Acknowledgments

As I reviewed a late edit of this book, I felt like I was watching ESPN's X Games, which focuses on extreme sports. The pages that follow are filled with many technology athletes and their acrobatics. So, let me start by thanking the “athletes” themselves. The many interviewees and guest columnists in the book spent hours talking to me, wrote about unique nuances in their businesses and provided their innovative perspectives on technology.

The comparison to the Games also reminded me that hundreds of coordinators have a hand, behind the scenes, in organizing such an event.

There were many like Barry Dayton at 3M, Bryan Majewski at Baker Tilly, Sarah Pakyala at Corning, Alan Alper at Cognizant, Alison Bolen at SAS, Tiffany Anderson at Tibco, Ramana Rao at The Washington Post Company, and Lacey Higgins at Workday, who coordinated many of the interviews in the book. Jim Spath at Stanley Black & Decker helped with a critical review of the materials. They may not show up in the book, but these and many others played a significant role. To them, also my heartfelt thanks.

It's the same with my publisher, John Wiley & Sons. John DeRemigis, and his entire editing and marketing team, worked marvels through several versions of the manuscript. A book on technology, business, society, and public policy stretches the dictionary in many directions.

The biggest thanks go to my wife, Margaret. She encouraged me to write the book. I would have waited a few more years after The New Polymath. She calmly helped me navigate the ups and downs common in such an undertaking.

She is the unheralded Chief Organizer of the event. Or her behalf, and all the “athletes,” I invite you to enjoy the “Games”!