Acknowledgments

They say it takes a whole village to raise a child. The same applies to writing a book. We couldn't have produced this particular book without the intellectual and practical support of several people. First, we wish to thank our agent, Bridget Wagner of Zachary Shuster Harmsworth. In late April 2011, Bridget wrote to us to ask if we'd be interested in writing a book about jugaad—a subject we had been researching and writing about for several years. Bridget had just returned to the United States after a two-year stint working in India. Having witnessed jugaad innovation firsthand, Bridget felt strongly that this was an idea whose time had come, and she wanted to help us to introduce it to the West. Bridget worked with us tirelessly, and in just over five weeks and a dozen or so iterations, we had a winning proposal.

Next, we would like to thank Genoveva Llosa, our editor at Jossey-Bass. Genoveva has been nothing short of an intellectual partner on this journey. She immediately grasped the concept of jugaad and has been a constant source of creative ideas and crucial editorial input throughout the book development process. We would also like to thank the larger Jossey-Bass team—John Maas, Mary Garrett, and Kristi Hein—for managing the whole editing process so beautifully.

We are very fortunate to have Carolyn Monaco of Monaco Associates as our marketing manager. Her broad experience in business publishing, appreciation for the relevance of jugaad in a global context, and keen marketing insights were instrumental in successfully launching this book.

We must thank Kal Patel, partner at VantagePoint Capital Partners, and former president of the Asia Region at Best Buy, for consistently sharing potent ideas and poignant insights on creativity and innovation, and for generously supporting the Indique—Big Ideas from Emerging India TV series, which led us to more deeply study jugaad; Dr. R. A. Mashelkar, former director general of the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), for sharing his deep knowledge based on many years of dedication to the study of innovation; Dr. Prasad Kaipa, CEO coach and senior fellow at the Indian School of Business, for his cutting-edge insights into how individuals from all walks of life can ignite the creative genius that lies within them; Eddie Bowman and Sarah Bogue at Ernst & Young, for introducing us to Gustavo Grobocopatel (Los Grobo); Fernando Fabre at Endeavor, for introducing us to the innovative business models of Enrique Gómez Junco (Optima) and Heloísa Helena Assis (Beleza Natural). We are also grateful for the ideas, comments, and case studies that were generously provided by Radha Basu, Dr. Rajiv Doshi, Professor Carol Dweck, Ian Hosking, Reena Jana, Lakshmi Karan, Pradeep Kashyap, Joydeep Nag, Professor James Patell, V. Raja, Sonal Shah, and Ramesh Vangal.

We couldn't have written the book without the active input of all the jugaad innovators mentioned in our book who generously shared their professional and personal stories. Their jugaad spirit continues to inspire us.

Finally, we are profoundly grateful to family members and friends who cared about what we were doing and offered us moral support throughout—support that has helped us maintain our sanity and produce the book you now hold.