, Inc., or nearly as well without a lot of helpful wordsmithing by development editor Christine Moore. All three are consummate professionals, and we thoroughly enjoy working with them.

We are indebted to Brad Ziemba and Mark McCranie, who once again helped with the financial research associated with the Contented Cow companies. A very special shout out goes to Jermia Jerdine, a graduating senior at the University of Memphis who also holds a full-time job and still volunteered to assist us with research and number crunching. This young lady is going to go places.

Thanks, too, to the representatives of Plantronics Mexico, Marriott, Incepture, and Zappos, whom we peppered with questions during our site visits, and to Joyce Folk of the Atlanta Airport Marriott Gateway, who served up career insights along with strong coffee and a mean plate of eggs. Through her gracious hospitality, Rebekah Stewart, owner of Brigadoon Lodge and Flyline Wine, helped make the writing venue quieter, more scenic, and enjoyable.

For their time on the phone and over e-mail, we thank those we talked to from Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, Bazaarvoice, Hanmer MSL, LaRosa’s Restaurants, the City of Lakeway, Consolidated Health Systems, Dow Chemical, and Chick-fil-A. You brought to life for us what it means to be a distinguished workplace.

We are eternally thankful to the folks at Nestlé for their support, without which this book would have a very different title.

We are grateful to our spouses for their unflinching support; no, it’s more than that—for putting up with our single-minded obsession with this project for better than three months. Christine, Mary, we’re fortunate to have you in our lives.