0465014088_01.qxd:0738208175_01.qxd

Acknowledgments

Although mine is the only name on this book, it has been a col-

laboration, as all books are. I discovered long ago that the way I

learn most effectively is in conversation with other people. It is

in the playful, exhilarating, joyous thrashing out of ideas with

brilliant colleagues that my own ideas are brought to life, re-

fined and vetted. In previous editions of On Becoming a Leader, I

tried to acknowledge all the people who originally helped to

shape this book, and I remain enormously grateful to all those

original collaborators and other colleagues and friends who so

generously shared their counsel, expertise, and time.

For this twenty-first-century edition, collaborators deserve

special mention. First is my assistant at the University of South-

ern California, Marie Christian. Tirelessly, and with great tact

and intelligence, Marie keeps my professional life in order. In

ways great and small, she frees me to think and write, for which

I am grateful on a daily basis. Next is Nick Philipson, my editor

at Perseus Books. In preparing the 2003 edition of On Becoming

a Leader, Nick did far more than an editor is expected to do. He

xi

0465014088_fm.qxd:0738208175_fm.qxd 12/2/08 2:52 PM Page xi