### Acknowl­edg­ments Sum­ma­ry

This book took years to com­plete, and the jour­ney was unpre­dictable, even for the author. Grate­ful­ness is extend­ed to those who patient­ly wait­ed dur­ing the exten­sive phas­es of research, writ­ing, and revi­sions, with the hope that this effort proves reward­ing. Writ­ing acknowl­edg­ments is likened to cre­at­ing an Oscar speech, filled with emo­tion and grat­i­tude towards many indi­vid­u­als.

Spe­cial thanks are giv­en to Chris, a sym­bol of self­less­ness; to Cullen, Eleanor, Mar­garet, and Louisa, the author’s pride; to the moth­er, Julie, for her unwa­ver­ing patience over twen­ty-nine years while endur­ing count­less his­tor­i­cal facts; to Car­olyn, who humor­ous­ly reflects on missed syn­chro­nized swim­ming oppor­tu­ni­ties; and to Sara, whose effi­cien­cy is unmatched, bring­ing vibran­cy even to mun­dane tasks.

The author ded­i­cates their work to Lexi, who embod­ies pos­i­tiv­i­ty, and appre­ci­ates the team at SME for their cru­cial sup­port dur­ing the writ­ing process. Deep grat­i­tude is expressed towards Adam Grant and Richard Pine. Also acknowl­edged are Helen Healey-Cun­ning­ham and Kather­ine Howe, who pro­vid­ed con­struc­tive chal­lenges to the author’s ideas, shap­ing the book into a sig­nif­i­cant con­tri­bu­tion.

Fur­ther thanks go to Heather Jack­son and Kari Anton for facil­i­tat­ing con­nec­tions with var­i­ous char­ac­ters fea­tured in the man­u­script. Adri­enne, known for shar­ing delight­ful memes, and James, who is described as small yet mighty, are also rec­og­nized.

Sup­port­ive fig­ures like Car­los Whit­tak­er, Nicole Wal­ters, and Lau­ren Kachinske are men­tioned for their moti­va­tion­al encour­age­ment. Long-time friend Mary Wag­n­er is appre­ci­at­ed for a remark­able favor.

A spe­cial men­tion high­lights Jer­maine Fowler, JeMar Tis­by, and Jas­mine Holmes, evok­ing sin­cere grat­i­tude. The author embraces the com­mu­ni­ty of “Gov­ern­erds,” feel­ing hon­ored to be part of their impact­ful move­ment, and extends warmth and affec­tion to the Gov­ern­erd Book Club, encap­su­lat­ing the essence of con­nec­tion with both grat­i­tude and cama­raderie.