ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I am forever grateful for all the help and support of family and friends, colleagues and mentors, coaches, editors, and all the other people who supported me in finishing this book. It was a three-year-long journey of learning and growth, highs and lows, and self-discovery.

A huge thanks to my wife, Shelby, who supported me while working late nights, early mornings, weekends, and vacations to develop the ideas and stories in this book. She and our three kids, Koen, Grayson, and Elin, kept me grounded, gave me space when I needed it, and a loving hug when I needed it more. I look forward to spending extra time on family vacations in the future to repay my debt to them.

The process of writing a book takes perseverance, and my book coach, Robin Colucci, and collaborator, Dylan Hoffman, were with me every step of the way. Big thanks to my agent, Linda Konner, and my editor at McGraw Hill, Casey Ebro, who were great partners in helping me navigate the publishing process. As a first-time author, the guidance and insights each one of you provided were invaluable. Thank you all for making this a reality.

I am blessed to have a network of very intelligent, thought-provoking friends who helped me hone the book’s key concepts. They are an elite group of thought leaders, visionaries, mentors—driven to be all they can be while staying balanced—and they all spurred me on to do the same. Mike Covert, Steve Dumaine, Joshua Sepkowitz, Barry Hill, and Zach Parham, I can’t thank you enough for the monthly support and encouragement through the entire three-year journey! Judson Garrett, your depth of knowledge in the history of leadership is unparalleled, and I thank you for working with me to evolve my messaging with a nod to the past. One more big thank you goes out to Aaron Conner, a close friend and fellow martial arts enthusiast who sat with me on Thanksgiving 2017 and told me I needed to write a book. That conversation kicked this whole thing off. Aaron, it’s DONE!

A heartfelt thank you to my parents and siblings, grandparents, cousins, aunts, and uncles, all of whom helped instill the values that made me who I am today, and whose influence continues to help me become a better person year after year. I hope this book makes you proud. Finally, these acknowledgments would be woefully incomplete if I failed to mention Ron Utke, my former boss turned avid supporter at Honeywell. Though he is no longer with us, I will never forget how he demonstrated an unwavering belief in me before I believed in myself. Saying thank you will never be enough, Ron. Your logical perspective is ever present in my approach to breaking down complex concepts so everyone can participate in developing solutions. You are the sherpa in my head.