Acknowledgements

We are immensely grateful to all the contributing authors. We thank them for their contributions, their numerous insights on change, their flexibility, and their thoughtful revisions that helped make this book an easy-to-read reference guide.

We are indebted to Christine Valenza for the wonderful images she created for many chapters. An incredible graphic facilitator and coauthor of the Values Into Action chapter, she generously gave her time to contributing authors to bring their processes visually to life. The book is far more attractive because of her work. We are also grateful to Nancy Margulies, coauthor of the chapter on Visual Recording and Graphic Facilitation, for providing additional graphic images.

We thank Jackie Stravos. If she hadn’t asked, “What do you think about doing a new edition?” this project never would have begun.

Our thanks to Michael M. Pannwitz, who opened the door to the creative change work happening in the German-speaking world.

We thank the graduate students who interviewed seasoned practitioners on our behalf: Patti Coutin, Michael Hotchkiss, Amanie Kariyawasam, Amber M. Linn, Judy Marriott, Sue Ellen McComas, Kelly L. Niksa, Andrew Sauber, and Seneca Vaught. We thank the practitioners who gave their thoughts to us: Michael Arena, Tom Atlee, Lisa Beutler, Lyn Carson, Chris Corrigan, Susan Dupre, Rick Lent, and Christine Whitney Sanchez.

We owe a big thanks to the reviewers for their excellent suggestions that greatly improved the manuscript: Ela Aktay Booty, Larry Dressler, Jeff Kulick, and Leigh Wilkinson.

We thank Steve Piersanti for his conviction that this book contributes to people in communities and organizations who want to make their world a better place. To Jeevan Sivasubramanian, who made our lives better with his remarkable ability to always be there with just the answer we needed when we needed it, we are immensely grateful. We are deeply indebted to all of the people “behind the scenes” at Berrett-Koehler who edited, designed, and produced this book.

The entire field of whole system change is greatly indebted to the early work of Fred Emery, Kurt Lewin, Larry Lippitt, and Eric Trist. Most of the truly high-leverage principles in this book’s methods gain their power from the action research of their early observations, experiments, and theory building. We are fortunate to have original contributions in this book from Merrelyn Emery, who has made additional valuable contributions to the field after working with Fred Emery for so many years.

We wish to acknowledge Kathie Dannemiller, whose passing leaves this field of change without one of its most original and courageous pioneers. Without her gumption to give it a go, who would have guessed anything useful could happen with hundreds of people in a room?

We also want to acknowledge Billie Alban and Barbara Bunker for their groundbreaking work, which first made this work—in which the people of the system participate in creating their future—visible.

Coediting a book is a lot like marriage—if everything is always smooth, one of you is redundant. We want to acknowledge each other—we believe the different perspectives we brought to the book coupled with our commitment to making it work by sorting out our differences have provided a better offering.

From Steven Cady

I would like to acknowledge five groups that are very important to this book. First and foremost are my Bowling Green State University colleagues and my clients. Students, faculty, and staff have played an important role in my work in this area and particularly with the concepts in this book. I’d like to thank Kelly Ashbacher for her help in the beginning phase of preparing the manuscript. As for all the students, there are too many to name here. I have learned so much from wrestling with and exploring ideas with them. In addition, many of the ideas for this book have come from my field experience and research with such organizations as DaimlerChrysler, the Toledo Diocese, and more.

Second, my close mentors have encouraged me and provided me with the foundation necessary to do this work. I can’t say enough about people like Jimmie Ferrell, Kathie Dannemiller, Marguerite Foxon, Patricia Fandt, and Rasesh Thakkar.

Third, my family always asks how things are with the book, and when I am too busy to call … they call me: the Bellomys, Bonds, Browns, Cadys, MacDonells, Odins, Thakkars, and Smiths.

Fourth, my best friends in Orlando have been my advocates and cheerleaders, and that too goes for my friends and brothers in Ohio.

Finally, thank you Peggy and Tom … I am so glad you invited me to join you on the journey.

From Tom Devane

I am indebted to the many people in my professional and personal networks who enabled me to make some valuable contributions to this book as an author and coeditor. I thank Helena Dolny of the Land Bank of South Africa for inviting me to help in the postapartheid transformation of the part-government, part-financial institution that she headed. This project had a profound impact on my consulting practice and it helped shape, and reshape, many ideas I had about successful large-scale, sustainable change.

I’m fortunate enough to have some great business colleagues who are also personal friends, and I thank Robert Rehm, Nancy Cebula, Gary Frank, Dennis Mayhew, and Tony Singarayar for long hours of collegial work and nonwork time spent observing organizational behavior and building successful theories and approaches for improving organizations and communities.

I also thank Merrelyn Emery for her extensive research and collaboration with me on this and other publications. I thank Larry Kinney of AT&T for his advice and inviting me in to help with AT&T’s postdivestiture conversion from a monopolistic to entrepreneurial mind-set.

My special thanks go out to my wife, Susan Conway Devane, and my kids, Krista and Kiernan, who exhibited extreme patience and support during the long writing and editing hours spent on weekends and holidays.

From Peggy Holman

There are so many thanks at so many levels! To Anne Stadler and Harrison Owen for being great companions in this journey through the amazing world of change. To Mark Jones, my fellow traveler and frequent partner in crime. To Kenoli Oleari for his complex and challenging suggestions on the Mix and Match chapter. To Tree Fitzpatrick for her friendship, insight, writing suggestions, and support. To Tom Atlee, for his many direct and indirect contributions to my thinking and writing.

And to my husband, Neil Holman, who not only provided invaluable advice, but who wholeheartedly dove into the production of an unbelievably complex manuscript to help us out as the deadline loomed. On top of that, he managed to live with me during the process—he has my love and enduring thanks.