Acknowledgments
T HIS BOOK WOULD not have been possible without the generous and everlasting patience, guidance, and genius of Jessica Faust. She owns a business called the BookEnds Literary Agency and is one of the most thoughtful people I have met in publishing. She tore into the first 88,000-word manuscript and then told me to throw it away—literally, in the garbage. And that was our first conversation! She asked (forced) me to simplify all the ideas in this book to distill their meaning into an ultrafocused outline that would hold the most value for readers. I will forever be appreciative of her smart approach and understanding of what works for readers and publishers. Wanna do another book, Jessica?
In the same vein, this book would not be possible without Cheryl Segura, my brilliant editor at McGraw Hill Professional. I feel lucky to have worked with her on this title. Talk about vision and steadfast support of this work! Cheryl took the outline I had made with Jessica Faust and gave it real meaning, purpose, clarity, and life. She made me a better writer at every step in the process and helped me find my voice. She is detailed-oriented, smart beyond compare, and disciplined. She also has a great website, withcheryl.com, where she gives real-life personal and professional advice to the masses. Who better to learn from than a person who edits a plethora of books? On top of that, she found this book to champion in a sea of competitive offers from other publishers, and for that I am thankful and forever grateful. Donya Dickerson, who is the associate publisher at McGraw Hill Professional—what can I say? You are a rock star. First you hired Cheryl. So nice job there. Then your work ethic and reputation in the publishing business are second to none. Thank you for all you and your staff have done. Nora Hennick, Daina Penikas, and Amanda Muller at McGraw Hill Professional have been wonderful as well as copyeditor Eric Lowenkron. Finally, Mauna Eichner and Lee Fukui, you both are supergifted and talented. You have crafted this book to look amazing, and to you I am grateful.
My fact checker and researcher Bob Dirig worked on this book to check each fact and figure and painstakingly research it and make sure it came from a proper source. He used to be my boss. I worked at a department of archives (yet another job) where he was the chief archivist. He showed me nothing but kindness while I was in his employ. I got to learn a whole lot from him about archives and library science, but what I really learned was how to lead with honesty, conviction, and a love of country and western music. Bob was invaluable throughout the process of putting this book together, running fact-checking missions all over the place, and I am indebted to him for his work on this book. See you in the stacks, sir.
Speaking of stacks, the ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena opened its impressive library to me and Bob Dirig, as did the Los Angeles County Library, the Los Angeles Public Library, the Pasadena City College Library, and the Pasadena Public Library. Frank Jung, who is the director of the Porsche Historical Archives, and Jens Torner, who manages the photo archive for Porsche, were instrumental in their help with the research out of Zuffenhausen, Germany.
Michael Morsberger, Ken Schmidt, Brig. Gen Thomas Kolditz, Jae Goodman, Anthony Reeves, Dr. John Whyte, AJ Jacobs, Marcus Collins, Emily Balcetis, Mark C. Thompson, Kerstin Emhoff, Douglas P. Wickert, Caroline Johnson, Adam Alter, Amy C. Edmondson, Allen Gannett, Lorraine Justice, Richard Turrin, Gordon Tredgold, Ajay Agrawal, John Biggs, Wayne Baker, J.F. Musial, Dr. John Scherer, Mike Wolfsohn, Lisa Bodell, Brian Solis, Alina Wheeler, Mike Covert, Donald Robertson, Chris Griffiths, Srinivas Rao, Heather E. McGowan, David J. Bland, Nicole Srock Stanley, Fran Luckin, Sean Buckley, Jason Sperling, Norm Brady, Kimberly Friedmutter, David Zinger, Barry Brockway, Dale Moore, Toby Daniels, Don McNeill, Scott Goodson, Scott Saunders, Stephen Shapiro, Tim Maleeny, Marshall Goldsmith, Jonah Berger, Nir Eyal, William C. Taylor, Greg McKeown and General Stanley McChrystal all dedicated their time and effort to reading the manuscript ahead of time and providing endorsements, thoughts, and ideas, and for this I am forever grateful and appreciative.
