Ellen Galinsky - Mind in the Making: The Seven Essential Life Skills Every Child Needs

In the journey to write Mind in the Making there have been so many people who not only made this journey with me, but made it possible.

First I want to thank my publisher Bob Miller. From the moment I met him years ago at an event honoring Fred Rogers, I knew I wanted to work with him. When he made an offer for this book, it was a dream come true, but the reality of what he has brought to this book far exceeds what I could ever have imagined. As an expert communicator himself, he knows when to push, when to praise, whats important, and whats not. Bob represents the ideal editor from the past, but one who is reinventing the future of publishing today. It is an honor and a privilege to work with him.

When I joined HarperStudio, I gained another pivotal relationshipwith Debbie Stier. Like Bob, Debbie is one of the most insightful, creative, energetic, forward-thinking, and supportive people I have ever met. The future of publishing will be entirely different and so much better because of her.

I also want to thank Katie Salisbury of HarperStudio. Katie has managed every step of the production of Mind in the Making and all of its complexities with grace and perfect professionalism.

And Toni Sciarra Poynter. Toni, my editor for Ask the Children, has been my brilliant editorial consultant for Mind in the Making . She has been my first, middle, and last reader. Every conversation with Tonivia e-mail, over the phone, or in personbrings me joy, deeper insight, and new understandings. I look forward to having these conversations with Toni forever and I am deeply grateful to her for so enriching my life and work.

Jim Levine, my agent and my friend, for decades has been after me to write a book that synthesizes and extends my work in child development and the workforce. It is no exaggeration to say that without Jimwithout his probing questions or his superb ability to know how to create the right books Mind in the Making would not have happened.

Two people have taken this entire journey with meHank OKarma and Amy McCampbell of New Screen Concepts, the award-winning production company. We selected the researchers we wanted to profile together, we interviewed and filmed them together, and we have discussed what we have found together. We have weathered the storms of travel (including a very late-night drive home when there were tornados and flying was made impossible) as well as the joys of travel. Hank has the most incredible ability to understand whats significant amid the mountains of research we pursued, to see the world as children see it, and to capture this magic and communicate it on film and in words. Amy brings the artistry of a great filmmaker and the savvy of a new parent to Mind in the Making and has been a touchstone throughout. The publication of the book is only a way station in my journey with Hank and Amy, and I look forward to the years of continuing to work on joint projects that enrich our understanding of what early learning is and thereby change the national and international conversations about its importance.

I am deeply grateful to the staff of the Families and Work Institute (FWI) for their insight and support during the writing of Mind in the Making . It is hard to be fully immersed in running an organization and write a book at the same time, and it is a tribute to the strength of this organization that it worked so well. A colleague who spent a few weeks at Families and Work Institute recently told me that being at FWI was a transformative experienceshe had never experienced a place where people so enjoyed working and had such pride in the difference they are making.

Very special thanks go to Lois Backon, FWIs senior vice president. I turn to her sage wisdom for issues large and small, and she always has that critical insight or idea that propels our work forward in the rightand often in a newdirection. She helps us to be ahead of the curve. I am also grateful to her for ensuring that I had (hopefully) inviolate times that I could pull away from the institutes daily work to write.

And Sharon Huang, FWIs director of our larger initiative, also called Mind in the Making. Sharon has been my closest partner at the institute on all things Mind in the Making. Her joy in this work is unparalleled, her brilliance in guiding this initiative for the Families and Work Institute is also without measure, and her positive can-do attitude is a gift that I value every day. Special thanks to Sharon for assembling a group of interns to work with us on fact checking the references for Mind in the Making . Among these interns, Courtney Dern took a leadership role in managing the process with skills that show she is headed for an extraordinary career.

I also want to thank the board of directors of Families and Work Institute. When I said that I wanted to write Mind in the Making, they said Of course. When we have talked about the strategic details of this work, I have always left the meetings with energy for new possibilities. Our board has said that FWI is a treasure, but they have been the engine behind our success. My deepest thanks to our board chair, Mike Carey. I know how uniquely lucky I am to have a mentor with such profound talentssomeone who has been responsible for helping to create the field of work and family life. Special thanks also to our former board chair, Dee Topol, who has been a pioneer in creating a future we all want in the work-life and child-care fields; and to Ted Childs, who gives speeches about game-changing events, but is himself one of the most significant game changers in workforce diversity around. Ted has always made it possible for FWI to do the work it should be doing.

Thanks to Morra Aarons-Mele of Women & Work for being our exceptional social media strategist and to Camille McDuffie of Goldberg McDuffie Communications, Inc., for being our extraordinary public relations strategist. What a team! Very special thanks to Andy Boose, my lawyer and friend over the years.

Mind in the Making has had many funders over the years. It would have been impossible to have taken this journey to capture the classic and cutting-edge research on how children learn best without their support and wisdom. I list them below, but want to thank a few very special people by name: Tony Berkley from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation for being such a visionary and remarkable guide; Marge Petruska from the Heinz Endowments for being the person I always go to with a problem when I dont see an answer and emerge from the conversation with fantastic solutions; Alan Dworsky from the Popplestone Foundation for his inspiring leadership; Kate Liebman from the Marks Family Foundation for encouraging us to create learning modules for parents and for helping us shape them in the best way; Luba Lynch from the A. L. Mailman Family Foundation for being the wise venture funder in the early childhood field; and Owen Rankin of Johnson & Johnson who so believes in this work.

Also very special, special thanks to Kathy Bonk of the Communications Consortium Media Center and to Andrea Camp, a consultant to the Kellogg Foundation and, through the Civil Society Institute, a funder of the Ask the Children study on learning that led to the Mind in the Making initiative. I am grateful beyond words for their guidance. I am also very grateful to Susan Magsamen of the Johns Hopkins NeuroEducation initiative for being such a trusted advisor. Thanks, too, to the wonderful Sue Lehmann. And I am forever grateful for the deep and inspiring relationships I have with Marilyn Smith and J. D. Andrews, former executive directors of the National Association of the Education of Young Children, and with Mark Ginsberg, its current executive director. Thanks as well to Robert and Marisol DeLeon for their counsel.