Acknowledgments

There are many brilliant, insightful people who have contributed to this book, and we would like to take a moment to acknowledge some of them. First and foremost, we would like to thank Sharon Grundfast. Sharon was responsible for bringing us together, and was the spark that led to this book. Sharon also coined the term, “Tenets of Social Leadership” to describe the thinking we were evolving. Over a couple of days in a sixteenth-century conference room at Trinity Hall, Cambridge and lunches at the Eagle Pub, the ideas began to take shape. We would also like to thank Don Schultz, who over many late night drinks and too many cookies, lent us his brilliant mind and ability to peer into the future to frame the implications of the Social Age.

No work stands alone. We have benefited from the work of the many great authors cited throughout the book. In addition we are grateful to the many individuals who have listened and added to our ideas along the way. Among these great contributors are: Mike Gissing, a long time thinking partner who generously read all of our first draft chapters adding his insights along the way, Michael Chavez, Mike Canning, Liz Mellon, Randy White, and Martin Asser at Duke CE, Lynn Ware, who saw the value of the ideas expressed here early on and provided constant encouragement and support, Schon Beechler for being a kindred spirit on the same journey, Rose Fass, who coined the term “new realities” and early on spoke of the sea change that is under way in the world, Anton Musgrave for the “future being here,” Malcolm Goodale for helping to question the orthodoxies of leadership development, Narayan Pant for the Advanced Management Program at INSEAD, Pramod and Ram at the Indian School of Business, all the program directors and managers at Duke Corporate Education, and Pat, Monica, Joey, Fritz, and Robin for providing so many rich opportunities for working with many wonderful clients.

We’ve also had the benefit of learning from and observing many leaders who “get it” and are models of Social Leadership. Many of them have lent their stories to the pages of this book and include David Levin, Sally Shankland, Jonathan Donner, Angela Cretu, and Fabrizio Alcobe, among others.

We also thank the many participants of our leadership workshops across the world, who were both contributors to our research as well as for being the first leaders who heard our initial thinking on the subject.

The expression and dissemination of an idea, even in the world of social media, is greatly enhanced by the thoughtful guidance, editing, and curation of a top-tier publishing team. Erika Heilman, Jill Friedlander, Susan Lauzau, and Shevaun Beltzer at Bibliomotion have built a community of authors that adds immeasurably to the value of any one work’s worth.

Finally and most importantly we thank our respective wives, Claudia and Saumya. Both brilliant professionals in fields removed from our own, they lent their time and insight to improve our thinking, provided incredible support for our efforts, and most critically, continue to tolerate us as husbands.