Dr. Ken Alexander is a fantastic human being who cares more about children than just about anyone I have ever met. He served as a general medical researcher and fact checker for this book. His selfless dedication to the eradication of childhood disease and his mission to immunize should stand as an inspiration to his colleagues and to the world of pediatric medicine. He worked tirelessly on this manuscript, going over every detail that had to do with medicine, and recommended changes to this body of work that only made it stronger. I feel lucky to be counted among his friends. Dr. Beth Colleen Long, who is chief of behavioral health in pediatrics at a prestigious children’s hospital, has been indispensable in her help on creativity in the developing minds of children. Her help on this project and introduction to creative testing methods made this manuscript stronger. Dr. Robert Bilder offered great help on how the brain processes creativity and the age-old nature versus nurture aspect of learning creativity, and for that I am grateful.
Sean Larson is a good man and a very skilled lawyer. He and the rest of the legal team at HK Law in Cheyenne, Wyoming, do a great job each and every time and helped on this book in innumerable ways. To Robert Solomon a great big thank you for the help you have given me while consulting on the book even if you didn’t feel like you helped! Daniel James Walker has been a very helpful supporter of this project from the start. His expertise in video editing, compositing, and VFX is second to none, and for that I am filled with gratitude. David Ratner helped with all the PR-related work around this book, and to him and his team I am grateful for their expertise and thoughtful approach.
Ish Orbegon, Jeff Chean, and Jim Wojo—you guys have always been a source of inspiration and fresh thinking, and your accomplishments over the years have been profound and helped shape this book. Bob Peterson, you were a key mentor in shaping my vision over the years, and I am forever grateful to you and Kathy for being great people and helping out in any way possible with this title. Meghan Driscoll has provided the chapter character art along with Rebecca Berrington, who provided the hand-drawn typeface and a few of the characters as well. I am grateful to the both of you! You have made sections of the book come to life in humorous, interesting, and engaging ways.
Juliet Dayday, F. Pakko De La Torre-Rocha, Armando Ceron, Slava Morshch, Vidur Raswant, John Payne, Rob Siltanen, Joe Hemp, David Angelo, John Boiler, Claude and Gary McDonald, Scott McCollum, Geoff McGann, Jessica Stehlin, Marcus Wesson, Josianne Cote, Jason Johnson, Josh Lieber, Canice Neary, Mike Wolfsohn, Paul Drury, Warren Quan, Jason Sperling, Greg Miller, Cliff Ryder, Peter Ruthenberg, Z. Gevorkian, Pat Wynne, Kevin May, Jim Kiriakakis, Sean Buckley, Chloe Corwin, and many others I am not intentionally leaving out—you have touched my life and this book in amazing and lasting ways, and I am forever grateful for having known each and every one of you.
Kekai Beyer, I want to thank you for dealing with my annoying phone calls, texts, and conversations drilling into the details of this book. I’m sure that by the 100th conversation about Chapter 6 you were done hearing about it, but no, you have shown sagelike patience, advice, and support. You have believed in any creative idea I ever had and have acted as a sounding board for all things creativity. You have been my best friend for decades and your support over the years has been never-ending, and for that you have my everlasting and deepest appreciation.
My brother Nadav Bashan has taught me more than I ever learned in school about leadership and creativity. Real-world leadership is an ability to amass trust from staff, and Nadav has a natural ability to get anyone to go into battle fearlessly. He has taught me about the human element of leadership in countless ways, and I am grateful for his mentorship, support, friendship, and help on this book. Hana and Ram, my parents, and Yaniv Bashan, my brother, have been with me on each step of this journey, and I am indebted for their everlasting support.
My wife, Marisa, has been very patient and understanding with me over the process of putting this book together and the many years it took to complete it. For all the nights, weekends, and precious free hours here and there while this book was coming together, she has acted as an ongoing consultant and coach for both our lives and this project. Your thoughts are always smart, your feedback laser-focused, and your sense of humor glorious. You have helped on this book in untold ways and shaped me to be better at every step with your wisdom.
Finally, to my son Jacob. I am truly blessed to have you in my life. Everything else pales in comparison to the love I have for you, which started the moment I held you in my arms just minutes after you were born. That love will stand the rest of time.