Acknowledgments

For both of us, this book is a culmination of years of study, research, practical application, and testing. We have learned much from many, as is the case with most topical areas of subject matter. The in-the-field applications of our concepts with client firms that helped us refine and simplify our model have been informative and gratifying. We appreciate and value, too, the works on negotiations by those who have preceded us, including Gary Frasier, Chester Karras, Roger Dawson, Dr. Jim Hennig, Bob Gibson, John P. Dolan, William Ury, and Roger Fisher.

We cannot say enough about the expertise and effort of Steve Piersanti, who, with the title of publisher of Berrett-Koehler, has demonstrated his executive acumen beyond question, but who many of us know is one of the most skilled editors in the business. We further acknowledge and thank Stephen Caldwell, Sharon Dismore, and Ruth Ann Hensley for their able assistance in the editing of the book.

We also wish to acknowledge the influence of Dr. Ken Blanchard, with whom Don coauthored The One Minute Entrepreneur. He not only wrote a very nice fore-word for us but also set a terrific example for all of us of how business should be done today, as evidenced by the global success of the Ken Blanchard Companies.

We thank and acknowledge Don’s fellow Speakers Roundtable member, Dr. Tony Alessandra, with whom Don coauthored Selling with Style, for his early research on behavioral styles and adaptability that are included in this work. We further thank the early researchers/experts on behavioral styles, including Dr. Carl Jung, Dr. David Merrill, Roger Reid, Larry Wilson, and Don Thoren.

Acknowledgement is also in order for Dr. Patrick L. Schul, who pioneered, along with George, some of the early elements of the collaboration concepts that ultimately influenced the subject matter of this book.