Raoul Davis Jr - Firestarters: How Innovators, Instigators, and Initiators Can Inspire You to Ignite Your Own Life

As a businesswoman who has been involved with multiple ventures, I strongly appreciate a book with solid advice, new ways of thinking, and inspiring examples.

Anne Zimmer, CFO of Black Button Distilling

Oftentimes Innovators get stuck in the conceptual stage and never get to market. Firestarters provides meaningful strategies on how to transition from thought to action.

Fenorris Pearson, former VP of global consumer innovation for Dell and author of How to Play the Game at the Top

Hits home big-time! A must-read! I have always proudly worn the badge of Instigator, and Firestarters validates what I have done and what I plan on doing in the future.

Carol Fitzgerald, executive vice president of Life Medical

My world is filled with entrepreneurs embracing opportunities. Firestarters provides useful advice and examples about how to eliminate Extinguishers that prevent people from achieving their dreams.

Amy Castronova, president of Novatek Communications, Inc., and trainer for Entrepreneurs Organization

As soon as I read the title and overview of Firestarters, I immediately thought, They're talking about folks like me! An athlete from a blue-collar family with aspirations to play professional football, after graduating with a degree in print journalism in 1991, I started a small publishing house that has now ballooned into twenty-eight books and counting, including six New York Times bestsellers, all starting out of a studio apartment filled with hundreds of books and little furniture. Now my question becomes, How do you keep the fire lit or reignite that fire when or if it ever gets snuffed out? The answers are all here in Firestarters, a must-read for the new millennium.

Omar Tyree, New York Timesbestselling author and visionary of The Equation: The Four Undisputable Components of Success

With Firestarters, the authors take the meaning of entrepreneurship to a whole new level.

Kathie Okun, president of Okun Financial Group, Inc.

Published 2018 by Prometheus Books

Firestarters: How Innovators, Instigators, and Initiators Can Inspire You to Ignite Your Own Life. Copyright 2018 by Raoul Davis Jr., Kathy Palokoff, and Paul Eder. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, digital, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, or conveyed via the Internet or a website without prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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Cover design by Liz Mills
Cover design Prometheus Books

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Davis, Raoul, 1979- author. | Palokoff, Kathy, 1953- author. | Eder, Paul, 1980- author.

Title: Firestarters : how innovators, instigators and initiators can inspire you to ignite your own life / by Raoul Davis, Kathy Palokoff, and Paul Eder.

Description: Amherst, New York : Prometheus Books, 2018. | Includes index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2017034253 (print) | LCCN 2017043829 (ebook) | ISBN 9781633883482 (ebook) | ISBN 9781633883475 (pbk.)

Subjects: LCSH: Creative ability in business. | Entrepreneurship. | Technological innovations. | Success in business.

Classification: LCC HD53 (ebook) | LCC HD53 .D384 2018 (print) | DDC 650.1dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017034253

Printed in the United States of America

PAUL'S ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

First and foremost, I want to thank my wife, Marci, and my sons, Chase, Brady, and Dawson, for being continuous sources of joy, support, and just the right amount of craziness. I look forward to discovering new traditions together as we help each other build new fires.

I also want to recognize my colleagues from the Center for Organizational Excellence and my professors from University of Delaware and Loyola University Maryland for inspiring my integration of psychological research with practical applications.

And to my parents, my extended family, and my friends who have supported me over the years, I am thankful for you all.

KATHY'S ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

When you have lived a rich and long life like I have, acknowledgments are a strange thing. It seems like you almost have to acknowledge the universe since the people who touched and molded you are sometimes known and other times invisible. I am now sympathetic to all those Oscar winners. So I will forgo names, but you absolutely know who you are.

I thank my family and friends who are my world and my well of support. You never let it go dry and fill it with laughter, music, and wisdom. You hold my heart and have shaped me into who I am today.

My parents, sisters, sons, daughters, and grandchildren inspire me to be a Firestarter. My teachers and friendsold and newignite my spirit, and my sweetheart fuels my fire. My colleagues, clients, and partners in multiple business and social ventures along with peer-to-peer groups like Women Presidents Organization. Great Dames and Ballers accelerate my growth and kept the Extinguishers away. My very cool coauthors spark things in me I didn't know existed. And I thank those of you who read and comment on this book and help the flames burn inside me and inside yourself.

Most importantly, thank you God for giving me life. To be alive is to be able to spend one more day living my passion.

RAOUL'S ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I want to thank my father, Raoul Davis Sr., who's been a model to me of what a Firestarter is. He founded the Urban League of Long Island, New York, and he worked with gang members in New York City to put down their guns and work together to formulate a jazz band. To my sisters, Rianna-Davis Gaetano and Tierney Hogan, thanks for your support and inspirational example.

A special thanks to Shaun Lewis, founder of N Group Consulting Services who was instrumental in helping us land some of our most important interviews for the book. Shaun is an influential leader who is a Firestarter behind the scenes and who helps keep the business world spinning. To the Ascendant Group team, Kimberly Reed, Louis Lautman, Richelle Payne, David Novak, Davida Pitts, Annika Murray, Merilee Kern, Cheri Swalwell, Astrid Peters, Ezz El Nattar, and Sophia Nelson. Aleen Zakka and the many other partners like Karen Leland, Holley Richardson, and Charles Smith who helped build a world-class CEO branding firm, thank you. To my wife, Demetreecia Odom Davis, thank you for putting up with this Firestarter; I know it isn't always easy; however, we've always worked together to endure. To my talented nephew Langston, all things are possible. And finally, my son Austin Raoul Davisyou are already growing up to be a Firestarter; I hope this book helps you live to your full potential and you're able to live a life that paves others to reach their Firestarter potential.