Praise for The Paradox of Excellence

"This book reveals a powerful new formula for every business to become distinct and not extinct!"
--Ram Charan, coauthor, Confronting Reality and Execution, and author, Boards That Deliver

"The Paradox of Excellence is a must-read for any company executive. In today's competitive environment, it is all too easy to become 'invisible' to our customers, which leads to undesired consequences. This book helps put into perspective issues facing many businesses today."
--Garry Betty, CEO, Earthlink

"The Paradox of Excellence is a quick read and an excellent investment of your time. It provides a meaningful guide to improving communications and interactions with your customers."
--Jerry McElhatton, president, Global Technology & Operations, MasterCard International

"The message Mosby and Weissman are delivering is very important to all companies regardless of size or success. In my thirty-four years in business and eight as a college president, I have often seen and experienced the paradox of excellence phenomenon. This is a must-read for all in today's business and service environment."
--Bill Galvin, retired vice chairman, Xerox Corporation, and retired president, Babson College

"A fresh idea made very accessible--definitely worth reading!"
--Ron Okamoto, vice president, Worldwide Developer Relations, Apple Computer

"The Paradox of Excellence teaches a fundamental management lesson nestled in an involving, suspenseful story--operations excellence leading to high expectations coupled with inadequate management of your brand can be a recipe for disaster."
--David Aaker, vice chairman, Prophet, and author, BrandPortfolio Strategy

"I was so impressed with this book. I'm going to order an advanced copy for myself and members of my management team."
--Joan Waltman, president, Wireless Business Solutions, Qualcomm, Inc.

Experience a beautiful, humorous, universal love story with this memoir about learning to live with another human being and how every relationship is a mystery-and a miracle. When they first meet, John, a dashing European, a Latvian refugee, a physics PhD, is hoping to settle down. Michaele, a fast-talking American college student, is hungry for an independent life as a writer and historian. When they meet again some years later, Michaele is ready. Or so she thinks. And opposites attract, right? The life Michaele and John build together intermingles sweetness-their love of good food, entertaining, and family-with complications, including their ethnic and religious differences (Michaele is Jewish; John is not), the trauma John endured as a child during WWII, Michaele's thwarted ambitions, and even John's preoccupation with Latvian rye. When he opens a successful company marketing rye bread, Michaele embarks on a European journey in search of her husband's origins, excavating poignant stories of war, privation, and resilience. She realizes at last that rye bread represents everything about John's homeland that he loved and lost. Eventually Michaele comes to love rye bread, too. An enticing memoir for readers of Dani Shapiro's Hourglass, Bess Kalb's Nobody Will Tell You This But Me, and Heather Havrilesky's Foreverland, The Rye Bread Marriage asks, how do the stories we live and the stories we inherit play out in our relationships? After forty years of marriage, Michaele Weissman has a few answers.