In your career you meet people who educate and inspire you in a way that instills not only new ways of thinking but also the confidence to take on the road to success. In addition to my gratitude to Mars, Incorporated for giving me numerous opportunities to learn and grow, I am deeply indebted to Gary Rush and Eric Jensen—two Gurus of Facilitation. I take this opportunity to thank them for their contribution to my professional destiny.

Just as the saying goes, “It takes a village to raise a child,” it takes “many to write a book.” The author is instrumental in conceiving a vision and writing a book, but there are many people who contribute to this effort in different ways. They deserve my thanks.

Three chapters in this book are contributed by my colleagues who are Gurus in their own right: Angela Gallogly for Virtual Facilitation, Catherine Mercer Bing for Cross-Cultural Facilitation, and Kevin Woodson and Michael Stark for assistance in Visual Facilitation.

I’m grateful for the contributions of Carlos Valdes-Dapena for High Performance Collaboration Framework, Anne Pauker Kreitzberg for Strategy Definition, and Carol Weiss Riches for Voice Care Techniques.

My thanks also go to Mike Foresman, a colleague and friend, for creating the slides on various frameworks.

As you go through the book, you will notice numerous hand drawn illustrations. I am very thankful to Michele Fulmer, a young artist and teacher who has made the concepts and their messages in the book come alive in ink and paper.

My editor, Peggy Peterson, has been instrumental in not only correcting my grammar and sentence structures, but also suggesting ideas to make the flow of this professional “story” better. I am grateful to her for her contribution.

My special thanks to many other colleagues and friends who contributed their ideas by allowing me to bounce off my concepts and for providing valuable opinions: Vincent Arecchi, Ernest Baker, Mary Barnett, Debra Batista, Gene Fucetola, Dr. Sandy Goldstein, Brian Kupersmit, Jagjot Singh Nagra, and Nancy Settle-Murphy.

Last, but not least, my gratitude goes to all of my students and workshop participants who over the years offered me the opportunity to serve them; their engagement and feedback taught me to be a better facilitator.

My publisher and friend Steve Hoberman and his staff have been once again a pleasure to work with and deserve my heartfelt thanks.