Beyond Performance 2.0, 2nd Edition

Acknowledgments

Make a difference. Most humans are wired to want to do so. We’ve been thrilled to see how our first edition of Beyond Performance made a difference to many leaders and organizations who had the courage to take the red pill! Our hope is that this fully revised version makes an even bigger difference. Whether that happens or not is out of our hands. We are in control, however, of ensuring that those who have made a massive difference to us in helping shape the thinking that you hold in your hands are acknowledged and thanked.

The lineage of McKinsey & Company’s thought leadership in the area of organizational excellence can be traced back to 1982, when Tom Peters and Robert Waterman wrote In Search of Excellence, one of the bestselling and most influential management books of all time. We owe them our thanks for the groundbreaking work on which we are building. Although we haven’t been so bold as to entitle our book Excellence Found, our goal has been to provide leaders with new tools and fresh insights that meaningfully build on their work.

Credit for many of these tools and insights goes to a host of people who are passionate about helping leaders make successful change happen, who have taken time to share their facts, stories, and wisdom with us. It is our privilege to be able to pass on what we have learned from them. Among those we’d like to acknowledge by name are the 30 senior leaders from around the world who graciously spent significant time with us ...