I learned much at the hands of my former boss, Lynn Goldberg, a legendary woman in publishing who was far more than a boss to me – she was part mother/part mentor/part friend. A key lesson she imparted during the decade I spent working for her was the gracious way to give credit where it was due. She was unparalleled at this – with personal notes, public recognition, and lots of other clever ways.

So, as I sit here on the eve of the holidays receiving emails about our holiday gift – a card featuring us all playing scrabble with a portable scrabble game – I feel compelled to give the credit for this clever idea where it is due. To be honest, trying to come up with a holiday card or gift that somehow relates to the publishing industry gets tough. Once you have exhausted the obvious bookmarks, book bags, or even bookends, the idea well gets a little dry.

So this year, when the holiday card time rolled around I was a little stumped. Then, someone on staff reminded me of some shots we had from a standard company shoot. We had never used them as most featured us standing around trying to look like we’re not being photographed. Then, Dennis’s wife, Susie, reached over at the end of the photo session which we were more than ready to end, dumped a scrabble game on the floor and urged us all to sit down and put the company’s name on the board. These candid shots were the only good ones taken that day. And playing with words did seem a good idea for a company that promotes book.

Then, as I sat mulling one night what we could send to accompany the card, my middle child, 14 year old Corey, look a glance and said, “Oh, you should put in those scrabble games that you can take in the car.” Of course, this was FAR better than anything at all I could think of. A scrabble dictionary I had wondered? Corey mulled. “Well, that’s okay, I guess, but what good is the dictionary for Scrabble if you don’t have the game?”

There you have it – anyone who got the game from us and loved it, we’re thrilled. But the clever idea was alas, not really ours. Kudos to Susie Welch and Corey Henricks. We’re mulling whether they would consider sharing the title of Chief Creative Officers of the company.