Acknowledgments

This book would not have been possible without Zan Jones and her invaluable insight, resources, and support. To the master of creativity and all things visual, Tim Cocklin, thank you for being patient, developing a rocking website, and creating the fun graphics found throughout.

Hugs and a huge thanks to Ginger Shelhimer, Elaine Morris, and Dave Lieber, whose counsel, advice, and creativity are limitless. Thank you to Dianna Booher and Howard Putnam, your expertise, support, mentoring, and friendship go beyond measure.

A big shout-out to the Wiley team, including Matt Holt, Adrianna Johnson, Susan Moran, and Christine Moore, and to Mike Freeland, whose cover inspired so many of the graphics in this book. Thank you to Lorri Allen, friend and coauthor of the Passport to Succes, Say It Right: Converse with Confidence, Tact & Care. Who knew that one page would prompt a conference discussion, a newsletter, and later a book? Thanks to Eric Harvey for his encouragement and for republishing the Passports to Success book series and welcoming me into his Walk the Talk family.

Thanks to an incredible expert panel of psychologists, psychiatrists, human resources professionals, communication specialists, and those who specialize in organizational behavior. Those who helped identify the individual Complainer traits for the surveys include Dr. Susan Battley, Dianna Booher, Joe Calloway, Chris Clarke-Epstein, Tim Durkin, Roxanne Emmerich, Dr. Susan Fletcher, Zan Jones, Gina Morgan, Elaine Morris, Dr. Terry Paulson, Mark Sanborn, Stu Schlackman, Joe Sherren, Nancy Starr, Brandon Walker, and Joyce Wood, with special appreciation to Drs. Sherry Buffington and Mel Whitehurst for your time and expert advice on how people communicate, interact, and think. Any errors are entirely mine.

In addition to those mentioned above, several gave their time and efforts to review scenarios and strategy, send surveys to peers, and provide valuable advice. Thanks go to Jason Aurora, Elaine Biech, Anne Bruce, Kip Eads, Betty Garrett, Amanda Gore, Dick Grote, Kris Harrison, Cindy Hartner, Dave Hill, Marc Hrisko, Chris James, Neen James, Christy Libby, Al Lucia, Michele Lucia, Bill Lynch, Teri Sjodin, Brenda Villareal, and Ken Wright. Special thanks to Suzanne Livingston for introducing the concept of contribution, to Sheryl Roush for brilliance in editing suggestions, and to Melinda Marcus, who sees opportunities where no one thinks to look.

Thank you to the more than 1,000 people who completed the survey and shared their work drama experiences and solutions. You’ll see your contributions throughout. Thank you to Constant Contact for great support on our monthly Success eTips and Complainer survey. Thank you to all who sent research and appeared in videos including Valerie Cade, Christine Cashen, Dale Irvin, Willie Jolly, Jeanne Robertson, Steve Spangler, and Jana Stanfield. Kudos to all who forwarded this survey to their circles of friends. And props to Phill Martin and Hariett Meyerson who know how to get the word out.

Special thanks to those who went beyond the call of duty, including Julie Alexander, Sherry Andrus, Chris Arrendondo, David Avrin, Andrea Bahr, Audrey Baker, Donna Bender, Janita Byars, Amber Canceres, Eric Chester, Marsha Clark, Brian Collette, Peggy Collins, Sherry DeLaGarza, Charmaine Drinnon, Robert Ferguson, Candace Fitzpatrick, Marti Fox, Scott Friedman, Sue Fry, Joey Funke, Susan Gatton, Penny Glasscock, Adele Good, Robert Hartner, David Hira, Michael Hoffman, Chad Hymas, Rexanne Ingram, Tom Ingram, Leena John, Ron Kerr, Jeff Klein, Joyce Knudsen, Rick Kolster, Nancy McGraw, Kelley Moore, Sue Ogle, Suzie Oliver, Anna Parkins, Bryan Pasquale, Sally Roos Pasquale, Holly Peck, Doug Petersen, Chris Price, Phil Resch, Dana Rhoden, Russ Riddle, Gary Rifkin, Ed Robinson, Tom Sheives, Laura Stack, Marilyn Stewart, Mark Thompson, Liz Wilson, Monica Wofford, Lisa Zahn, and Cindy Zebroski, and to Vince Poscente, who thinks the book’s title should be Put a Cork in It.

Thank you to my friends and colleagues at the National Speakers Association and NSA/North Texas, who years ago assured me that writing books and speaking for a living was possible. Thank you to my clients, especially Ericsson, HSMAI, Irving CVB, Dallas CVB, IAEE, ISES, MPI, NAWIC, PCMA, PPAI, TxACOM, SHRM, WBC/Southwest, and Professionals in Retail Service Management, who called attention to the Complainer and Energy Drain topic and helped develop solutions that work. Thanks to the Vistage community and to the Breakthroughs in Action tribe for showing me breakthroughs are possible for people and their organizations. Thanks to Judy Beller, Jennifer Stuart, Kimberly Wadsworth, and Jimi Willis for managing to keep me sane and keep other work progressing as I wrote this book.

Finally, a special thank you to my family: Pat and Byron Byars, my mom and dad, are always my encouragers and editors. To my sister KarenAnne Hall, brother Trey Byars, to Zoe, Ian, and Laura, and to my sis- and bro-in-law Stacy and Tim Mackey, thank you for providing support and insight and for showing me how to survive tough situations and drama without whining. Parker and Taylor, you are great kids. You don’t complain about all of the things you could, you contribute so much to this world, and you have changed my life for the better. And Gregg, you are my confidant, best friend, and biggest supporter. Marrying you was the smartest decision ever—no complaints!