It's hard being the boss. I found that out well enough when I ran my own company for more than 15 years. But I never realized the bizarre array of stresses and dilemmas that some bosses must handle until I began speaking to CEOs and management groups for Vistage International. This opportunity to work with more than 3,000 bosses in a wide variety of industries across the United States and Canada has given me a rare insight into leadership spirit, drive, and fortitude. For this, I'm honored and grateful.

Dan Ambrosio, my editor at John Wiley & Sons, Inc., provided tremendous insight and a strong guiding hand as we designed this fable and the troubles poor Chad would encounter along the way. It was a blast working with him.

My literary agent, Bob Deforio, did a wonderful job creating the perfect give-and-take environment for Dan and I to work in. I know I'm not Bob's only author, but I'm amazed at the level of detail he's able to focus on in the miraculous process of bringing my books to publication.

I want to thank Stan Levy, the Southeast Region Managing Partner for Grant Thornton, as well as Partner Matt Dumar, also of Grant Thornton, for giving me speedy and easy-to-understand advice (for a non-financial person like me) that kept the exchanges between the characters accurate.

Finally, I've learned a lot about how to have a positive impact on employees from my 20-year friendship with Mark House, Managing Director for the Florida Division of The Beck Group. Several of the nice touches that Chad admires in Mike come right from Mark's playbook.