Acknowledgments

My gratitude goes, first and foremost, to the two young women whose imagination and intelligence energized this edition: Natalie Sofia Jamison Tiret, who I’m proud to say is my daughter, inspired a brand new point of view while maintaining the integrity of the original concepts in the first edition; and Sarah Elisabeth Becton, who is not only the Program Manager of Suasive, but such a human search engine, I’ve taken to calling her Siri. Natalie and Sarah, who, among their many other sterling achievements, have made OCD into an art form, were ably assisted along the way by Amanda Stiles and Grace Armstrong.

Speaking of inspiration, Benji Rosen, my Stanford University graduate school buddy, who was studying electrical engineering while I was learning about Aristotle, saw the opportunity to merge the two disciplines in the fertile garden that had sprouted in Stanford’s backyard, Silicon Valley. Ben’s inspiration was the impetus that gave rise to my company and to the more than three decades of programs that gave rise to the disruptive methodology in this book. Ben also introduced me to the late Don Valentine, the man with THE quote.

To the video gang: Rich Hall, Kenn Rabin of Fulcrum Media Services, and Bob Johns and David Weissman of Video Arts. David is not a relative, but I wish he were.

To the hundreds of people at Cisco Systems and Microsoft who learned, practiced, and then went on to champion my method. Two of the Microsoft alumni, both named Jon, merit special mention. Jon Bromberg, the Max Bialystock of the Big Tent, and Jon Lazarus, who opened the biggest door in Redmond while, at the same time, challenging my techniques. Jon’s challenge gave rise to the Comfort Zone Paradox: ‘‘What feels comfortable looks uncomfortable; what feels uncomfortable looks comfortable.’’

Thanks, too, to the people who granted permission to discuss my work with them: Jeff Raikes, Will Poole, Olivier Fontana, Marya McCabe, Krzysztof Izdebski, Jeff Lawson, Joe Moglia, Mike Tuchen, Lawrence Steinman, Ken Hirsch, Frank Quattrone, Leslie Culbertson, Cindy Burgdorf, Leah Maher, and Vlad Shmunis.

To Kim Spenceley, my latest bright editor at Pearson; Lori Lyons, who has ably managed seven editions of my books through to publication; and Aswini Kumar, who managed the layout of the pages.

For their individual contributions: Jim LeValley, Roger Gould, Richard Narramore, Robert Totman, Bixby Jamison, Liana O’Brien, and Melvin Van Peebles, who showed me the difference between critics and performers, and therefore between talk and action.

And as always, my Lovely Lady Lucie for listening patiently to the many drafts of both editions, for her perceptive ideas—and for her constant, unconditional love.