Acknowledgments

Many people have contributed greatly to the book, and we are deeply appreciative to all of them. Yet again we recognize that it takes an influential and caring village to make a book, and we tip our hats to every one.

Our editor, Richard Narramore, helped expand the application of our ideas and made many useful suggestions about the content. Christine Moore did a great job of helping us edit the manuscript into a viable length.

A large number of people provided rich and illuminating examples of the dilemmas involved in influencing upward, and often, how they managed to actually gain influence. Not all of the examples made it into the final edition of the book, due only to space restrictions, but all of them helped shape our thinking and refine our concepts. Thanks to Kathy Brown, Kristen Callahan, Jocelyn Cascio, Lisa Couture, Michael Cummings, Peter Dames, Johan DeBorst, Sam Doblie, Liam Fahey, Ruth Gilleran, Kate Granso, Rachel Greenberger, Paul Horn, James Hunt, Noel Johnson, JB Kassarjian (both for his stunning example in regards to access and great editorial suggestions), Nan Langowitz, Matt Larson, John Maraganore, Michael May, Mike McGuirk, Jennifer Morais, Joel Peterson, Dr. Bohdan Pomahac, Kelly Prescott, Lauren Simkin, Howard Simon, Tom Snow, Richard Snyder, Barbara Spangler, Kaoru and Naruhide Takashima, Karen Vrabel, Bob Weissman, and Yasuhiro Yamamoto.

We also want to mention the inspiration we have received from Nettie Seabrooks, whose entire career demonstrated how a person can be incredibly successful using exchange and dealing effectively with those who have power without ever resorting to self-aggrandizement or nasty tactics.

Iva Toudjarska went out of her way to introduce us to fascinating managers from whom we learned a lot. Bala Iyer was our tutor in the uses of social media, with help from Rachel Greenberger, giving us enough to cause our editor to wonder “how such old guys knew this stuff.” Many of our students and managers who have attended our workshops also were very helpful through their questions, challenges, and suggestions.

Research assistant Dan Zolnierz unearthed useful material on power, while several people helped in various aspects of manuscript preparation: Mary Halpin, Wendy Glickenhouse, Kelly Hoover, Marlene Casciano, and Matthew McGuire. Without them, there could hardly be a manuscript!

We are especially grateful to Len Schlesinger, a person extremely savvy about power, both for the conceptual ideas he offered and the great examples from his own career. And as president of Babson, his support for working on the book was wonderful, as was the support of Provost Shahid Ansari and Dean of Faculty Carolyn Hotchkiss.

As always, the responses of our wives and kids provided not only support but instruction, and we are grateful.