Acknowledgments

This book was truly a team effort. I want to thank my incredible wife of 34 years, Gayle, who has stood by me every step of the way. Gayle is the most courageous individual I have ever known. She is a two-time breast cancer survivor who never gave up on life, who persevered and continues to persevere to help others through her work as a registered nurse. Gayle is a remarkable role model for our entire family. Gayle, I love you.

Our four children—Jared, 30; Nick, 27; Kristina, 23; and Matt, 20—your love is my strength. I love you. I want to thank my father-in-law, Mr. Bill O’Halloran, for his many years of support and love and for giving me the gift of his daughter Gayle. I want to thank my late parents, Dominic and Jane Mattone, and my late mother-in-law, Jean O’Halloran, who I know looks down on me and my family. We go forward everyday with character, conviction, and confidence beneath your wings.

I want to thank all my clients and participants who have attended my speeches and programs and those whom I have had the privilege to coach throughout the years. I have learned so much from you, and I want to thank you for your contributions to this book. I especially want to thank Jan Jones from Jan Jones Worldwide Speakers Bureau, who is my friend and manager. I want to thank my good friends Jill Gallagher, Rich Longhurst, and Steve Anastasio from Navy Federal Credit Union; thanks for everything. Special thanks also to Bill Logue, CEO of FedEx Freight, and Sheila Harrell, Vice President, Customer Service Operations, FedEx TechConnect, both of whom are close friends and incredible business leaders. I want to thank Karen Kemp, Steve Francis, Charl Butler, and the entire team at AgFirst Farm Credit Bank for being great friends and colleagues. I also want to thank John Plunkett from Cobb Energy and Melanie Polonofsky from BASF.

I want to thank my close friends and business partners—Bonnie Hagemann, CEO; Annette White-Klososky, partner; and Dawn Ciarlone, Director of Operations, of Executive Development Associates and the entire EDA team; Jim Higgins, Ron Gross, Carla Higgins, and the entire Mercer consulting team; Cabot Jaffee Sr., Cabot Jaffee, and Glen Jaffee from AlignMark; Vegar Wiik, Sybil Alfred, Natalya Sabga, Debra Delach-Dodd, and the entire team from Florida Atlantic University’s Executive Education Department; Elaine Eisenman and Joe Weintraub from Babson College’s Executive Education team; Tony Colao, founder of MasterMedia Speakers Bureau; and a special thanks to Berthony Poux, Mark Goldberg, and Morsell Allison and the entire Talent Management Alliance team. I want to extend special thanks to Des Dearlove and Stuart Crainer from the Thinkers50 for their belief in me and my work. I want to thank Dan Hoeyer, CEO of Business Educators, for his support. And, of course, I want to thank all our speaker bureau partners for their support as well. Special thanks to all my executive MBA students at Florida Atlantic University. I wanted to extend a special thank you to my good friend and personal coach, Linda Mattia Potts, who has given me many gifts along the way, but the ones I most cherish are her honesty, wisdom, and inspiration.

I want to thank my colleagues Clayton Christensen, Marshall Goldsmith, and Jim Collins for their professional support and their belief in me. Special thanks go out to my friend, colleague, and close advisor, Dr. Jac Fitz-enz, who is the father of human capital management and truly one of the most respected authorities and leading thinkers in this field. Jac, thanks for your guidance, support, and friendship.

Lastly, this project would not have been possible without the outstanding efforts of Executive Editor Christina Parisi, Associate Editor Michael Sivilli, the entire AMACOM team, as well as the outstanding copyediting work of Fred Dahl. Thank you very much.