In Chapter 5 of 17 in his 2010 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, customer advocacy marketing executive Alan McNab shares how studying speech act language philosophy has helped improve his leadership skills. He discovers an area of philosophy, speech acts, that applies language - a promise, request, or offer - to create or commit a new future together. By delivering upon a promise, the customer can assess performance and make a declaration of satisfaction or delight to close the loop on the interaction. McNab holds a BSEE in Electrical Engineering from Santa Clara University and an MBA from Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. He has worked in various technology marketing roles at Hewlett-Packard, Cisco, Motorola, and is now Vice President, Customer Advocacy at NCR based in Dublin.