Acknowledgments

There are so many people who deserve our thanks for their contributions to this book, that it's hard to know where to start. I have been fortunate throughout my career to have so many positive influences on my work. It is hard to know where to begin. So I will try to do this chronologically and by institution in an effort not to leave anyone out. My apologies in advance for anyone I missed!

I want to start with a touch of “ancestor worship.” My career really started when I joined the staff at the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research. I was fortunate to work with several of the real pioneers in the field, including Rensis Likert, Jane Gibson Likert, Robert Kahn, Stanley Seashore, and David Bowers. When I moved to the Michigan Business School in 1987, my good fortune and rapid learning curve continued through my contact with Karl Weick, C. K. Prahalad, Kim Cameron, Bob Quinn, Stu Hart, Jane Dutton, Lance Sandelands, Jim Walsh, Sue Ashford, Jerry Davis, and Gerry Ross.

I left the University of Michigan in 1999 because it was clear that the next stage in my career would require a global perspective. Our family spent a wonderful sabbatical year at Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo in 1995–1996, where I fell under the influence of Ikujiro Nonaka and his colleagues Hiro Takeuchi, Sei Yonekura, and Kazuo Ichijo. Nonaka-Sensei's insights were still top-of-mind when I started writing this book fifteen years later. Just as we were leaving Japan, Vlado Pucik convinced me that I should come to Switzerland to visit the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Lausanne. IMD has now been my academic home for over twelve years, and it has been a dynamic and exciting place to work. During their tenures as president, Peter Lorange and Dominique Turpin have both been very generous and supportive of my work. The staff at IMD also help to make it a great place to work. Special thanks are due to Rahel Albrecht and Sophie Pedgrift as well as Cedric Vaucher, Petri Lehtivaara, Persita Egli, and the entire research and case-writing team.

But my most sincere thanks go to all my faculty colleagues at IMD. They are a constant source of fun and friendship and more new ideas than I can ever keep in my head at the same time. Special thanks are due to Shlomo Ben-Hur, Rolf Boscheck, Cyril Bouquet, Bettina Buchel, Bala Chakravarthy, Joe DiStefano, Albrecht Enders, Bill Fischer, Peter Killing, George Kohlrieser, Tom Malnight, Jean-Francois Manzoni, Martha Maznevski, Anand Narasimhan, Maury Peiperl, Phil Rosenzweig, Michael Watkins, and John Weeks.

My colleagues in the field of organizational studies have also been a great source of inspiration. I am most indebted to culture guru Edgar Schein for all of his gracious support and unending insights. One of the biggest delights of my career has been the interest that he has taken in this book. My IMD colleague John Weeks also earned my gratitude many times over for his thorough and insightful review of the first draft of this book. His comments guided my final revision of the manuscript in the last few weeks before the deadline.

There are many other colleagues in the field whom I would also like to thank: Ben Schneider, John VanMaanen, Ed Lawler, Mike Beer, John Kotter, Neal Ashkanasy, Susan Jackson, Bob Sutton, Steve Barley, Stew Friedman, Richard Hackman, Paul Lawrence, Geert Hofstede, Chris Argyris, Sonja Sackmann, Terry Beehr, Chad Hartnell, Mark Ehrhart, Dave Hogberg, Robert Cooper, Dave Schwandt, Lou Tornatzky, Margaret Gorman, Mike Rother, Vic Strecher, Jeff Liker, Paula Caproni, Neil Sendelbach, and Michael McGrath. And that is just the start.

My colleagues at Denison Consulting in Ann Arbor, Michigan, also deserve my rich thanks and appreciation for all that they have contributed to this work. Bill Neale, Bryan Adkins, Jay Richards, Mark Simonson, Alice Wastag, Nabil Sousou, and Tim Kuppler have all supported this work in more ways than I can count. The R&D Team at DC is one of my proudest achievements and just keeps getting better all the time. Lindsey Kotrba, Levi Neiminen, Ken Uehara, Ia Ko, Ryan Smerek, and Ashley Guidroz have all made important contributions to this work. I couldn't have done it without their support. Jaren Hart provided great support to help me keep track of all of the rounds of “final” revisions that we have had over the last few months. I also want to thank all of the members of our Consulting Network who have contributed to this book. A special thanks to Jean Hauser, Caroline Fischer, Michael McNally, Bill Mobley, Linda Reece, Meg Davis, Alejandro Rodriquez, Chris Cancialosi, and Brian Glaser.

Perhaps the most valued contributions came from those who helped us understand their organizations. They were open and insightful and shared a lot with us. Andreas Beerli and Patrick Mallieux of Swiss Re; Rolf Schlue of DeutscheTech; Dave Brandon, Patrick Doyle, and Patti Wilmot of Domino's; Tim Kuppler of GT Automotive; Matti Lehtonen of GE; and Roger Agnelli and Marco Dalpozza of Vale—they all helped us a lot! It is their achievements that make up the best lessons in this book.

Finally, my editor at Jossey-Bass, Kathe Sweeney, was a real pleasure to work with. She pushed and pulled and was a key part of the team all through the process. My thanks to her and all the staff at Jossey-Bass and Wiley who helped bring this project to completion.

In the end, of course, this book is dedicated to our families. They are the most important ones of all. Without their support, patience, and understanding, we never would have made it!

Daniel Denison
Lausanne, Switzerland
June 2012