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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
If it takes a village to raise a child, then creating a book seems to require at least a small metropolis. Like many of the innovation programs described inside, the book was very much a team effort. Although Jonathan and I get to put our names on the front cover, literally dozens of people have contributed to the final product. I won’t try to name them all—like some Oscar Awards speech gone haywire—but several people made such significant contributions that I feel compelled to single them out.
First, literary agent Richard Abate at ICM was the catalyst that got the book idea started in the first place and helped appreciably throughout. In the first few weeks, author Bill Barich also helped significantly to focus and articulate our random thoughts into an actual project.
During the long months of writing and research, there were three people who were a steady source of both practical and emotional support for the project. Stanford PhD candidate Siobhan O’Mahoney was both clever and persistent in pursuit of information and supporting evidence. Scott Underwood, who loves words more than anyone I know, helped clarify facts and the nuance of language to describe them. And Joani Ichiki helped make order out of chaos, working patiently through our jumbled combination of e-mails, handwritten edits, and scribbled Post-it notes.
Just when the text was nearing completion came the surprisingly complex task of shooting, gathering, and organizing the images that appear in the final book. Lynn Winter was nearly superhuman in her energy and persistence on that part of the project, allowing me to focus on the written word. Photographers Joe Watson and Steve Moeder shot lots of original photography and IDEO’s graphic designer Stephanie Lee helped create some of the composite images. (My kids insist that I reassure you, no mice were harmed in the elephant photo shoot, as far as we know.)
There were others who helped significantly throughout the process. Whitney Mortimer played a nearly continuous role as a source of business judgment, resource access, and practical advice. Roger Scholl at Doubleday was kind enough to leave us alone during the development of the first manuscript and firm enough to keep us on track as the publication date grew near. IDEO CFO Dave Strong, who sits across the aisle from me, generously looked the other way on days and weeks when writing and revisions seriously impacted my day job as the firm’s general manager.
I want to especially thank all the people at IDEO, who have shared their time and their ideas. They were always willing to tell me their favorite stories, answer my e-mail queries, and even hold brainstormers on book-related topics. The list of IDEO contributors here is too long to mention, but you know who you are.
Jonathan Littman, my coauthor, not only shouldered most of the heavy lifting during creation of the first manuscript, but also taught me a lot about writing in the process. I gained new respect for his profession and am anxious to see his future works.
As for my brother David, the dedication does not begin to tell the story. He was—and is—a major influence in my life, and I have never taken for granted the lucky accident of birth that made me his brother. Most of the principles underlying this book came directly or indirectly from David and the work practices he created at IDEO.
To all the rest of my family, thanks for the support, stamina, and love during this long and intense project. My wife Yumi did more than her share of the parenting in the last year, and my two enthusiastic-but-patient kids got good at starting sentences with the phrase "After the book is done, do you think we could....?" As you read this text, I am off with them somewhere, making up for lost time.