Mühlfeit - The Positive Leader

Id like to acknowledge all those that have inspired and championed me on my mission to unlock human potential around the world.

I will be forever grateful to my co-author, Melina Costi, whose devoted work helped to manifest this book. Her belief in the project and her tireless commitment in researching, clarifying and editing the text have been invaluable. Mel was a fantastic co-pilot at all stages in bringing our book to life.

Special thanks to my good friends at OpenGenius, particularly Chris Griffiths (CEO) and Liz Oseland (Head of Training), who were monumental pillars of support in the early stages of writing this book. Im deeply grateful for their sound advice and enthusiastic input. Additional thanks go to researcher Dino Costi for his superb assistance with the material.

It goes without saying that I owe a huge debt of gratitude to my wonderful wife and daughter for their unstinting patience, encouragement and understanding throughout this project, and to my loving parents who inspired me to be who I am.

I must pay tribute to all the bosses at Microsoft who granted me the freedom and autonomy to play to my strengths and set my own standards of excellence. Without their exceptional mentoring and wisdom, I dare say I wouldnt have been anywhere near as successful as I was in leading my teams towards our shared goals. Major credit goes to my ultimate role model Bill Gates for being a shining example of positive leadership in making the world a better place to live. And, of course, Im profoundly grateful to all my colleagues and teammates (past and present) for their eager adoption of my crazy ideas during a long and enjoyable executive career.

I extend my sincerest thanks to the pioneering work being done by so many extraordinary individuals in the field of positive psychology, especially to Dr Martin Seligman, Tal Ben-Shahar, Shawn Achor and Sonja Lyubomirsky. They are true ambassadors of happiness and this book would not have been possible without their illuminating insights and empirical expertise.

Thank you to the publishing team at Pearson for the chance to share my message. Particular acknowledgements go to Eloise Cook (Senior Commissioning Editor), Melanie Carter (Senior Content Producer) and Antonia Maxwell (Copy-Editor), whose utter dedication and editorial wizardry helped to ensure the quality of this book.

My heartfelt thanks to the following individuals for their stirring endorsements: Deepak Chopra, Tim Gallwey, Peter Zemsky, Jeff Raikes, Stephen Joseph, Orlando Ayala, Androulla Vassiliou, Frank Brown, Jennifer Blanke, David Svoboda, Jean-Philippe Courtois and Patricia Falco Beccalli.

And, finally, thank you to all my friends, fellow leaders and supporters who have been following my journey with interest. I hope this book reflects your best hopes in creating a positive future for mankind, one filled with success and happiness.