About the Authors

Dennis N.T. Perkins is Chief Executive Officer of The Syncretics Group. He has worked for over twenty-five years as an advisor to senior leaders in organizations ranging from Fortune 100 corporations to nonprofit associations. A graduate of the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, he served as a Marine infantry officer in Vietnam, subsequently receiving his MBA from Harvard University, and a Ph.D. in psychology at The University of Michigan.

While a faculty member at the Yale University School of Management, he developed a breakthrough leadership approach based on the study of groups facing The Edge—the outer limits of human endurance. By studying The Edge, he believes, “leaders can learn what it takes to help their organizations achieve their greatest potential. And they can remember these principles when they are stretched, stressed, and challenged to the limit.”

He has written extensively on leadership and organizational effectiveness and is the author of Managing Creation: The Challenge of Building a New Organization and “Race to the South Pole” in The Encyclopedia of Leadership.

Jillian B. Murphy is Director of Client Services at The Syncretics Group. Jillian graduated magna cum laude from the University of Connecticut and received her MA in Industrial / Organizational Psychology at the University of New Haven. She has studied, worked, and volunteered extensively in Cape Town, South Africa. She has worked with the Networking HIV/AIDS Community of South Africa, the African National Congress Women's League, and the Department of Epidemiology and Health at Yale University.

In her free time, Jillian enjoys running and competed in the Philadelphia and New York City marathons. She resides in Old Saybrook, Connecticut.

Dennis Perkins and Jillian Murphy are coauthors of Leading at the Edge: Leadership Lessons from the Extraordinary Saga of Shackleton's Antarctic Expedition and “Using the Power of Resonant Metaphor to Increase Leadership Effectiveness.”

They can be contacted at:
The Syncretics Group
869 Boston Post Road
Madison, CT 06443
203-779-5329
www.syncreticsgroup.com