Jay Shepherd - Firing at Will: A Managers Guide

My father, Norm Shepherd, has been telling me to write pretty much this exact book for the last 15 years or so. I always knew he was right, but I needed to get to this point in my life to be able to do it justice. My mother, Geri Shepherd, has been a force of encouragement my whole life. Without the love of these two amazing people, I never would have been able to acquire the experience, knowledge, and judgment that I now share in this book. Thank you, Mom and Dad.

I also owe a huge debt of gratitude to my grandparents, now gone but never forgotten. Jim Whalen was the biggest supporter of my going to law school; Evelyn Whalen taught me about unconditional caring and compassion; Norman Shepherd, a banker and an author in his own right, got me interested in business; and Rose Shepherd, a schoolteacher, taught me the value of teaching others.

Heartfelt thanks to my parents-in-law, Jack and Lily Goldstein, whose support for and interest in my career and business were indispensable. I am so grateful for being welcomed into their quintessentially American family.

I have been incredibly fortunate to become involved as a senior fellow with the VeraSage Institute (verasage.com), a think tank devoted to improving the professions and trashing timesheets. I have learned so much from my fellow fellows and colleagues, and much of their wisdom adorns these pages. Three of my VeraSage friends merit special attention:

Ron Baker, the founder of VeraSage, is the smartest individual I have ever met. I have learned more from him in a few short years than I have from anyone outside my family. His visions for improving the lives of professionals are revolutionary. I'm humbled by the wonderful Foreword he's contributed to this book, and I am honored by his invaluable friendship.

Along with Ron, VeraSage senior fellow Michelle Golden helped guide me through my pivot from running a law firm to becoming a writer and speaker. Michelle has the uncanny ability to mesh business strategy with openness and compassion. As a social-media expert, Michelle has taught me countless lessons about being connected. (And without social media, this book never would have happened.) As published authors, both Michelle and Ron also provided me with enormous support toward completing this book.

In Australia, VeraSage senior fellow John Chisholm welcomed me into his home and hosted me on a speaking tour of law and accounting firms. It was that trip last year that proved to be the tipping point for my pivot into this new phase of my life. John's humor and friendship more than make up for his stinginess with the Shiraz.

Back home in the States, I owe my legal career and much of the wisdom that I learned and now share with you to two amazing employment lawyers. Ellen Kearns and David Rubin were my first (and, as it turned out, only) bosses in the legal profession. Ellen taught me how to build up a boutique law firm and a national reputation in the law. She was a wonderful role model for me. I've always said that Dave was the best employment lawyer in Boston whom nobody knew. That's an exaggerationmore people know him than he realizes. But Dave is a top-notch labor and employment lawyer who eschewed the limelight. His dry sense of humor and great good sense helped make me the lawyer I became.

I also owe a gigantic debt to the professionals I worked with at Kearns & Rubin and Shepherd Law Group: Steve Reed, Debbie Cohen, Lurleen Gannon, Sarah Turner, Mike Pacinda, Mike Bertoncini, Annie Ladov Eisemann, Nicole Corvini, Shannon Lynch, Lara Czerwinski, Jennifer Becker, and Jonathan Duke.