Dan Pontefract - Open to Think: Slow Down, Think Creatively and Make Better Decisions

Richard Martin, you are the author whisperer. Although we are separated by an eight-hour time zone difference between Victoria, Canada, and Whitstable, UK , your gift as a substantive editor shows no gap. I look forward to several more books with you, Richard. Thank you for everything. Vive le Tour.

My thanks to Don Loney, Roger L. Martin, Stephen Lamb, Mike Desjardins, Kelsy Trigg, Elango Elangovan, Mark Colgate, Peter Johnston, Bryan Acker, and Denise Lamarche for listening to me ramble on about the books theory, only to provide helpful counterpoints, suggestions, and dont do that comments along the way. I am forever grateful. I suspect the reader will be, too.

To my new team at Figure 1 Publishing. I cannot thank you enough for welcoming me into the spine of your book business. Many thanks to Jennifer Smith and Chris Labont and everyone at F for refilling my fountain pen. Jess Sullivan, you are a gifted artist. Gillian Scobie, aint you the best copy editor ever! Renate Preuss and Lara Smith, thank you for getting me to the finish line.

The sincerest of thanks to everyone who put up with my questions, phone calls, emails, and face-to-face interviews. They are the people behind the stories that surfaced the Open Thinking framework. These folks helped make Open to Think come alive. Cheers to: Mark Mattson,James Stewart, James Perry, Tania Miller, Marc Kielburger, Alison Galloway, Eric Jordan, Greg Moore, Dominic Reid, Dave Gray, Lisa Helps, Tim Hockey, Kathryn Calder, Sameer Patel, Joel Plaskett, Eva Clayton, Brian Scudamore, Jonathan Becher, Yong Zhao, Peter Gilmore, John Dalla Costa, Adele Diamond, Rohan Light, Dion Hinchcliffe, Elango Elangovan, Allen Devine, Kyna Leski, Daniel Levitin, Brianna Wettlufer, Karl Moore, Charlene Li, and Mike Desjardins. Gord Downie, may your 1,000-pound feather continue to be a beautiful thing up there. Blessed are we to have known Wicapi Omani.

Also a very special thank-you to Karyn Ruiz of Lilliput Hats. You are an extraordinary person. Thank you for crystalizing the essence of Open Thinking.

I am forever indebted to friends and colleagues who continue to aid my ongoing practice of Open Thinking. In addition to those named above, thank you in no particular order for the conversationsrecent-ish or in the pastthat helped shape the book: Kathryn Barnett, Mark and Orla Colgate, Cline Schillinger, Jill Schnarr, Keith and Michelle Driscoll, Luke and Annie Mills, Steven Hill, Keven and Jen Fletcher, Kenneth Mikkelsen, Henry Mintzberg, Rick Wartzman, Becky and Eliot Anderson, Saul Klein, Michael Bungay Stanier, Bev Patwell, Bob and Joan Snowden, Charles Handy, Dan Gunn, Jon Husband, Matthew Wood, Darren Entwistle, Josh Blair, Andrew Turner, Jeffrey Puritt, Marilyn Tyfting, Anna Carreon-Rivera, Paul Bleier, Erin Dermer, Frances Picherack, Roman Picherack, Bruce Duthie, Mary Hewitt, Laura Jamieson, Greg and Shannon Southgate, the grads of TELUS MBA 2018, Kim Morgan, Kevin McCardle, Megan Megs Mitt-ler, Kevin Jones, Jen Murtagh, Michelle Moore, Kevin Oakes, Alison van Buuren, John Ambrose, Dan Klein, Marcia Conner, Richard Straub, Ross Porter, Grant and Darcy Evans, Val Litwin, Ehren Lee, Sandra Daniel, Lynette Van Steinburg, James Tyer, Kiran Mohan, Rasool Rayani, Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez, Chuck Hamilton, Raymond Hofmann, Ludo Van der Heyden, Jocelyn Berard, Grainne and Martin McElroy, Vince Molinaro, Tim Kastelle, Eric Moeller, Stephen McDermott, Brian Reid, Nilofer Merchant, Shawn Hunter, Dan Sheehan, Deborah Wickins, Phil LeNir, the gang from Speak and Spill as well as Write and Rant, Alex Rothwell, Anne Glazier, Blair and Tracy Hagkull, and Shelly Berlin. To the Air Canada service directors who seem to always check in on me and my writing, thank you! (A lot of writing gets done at 35,000 feet.) Undoubtedly I have missed a few. For that, I am profusely apologetic. Hit me up for a scotch or latte next time we meet.

My love for family begins my thinking, for they have always encouraged me to dream. Love ya: Mia, Roy, Nicole, Alana, Natasha, Adam, Michelle, Zoe, Rich, Suzanne, Chris, Madeleine, Tyler, Debbie, Diane, Ron, Jane, and Lawrence. To the growing-ever-so-fast goatsClaire, Cole, and CateI love you to the moon and back. Keep writing! Stop growing! Remember, love yourself first. To be that self which one truly is. And finally, to Denise, the true rock of our family, the ultimate quarry master. Thank you for always balancing the tightrope of chaos as if there were no worries below. I dont know how you do it. Yer amazing. Love ya. Onward. Daily. Forward. Away.