Acknowledgments

This is not the kind of book whose central ideas spring into being and come to mind fully formed some summer evening when the breeze is just so. It’s the kind of book whose content evolves slowly and gradually, and is subject to a lifetime of tweaking and refining, with interplay from countless other dreamcrafters who experiment and share results and never tire of trying a new slant and taking a new tack. To all of these, within our many client organizations, we owe a great debt of gratitude.

It has been our privilege to count among our mentors some great thinkers and teachers; we feel particularly indebted to the late Dr. Ronald Lippit, professor emeritus at the University of Michigan, whose insights set us off early in the right direction.

A special thanks to our research assistant, Nicole Brady.Your talent and dedication have been a great help, Nixie!

Our agent, Mike Snell, invested a huge amount of time and expertise to help us improve the book’s overall structure and content. We deeply appreciate his belief in the project, and his devotion to it. It is in large part due to his efforts that we were able to capture Berrett-Koehler’s interest.

We feel a great sense of pride that this is a Berrett-Koehler book. Berrett-Koehler founder Steven Piersanti’s biography would make an excellent Dreamcrafting case study in itself. This maverick publishing house supports the whole premise of our book in everything it does. Special thanks are due to managing editor Jeevan Sivasubramaniam, ix whose unfailing courtesy and good humor guided us through the entire production phase of the book with ease. Grateful thanks, as well, to “dreamcrafting ambassadors” Maria Jesús Aguiló, Patricia Anderson, Gail Caldwell, Marina Cook, Michael Crowley, Robin Donovan, Kristen Frantz, Jenny Hermann, Bob Liss, Ken Lupoff, Kate Piersanti, Mark Schoenrock, Kathy Slater, Heather Vaughan, Richard Wilson, Brandon Winters, and Ginger Winters; your helpful and enthusiastic support has made the journey profoundly satisfying for both of us. Early reviews of the manuscript by Kathleen Epperson, Ann Sonz Matranga, Eileen Hammer, and Chester Delaney provided insightful suggestions and a generous proportion of encouragement, for which we are extremely grateful. And if the book looks more visually arresting than most, credit must go to Lorrie Fink and Valerie Winemiller for their outstanding design work.

And of course, there is no adequate way to repay the immense debt we owe our devoted wives, Sandra Levesque and Mary Beth McNeil. Ladies, if our belief that dreams really can come true runs deep, it is only because you find so many happy ways to remind us of it every day.