This was just published in my dissertation... ACKNOWLEDGMENTS In some ways, all writing is autobiographical. Though I did not necessarily believe Dr. Jay Barney when he said this to me and my Ph.D. cohort in his strategy course, now that this dissertation is finished, I most assuredly do. A broad theme in my research centers on understanding outliers (i.e., extreme outcomes) in the population and identifying general principles to explain how they occur. I find that superlative achievement is most often reached by those who took the road less traveled—they consistently made choices to do things differently than others. Sometimes the road less traveled is less traveled for a reason. Though Jerry Seinfeld is not quite a scholar on par with Dr. Barney, he is right: the road less traveled is wrought with peril. Extreme outcomes are nonlinear—they are way outside the normal, have a disproportionate effect beyond their immediate environment, and can be either positive or negative. My research suggests that extreme outcomes are caused by extreme inputs, and this hypothesis is supported with personal anecdotal evidence: my Dad was an outlier—he was a world record holder in powerlifting—and nothing about him or the choices he made would have been described as “normal.” By earning a doctoral degree and in more aspects than I would care to admit, I am also an outlier. Relating my experience to my research, I have found that outliers engage (sometimes randomly, sometimes purposefully) with many people from disparate environments who provide feedback that regulates the speed and path(s) of the journey. To the outlier, this feedback is given by individuals—sometimes unknowingly—who serve different roles at different times; interactions with these individuals serve as butterfly events with the potential to influence outcomes that cascade into the future. The conditions at the beginning, middle, and end of the journey often affect the kind of feedback the outlier receives. The beginning of my journey was particularly rough. Divorce, absence, and transience all take a toll on impressionable minds. Luckily, I had friends and relatives who shouldered a great deal of my burden. I know that the trajectory of my life would have been different without the support of Sandy Borger, Howard and Carol Cassidy, Tim Cassidy, Tom & Diane Crawford, Sharon Dela-Hamaide, Evelyn Parker, and Tim & Kathy Temple. These individuals watched over me, saw that I couldn’t make the journey alone, and carried me down a significantly jagged section of the road. I thank you with all my heart. The middle of my journey was particularly rough. I didn’t always adhere to the status quo, and I almost got kicked out of the program three times. Many individuals in academia pushed me forward and helped me keep my eye on the light at the end of the tunnel. At Louisville, Tammy Green, John Mueller, and Krishna Poudel played significant roles in providing mental and emotional support from beginning to end. Outside the Cardinal confines, Julienne Senyard, Dr. Bill McKelvey, Dr. Benyamin Lichtenstein, and Dr. Brett Smith all listened to me bemoan my trials and tribulations, and subsequently provided me with glimmers of hope about publishing, academic excellence, and success beyond the university. I learned so much from our conversations, and I look forward to our future collaborations. I’d also like to acknowledge Alicia Robb and E.J. Reedy and the Kauffman Foundation for facilitating and financially supporting my research. The end of my journey was particularly rough. I want to express my appreciation to those individuals who often conveyed to me that “you’re more than you think you are” and cleared a path that emboldened me to keep traveling down the road. This dissertation—with esoteric concepts and novel methods—caused both me and my committee to expand our horizons. I am extremely grateful for the guidance and discernment provided by Drs. Per Davidsson, Mahesh Gupta, Bill Rand, Lyle Sussman and, most specifically, my advisor, Bruce Kemelgor. Both directly and indirectly, each of you contributed significantly to the completion of this dissertation, and I cannot thank you enough. Dr. Kemelgor, it was an honor and privilege to work with you. Your time, encouragement, and direction steered me to achieve things that I did not think were possible—I can honestly say that I would not have made it through this program without your direct intervention. Dr. K., whenever you need me to step in front of a bus for you, I will gladly do so. Others, beyond the walls of academia, also played a vital role in helping me survive this journey. Megan Conliffe pulled me through the thicket for nearly five years—I will always be grateful for your unflinching encouragement and support at the time I needed it most. My client and good friend, Joe Golemi, stepped up when I really needed him and pulled me out of my personal financial recession—without you, my outcomes would be very different. I also received invaluable research assistance from Dr. Molly Bister, Kaleigh DeVoe, and Leigh Sullivan—your exceptional efforts were commendable and appreciated more than you know. My sons, Adam and Samuel Crawford, deserve special acknowledgement, as well. Even with separation, divorce, physical distance, and uncertainty lurking around every corner, you were cool. Thank you for hanging with me. Our new journey is just beginning. I want this dissertation to serve as notice to both of you: by choosing novel paths and working hard enough, you can achieve anything—anything. Your potential is unlimited. I love you both very much; I look forward to watching you traverse your own road, whichever path you choose. Try? No. Do, or do not. There is no try. My Mom likes to remind me that she came up with that quote before Yoda did—and, since she is the reason I am here, I believe her. Mom, I know that the journey was rough for you, too. Even after a double aneurysm, you kept positive, kept putting one foot in front of the other, and emerged better than before. Without your love and support on this long, strange trip, I would be a very different person. Thank you for always putting forth your best effort to stand by me and encourage me to do—to attempt new things, to find new ways around difficulties, to be more than what my environment expects. I hope that someday I can make up for the time I have missed being with you. This dissertation about outliers, extreme outcomes, and butterfly events along the road less traveled is, indeed, autobiographical. In addition to retrospectively analyzing past events, I hope that this manuscript provides my sons—and others—with a framework for prospectively creating their own extremes. I conclude with a quote from Uta Wenger that summarizes these acknowledgements and provides an apropos precursor for the dissertation to come: Resist the temptation to fit in and be average. It robs you of the chance to be exceptional.
Posted on: Fri, 27 Sep 2013 00:39:57 +0000
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