Acknowledgments

ONE COULD SAY that I have been a researcher on a mission since I was twelve, when I began writing this book—without the experience or wisdom to say what I wanted to write about—just the raw emotions of a young child trying to make sense of one’s life, parenting, nurturing or the lack of it. At twelve, the title I picked for the book was No Man Is an Island, but when I found out that title was already taken, and with a dearth of things to say back then, I put the project away for another time.

In the 1990s, I made a visit to Nike for interviews on the same day that Phil Knight addressed his global organization about a precipitous stock drop. His leadership astounded me. He created a conversation with his whole organization, with everyone at the same time, to help address the issues openly and directly—the brutal facts—and at the same time created a sense that we are in this together; that we will make it through this crisis with integrity, and we will thrive. As Phil spoke of the steps that Nike would take and the changes that Nike would make, I knew in that moment I was witnessing leadership DNA unfolding. Then through interviews with Nelson Ferris, who was responsible for helping transfer the Nike culture through their Orienta....