The Art of Authenticity

Acknowledgments

I always read the acknowledgments section thinking that I will understand something about the person I am about to get to know by reading their book. I always marvel at how many people are being thanked for a job that I imagined as that person sitting alone in a room with a typewriter like Hemingway. But I was very wrong in my visual imagination. The sitting-alone part is only part of the process. Writing a book is a grand, audacious thing, as opposed to just another task, and it takes multiple teams. I find myself not knowing where to start. Therefore, I will just start.

I want to thank my wife and life partner, Ginger Ward, for her unwavering belief in me over the last 27 years. It has been quite a journey and you are both my rock who calms me down and my spark plug who ignites me toward more action when my natural tendency would be to sit and think too long. My father, Ernest Thacker, who saw potential in me at every turn even when it wasn't there. Kay Keenan, who has brought her considerable and varied gifts to the table willingly and jumped in to help at every phase of this process in any way that she could. A team member like Kay is invaluable. Thank you to Elena Rocanelli Veale for her diligence in tracking down a million references and helping me see the work through the eyes of a college student. Thanks to Ken Lizotte and Elena Petricone of Emerson Consulting ...