Page 11 - Performance Leadership

viii • Acknowledgments

I have had support from the academic side as well. In particular, Pro-
fessor Ed Peelen of Nyenrode Universiteit helped me to find the right
path multiple times. I would also like to thank Professor André de Waal
of the Maastricht School of Management for the many times he encour-
aged me over the years, as well as Professors Thomas Malone (MIT) and
Andy Neely (Cranfield University) for their few subtle but crucial advice
and encouragement. Bernard Marr, the author of the book Strategic
Performance Management, was an inspiration as a brainstorm partner.
Theory is only useful if it can be turned into practice. I am very thank-
ful for the time that many have spent describing the success they’ve had
in their companies and their willingness to discuss the ideas in the book.
In particular, Wouter van Aerle, Leon van Bakel, and Egbert Dijkstra
of Ahold, Eric van der Wolk of BCE Entrepreneurs, Mandeep Hansra
of British Telecom, Wessel Berkman of Brown Paper Company, Sebas-
tiaan Hooft of CentralPoint, George Steltman and Rutger van den Berg
of Deloitte, Ulrich Coenen of E-Plus, Oliver Germer of Germer Con-
sulting, Cok van Boheemen of Heineken, Martin Vonk of ING Direct,
Jani Rautiainen of Metso Corporation, Rik Op den Brouw of Rabobank,
as well as the people whose names I can’t mention as their contribu-
tions were made on condition of anonymity. I’ve been broadly testing a
lot of material in this book in workshops worldwide, from the United
States to all over Europe and South Africa. I would like to thank all the
participants in these workshops for their feedback and contributions.
Many of their examples are now part of the book.
A big thank you to my editor Lauren Lynch of McGraw-Hill, who
has been enthusiastic from the start. Lauren, you really know how to
deal with the fragile souls of your authors!
But mostly, I would like to thank you, my reader. First, for picking
up this book. I hope you will enjoy it. But thank you even more if you
visit the Web site, www.performance-leadership-book.com, and leave
your comments behind. Please share your experiences on how perform-
ance management has—or hasn’t—been working in your organization.

Frank Buytendijk
The Netherlands, 2008
f.a.buytendijk@planet.nl
www.performance-leadership-book.com