ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I have had the good luck to work with people who felt passionately about intrinsic motivation. Betty Velthouse, now at the University of Michigan-Flint, first got me thinking about empowerment as a research topic when she was a PhD student at the University of Pittsburgh. Walt Tymon, now at Villanova University, became a long-term research partner and lifelong friend on this adventure. Together, Walt and I developed the research instrument, now titled the Work Engagement Profile, which provides much of the research evidence cited in this book. Erik Jansen, my colleague at the Naval Postgraduate School, helped me sort through the conceptual underbrush around this topic. It was also Erik who first suggested I write this book. I am deeply indebted to each of them for sharing ideas, enthusiasm, and support.

I am also indebted to Bruce Vincent and Steve deBree at the New West Institute, who recognized the practical value of the ideas in the first edition and have used the book, along with our research instrument, in all their applied work with organizations. We have learned much from each other, and many of their insights have been incorporated into this second edition.

I would also like to thank those research colleagues who generously shared their research findings with me so that they could be included in this second edition—especially Professor Jacques Forest of the Université du Québec à Montréal and the research team who designed the large study of Indian companies conducted jointly with Right Management and including Richard Smith and Villanova University professors Steven Stumpf, Walter Tymon, and Jonathan Doh.

I am also indebted to Berrett-Koehler’s reviewers and the friends and colleagues who gave me helpful feedback on various drafts of this book—Walt and Erik again, as well as Barry Leskin, David Jamieson, Robert Mountain, James Kouzes, and Beverly Kaye. I have tried to incorporate them as best I could but remain responsible for any lapses that remain.

My wife and partner, Gail Fann Thomas, was a sounding board for many of these ideas. She also provided me with a clear model of intrinsic motivation—someone who cares passionately about doing work that makes a difference and benefits others.

I want to thank the staff at Berrett-Koehler—especially Publisher Steve Piersanti, who created a firm that truly lives the principles I wanted to write about, and Editorial Director Johanna Vondeling, who helped me focus the second edition on what would be most useful to leaders. I also thank the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) for agreeing to copublish this book along with Berrett-Koehler.

KENNETH W. THOMAS
Monterey, California
April 2009