Page 19 - The extraordinary leader

xiv • Acknowledgments

As is always the case with projects such as this, it was impossible to pro-
duce record revenues, carry a full client load, write a book, and manage my
responsibilities as a husband and father. It was my wife and family who gave
up the most and voluntarily carried an increased load. I appreciate their will-
ingness to do so very much. I recognize in them much that is extraordinary.
Finally, I would like to dedicate this book to my clients. I am extremely
grateful to brilliant clients in a broad range of industries. Universally, they are
dedicated to improving organizations and the individuals who work in them.
They are continually looking for ways to make people more successful. The
data, which is the foundation on which this book is built, came from them.

Joe Folkman

As a relatively young boy, I worked at the hospital for which my father was the
administrator. From him I learned much about leadership and the challenges
of being the senior executive. His relentless pursuit of improvement and will-
ingness to abandon systems that were working for the promise of something
better were great examples to me.
My academic interests in leadership began at UCLA as a research assistant
in the Human Relations Research Group. I appreciate the tutelage of Robert
Tannenbaum and the late Irv Weschler. Then at USC came an association
with Bill Woolf, who exposed me to a sociologic and anthropologic view of
leadership. Many others influenced my thinking, including Mel Sorcher, the
creator of behavioral modeling training in industry.
I had many colleagues at Zenger-Miller who influenced me, beginning
with Dale Miller, Steve Mann, Ed Musselwhite, Bob Sherwin, and dozens
of others. Their association enriched my thinking about leadership and simul-
taneously helped build an extraordinary company. To them all I express appre-
ciation. I wish to thank my current colleagues who not only make the
organization run smoothly but also are the genesis of countless good ideas. I
could not ask for a more dedicated group with whom to work.
I would never have imagined that I’d be writing a book with a statistically
inclined organizational psychologist. Joe Folkman’s academic interests have
been quite opposite from mine, but the experience has been extremely posi-
tive. Differences were quickly and painlessly resolved. The book is something
that neither of us could have done alone.