For Jerry Shereshewsky, on his birthday

A long time ago, it seems, I dedicated the book Permission Marketing to my friend and colleague Jerry Shereshewsky. Jerry stayed at Yahoo! long after I left, and he's still there, ambassador to the world of advertising.

I've been thinking about Jerry a lot lately. As I work on my new project, I find myself telling stories about him and his impact on me, on organizations and on the way people think.

Every once in a while, you work with someone who carries a distortion reality field, someone who impacts everything he touches, causing it to respond. Jerry pushed me and the rest of our team farther,and in more ways, then most of us expected could happen. And he did it with an energy, generosity and love that seems way too rare.

It's hard to believe Jerry's sixty. Thanks, JHS, for the stories, the excitement and the love of everything.