Foreword Focus: Why Reading It Matters

Most people skip reading the foreword of a nonfiction book. This conclusion is not based on extensive research, but rather on a simple two-step approach, which I’ll call AI and May I? I’ll prompt AI with a few variations of the same question. Once I feel I have the precise question nailed down, I’ll ask a range of people to offer their responses. People tend to move beyond the foreword for a whole host of reasons. For many, it’s because they want to get straight to the main content. I took this approach for many years myself until I started writing books. Then I became aware of the careful consideration involved in selecting whom to approach to write the foreword. Now I read them all. Here’s why.

Foreword Considerations 

Authors add a foreword to their books for different reasons. Some view it as a means to establish context, enhance author credibility, provide additional insights, or set expectations. For me, it comes down to two questions: What do I want it to accomplish? Who is the best person to deliver the message?

In the case of The Power of Peers (2016), for example, I wanted CEOs to sit up and pay attention to how and why Forums for CEOs matter so much. I saw Forbes publisher Rich Karlgaard as the ideal messenger. Because my first book made the case by looking back and offering tangible proof, I wanted my second title, What Anyone Can Do to speak to “What’s next?” And in 2018, after Dan Hoffman introduced the world’s best conversation solution on the market, I thought, “Who better?” CircleSpace remains my preferred choice today.

As for Peernovation, the first edition was my way of building a bridge between what the highest-performing CEO Forums do so brilliantly and how these proven principles and practices apply to organizational teams. Because this work is relevant to CEOs and HR professionals from any size organization, Jeffrey Hayzlett, Founder and Chairman of C-Suite Network, was the perfect choice. I am grateful to Rich, Dan, and Jeffrey for their generosity in participating, as each sent a powerful message to readers about why CEOs and HR professionals should pay attention to the words that followed.

Fast Foreword 

In Fall 2024, I fully committed to writing a second edition of Peernovation, subtitled Forged by CEO Forums. Perfected for Teams. I would provide updated content, five new chapters, and a foreword that I approached differently this time. I thought, “What is the one thing that is essential to leading healthy forums and teams?” After working with more than 800 groups and teams, the answer was obvious: Psychological Safety.  Once I concluded that I wanted the foreword to walk through the door of psychological safety, I decided to swing for the fences and ask Amy C. Edmondson – the legendary Harvard Business School professor who coined the term in 1999 and more recently authored the best-selling books, The Fearless Organization and The Right Kind of Wrong.

Asking Amy    

I met Amy Edmondson for the first time at the 2024 Academy of Management Annual Meeting in Chicago. George Washington University scholar Roman Terekhin invited us to serve on a panel, which comprised half academics and half practitioners, focused on peer coaching groups. Once Roman informed me that Amy had agreed to be a panelist, I accepted immediately, as I have always respected her work. Amy and I briefly engaged during the session, and for a few minutes afterward; this set the stage for exchanging a few emails over the following months.

As I created the initial outline for the new edition, I included a foreword, with no immediate thoughts about who I might approach to write it. While I considered asking Jeffrey Hayzlett to update his foreword from the first edition, I realized that the subject of psychological safety would play an even more significant role. The update should clearly reflect this distinction. What better way than to ask the scholar whose name is synonymous with the topic to write the foreword, so I reached out to Amy Edmondson.

I did not know Amy very well, so I crafted a detailed email explaining the new edition, my reasons for writing it, and the importance I placed on the foreword, as evidenced by the involvement of Rich Karlgaard, Dan Hoffman, and Jeffrey Hayzlett in my previous books. I presented it as a two-stage process: 1) Would you be open to the idea of writing the foreword? and 2) I would like you to read the manuscript to evaluate how I characterized and integrated your work and psychological safety in general. After doing so, I hope you will feel comfortable enough to associate your name with this book.

I have come to regard what happened in Top Gun Maverick terms. In the movie, completing the mission successfully involved what was described as achieving Miracle #1 and Miracle #2. I saw my proposed two-stage process in the same way. Once Amy responded “yes” (Miracle #1), I knew I couldn’t lose after that. Think about it: I tasked myself with submitting a manuscript to the world’s top scholar on psychological safety, so whether she ultimately agreed to write the foreword or not, her involvement would challenge me to write a better book. After reviewing the manuscript, Amy would later send me a thoughtfully written foreword of 1,273 words (Miracle #2). She introduces the content through the lens of her academic work on psychological safety and related topics, making the case for why today’s leaders should care.

Afterword    

While the new edition of Peernovation is blessed with an excellent foreword, the afterword, written by CEOWORLD Magazine‘s very own Prof. Dr. Amarendra Bhushan Dhiraj, provides the narrative with a succinct and impactful punctuation – fitting bookends I could not have envisioned last summer. I am grateful beyond measure to both of them.

If there are two takeaways from this article, it’s 1) It doesn’t hurt to ask, and 2) reading the foreword (and the afterword if applicable) is so vital that you should read it before you even buy the book. In that spirit, you’ll find the Peernovation’s Second Edition foreword and afterword here. Enjoy!

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