Contributors

 

Editor-at-large Bo Burlingham first wrote about the corporate culture at Reell Precision Manufacturing for his 2005 book, Small Giants. A lawsuit brought against the company by one of its former co-CEOs was the first indication of how much had changed. "I initially thought this was a case of a company that had this terrific culture that had taken 35 years to build and then, because of decisions by the board, composed mostly of outsiders, the culture was destroyed," says Burlingham. What he found was a much more complicated--and in many ways, more instructive--story, which he tells in "Paradise Lost."

Brian Stauffer is a collage artist known for his use of painted fabrics and found objects, as seen in his illustrations for this month's story about Chris Reed, who put himself and his company through an IPO that dragged on for five painful years here. Stauffer started using found objects somewhat accidentally. "I was working for a low-budget alternative weekly, where I didn't have much money for materials," he says, "so I ended up using whatever I could find." Stauffer blogs about his work at Drawger.com.

It was the perfect time for Ryan Underwood to learn more about working remotely. While he was reporting this month's Tools feature, on technology that makes it easier to tap into office networks from almost anywhere here, a tree fell on his home, in Nashville. He and his family retreated to his parents' house. Underwood, the national editor of The Tennessean, hopes to move back home this spring.

On page 26 the second entry in Inc.'s new series, Behind the Scenes, in which photographer Joshua Lutz brings an artist's eye to everyday scenes and Inc. reporters ferret out small companies whose work is embedded in the tableau. "I've always been interested in these ordinary places that have all these little parts to them that usually go unnoticed," Lutz says. While Lutz was photographing the Nashville airport for this issue, musician John Fogerty walked into the shot. "He was standing in the exact position I wanted someone, right next to the garbage," Lutz says. Unfortunately, by the time Lutz had changed the lights, Fogerty was gone.

Before you can finish asking Liz Welch what she can't live without, she gladly offers up her espresso machine. "I start every morning with a double," she says. Welch, who writes this month's What I Can't Live Without, is collaborating with her sister Diana on a memoir called The Kids Are All Right. The book, which tells the story of how the four Welch siblings were separated as children, will be published by Harmony, in early 2009.