Every journey starts with the first steps, and the current journey
would not have been possible without the ones taken many years ago. I
want to thank Jaime Fensterseifer for getting me started and Roger
Schroeder, Kingshuk Sinha, and Rachna Shah for providing me with the
opportunity and the foundations to proceed. A thank you to many friends
and research colleagues for insightful and inspiring professional and
personal conversations over the years, especially Paul Skilton, Stan
Fawcett, and Mark Nigrini, among others.
Nobody has been more important to me in the pursuit of my projects
than the members of my family. My mother, Maria Conceição, especially, is
the ultimate lifelong model of support, strength, long-term vision, positive
attitude, and perseverance.
Rafael Calderon
I would like to thank my coauthor team of Ednilson, Amit, and
Thorsten for a wonderful journey together in this endeavor. It has been a
true adventure and enriching experience. Amit, you were the motor
behind this project and because of your energy and focus we are here.
Very thankful to our publisher, McGraw-Hill, and special thanks to our
editors Donya Dickerson, Noah Schwartzberg, and Steve Straus.
I would also like to extend my deepest gratitude to colleagues at
Deloitte, who have helped us by sharing their ideas, reviewing
manuscripts, and providing the inspiration we needed to get through this
effort. Ranjeet Wadatkar, Mrugank Desai, Alejandra MacFarland, Manuel
Peralta, and Imran Dalwani for their support; Brenna Sniderman and
Heather Ashton for helping us review the content; Deloitte Development
LLP, Deloitte Insights, and Deloitte University Press for helping us with
ideas and inspiration for this book; and to Doug Gish, Mark Walsh, Adam
Mussomeli, Jason Bergstrom, Brenna Sniderman, Peter Capozucca, Samir
Uppal, Barb Renner, Eric Kaese, Tom Wilson, Hussain Mooraj, Rachael
Goydan, and Erica Volini for their support.
Most of all thank you to my beautiful wife, Alessandra, and our kids,
Rafael, Elena, Luca, Giuliano, and Apollonia, for supporting me in all my
adventures and projects!
Thorsten Wuest
It was a pleasure to work with my coauthors Amit, Rafa, and Ed. The
development and writing process of this book was intense but with these
exceptional partners it was an opportunity to grow and learn! The
continuous support of our publisher McGraw-Hill—shout out to Donya,