Lee G. Bolman holds the Marion Bloch Missouri Chair in Leadership at the Bloch School of Business and Public Administration, University of Missouri — Kansas City. He received a B.A. (1962) in history and a Ph.D. (1968) in administrative sciences, both from Yale University. Bolman's interests lie in the intersection of leadership and organizations, and he has published numerous articles, chapters, and cases. He is coauthor of Escape from Cluenessness: A Guide for the Organizationally Challenged. Bolman has been a consultant to corporations, public agencies, universities, and public schools in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. For twenty years, he taught at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where he also chaired the Institute for Educational Administration and the School Leadership Academy. He has been director and board chair of the Organizational Behavioral Teaching Society and Director of the National Training Laboratories.

Bolman lives in Kansas City, Missouri, with his wife, Joan Gallos, the youngest of his six children, Brad, and a spirited Theory Y Cockapoo, Douglas McGregor.

Terrence E. Deal retired as the Irving R. Melbo Professor at the University of Southern California's Rossier School of Education. Before joining USC, he served on the faculties of the Stanford University Graduate School of Education, the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and Vanderbilt University's Peabody College of Education. He received his B.A. (1961) from LaVerne College in history, his M.A. (1966) from California State University at Los Angeles in educational administration, and his Ph.D. (1972) from Stanford University in education and sociology. Deal has been a policeman, public school teacher, high school principal, district officer administrator, and university professor. His primary research interests are in organization symbolism and change. He is the author of thirty books, including the best-seller Corporate Cultures (with A. A. Kennedy, 1982) and Shaping School Culture (with K. Peterson, 1999). He has published numerous articles on organizations, change, and leadership. He is a consultant to business, health care, military, educational, and religious organizations domestically and in Europe, Scandinavia, the Middle East, Canada, South America, Japan, and Southeast Asia.

Deal lives in San Luis Obispo's Edna Valley, California, with his wife, Sandy, and their cat, Max. Along with writing, his current avocation is wine-making as a member of the Edna Ranch Vintner's Guild.

Bolman and Deal first met in 1976 when they were assigned to co-teach a course on organization at Harvard University. Trained in different disciplines on opposite coasts, they disagreed on almost everything. It was the beginning of a challenging but very productive partnership. They have written a number of other books together, including Leading with Soul: An Uncommon Journey of Spirit. Their books have been translated into multiple languages for readers in Asia, Europe, and Latin America.

For five years, Bolman and Deal also co-directed the National Center for Educational Leadership, a research consortium of Harvard, Vanderbilt, and the University of Chicago.

The authors appreciate hearing from readers and welcome comments, questions, suggestions, or accounts of experiences that bear on the ideas in the book. Stories of success, failure, or puzzlement are all welcome. Readers can contact the authors at the following addresses: