Co-editing the Addison-Wesley Series on Organizational Development

One of my greatest pleasures of the last four decades was to work with Dick in the creation of the Addison-Wesley OD Series. Warren Bennis, Dick, and I knew that the field was not ready for a single textbook, so we decided to let practitioners speak for themselves. We had a great division of labor. We would each look at the submitted manuscript and if we all agreed, no problem. If we had a difference of opinion we either met or phoned each other and made our points of view known. In every case these short discussions resolved immediately whether we should reject, send back for editing, or accept the manuscript. Eventually, Warren Bennis went on to university administration, which made it impossible for him to devote time to this editing so Dick and I carried on.

Having learned a bit about this editing game, we also edited each other's work to great mutual profit. Dick had an uncanny knack for spotting good ideas and representing them in a clear fashion. I usually supplied a more academic view, looking for theoretical inconsistencies or connections to other work. We both benefited greatly from the different way in which we each approached our work.