Stoking Your Innovation Bonfire

Acknowledgments

I want to thank first and foremost my wife, Kathy, for giving me the confidence and support to pursue this project, and my daughter, Gabriella, for understanding that Daddy needed to disappear for a few days to make his deadline.

I first started trying to write this book back in 2006, but the idea didn't really start to pick up steam until I had the good fortune to begin interacting with authors like Michael Raynor and Gary Hamel. Some of these innovation conversations helped to further my exploration of unanswered questions about what it takes to create innovative organizations. Working with great clients like those at Tigo Africa and dialogues with innovation leaders from other organizations including Procter & Gamble, American Express, Whirlpool, and Cisco have also helped to stimulate my thinking and strengthen the contents of this book. I want to acknowledge all of these leaders—especially Percy Grundy and Regis Romero of Tigo Africa. May your innovation journeys be successful and smooth!

Having a successful blog has allowed me to attend a number of innovation conferences around the country and to meet a lot of really great people from around the world. As a result, I've been able to create a rich conversation on the topic of innovation thanks to contributions from more than two dozen authors.

To some of these Blogging Innovation contributors I owe a huge debt of gratitude. Stephen Shapiro, Matthew E. May, Rick Merrifield, and Robert F. Brands have all helped to ...