Acknowledgments

There are hundreds of people who in various ways, either directly or indirectly, have contributed to the writing of this book. It would be impossible to name and thank them all, but we are bound to recognize our debt to Mary Gentile, author of the foreword and director of the program Giving Voice to Values, which has greatly informed our approach, who has generously aided us in publishing this book in the United States.

We wish to express our gratitude to Roberto Gavioli who followed us both along our path of personal growth, ensuring we gave free rein to our creativity and fulfilled our potential. Thanks also to Matteo Alvisi of the University of Bologna, Italy, Serena Calderoni, and Licia Piraccini who revised the drafts, and suggested useful changes and improvements. We thank Leigh Hafrey, MIT, for his help and hospitality, and Professor James Hoopes of Babson College in Boston for his advice and time.

A special thanks to our translator, Sarah Keating.

We must also thank the many agencies and training institutions that over the years have placed their trust in us, allowing us to undertake demanding work as trainers and accumulate much of the experience and case studies that we have condensed in this book.

Then there are the many friends who have contributed to this project with advice and ideas, and by boosting our confidence. Riccardo Silvi of the University of Bologna, who urged us to choose Boston as the venue for our research and kindly provided references and contacts. Alessandro Biraghi and his wife Gaia, friends since forever and the moral supporters of this project. Luca and Chiara Montaguti for their optimism and confidence in the future. Thanks to Riccardo, our son and an expert dreamer and master of courage. To our parents Felicia, Rosario, Anna Paola, and Bruno from whom we have inherited passion, tenacity, ambition, integrity, values, and a whole host of things that in one form or another have been woven into our writing; they deserve a huge hug—the success of this project belongs to you too!

Thanks also to the companies with which we have collaborated in the past and in the present for the support and the confidence shown in us. Our sincere appreciation to the staff of the communications agency 2mlab who manage our image: We couldn’t work with anyone else but you! Thanks also to all the teachers and the students who over the years have enriched our knowledge and stimulated our talents. Lastly, we must say a huge thank you to our publishers in Italy and in the United States, and in particular, to our editors who have supported and followed our work through the various drafts with enthusiasm and professionalism.

We apologize in advance to all those whose names have not been mentioned; we promise to right the omission by thanking you in person.

We wish to stress that the concepts, the theories chosen, and the way in which they have been presented, as well as the illustration of the negotiation techniques, the adaptation of the operational models, the definitions, and in fact everything proposed in this book is the result of our research and personal opinions based on years of experience, reading, meetings, conversations, and even random ideas. The book makes no claim to scientific theories and where the theories of other authors are cited, they have been reinterpreted only to make the discussion smoother and clear. To understand fully the thoughts of these authors we encourage you to read their publications. Although the case studies are based on actual experiences, they have been reworked and embellished and are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is therefore purely coincidental.