Thus we have each of us cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flames within us.

—Albert Schweitzer, Memoirs of Childhood and Youth

Books exist because of the kindness, challenge, and support that authors receive from people and circumstances around them. I thank the colleagues who contributed illustrations and stories; the people who gave me feedback on the manuscript; the thought leaders, teachers, and learning partners who influenced me; the artists who worked with me to make abstract ideas visual; the editorial and production support people at Berrett-Koehler; and the friends who helped in a variety of unexpected ways.

To Steven Wright, thank you for your great eye and fabulous illustrations. Working with you is a treat!

For writing stories, I thank Christina Baldwin, Juanita Brown, Sandra Janoff, Mark Jones, Adam Kahane, DeAnna Martin, Heather Tischbein, Christine Whitney Sanchez, and Tenneson Woolf.

To the patient readers who found gold and took the time to help me mine it, thank you: Tom Atlee, Sherri Black, Deborah Brandt, Tree Bressen, Tree Fitzpatrick, Jill Geisler, Sandra Janoff, Gail Koelln, DeAnna Martin, Magi Oriah Nock, Larry Peterson, Lori Rosolowsky, Martin Rutte, Nancy White, and Rosa Zubizarreta.

To others who commented on some aspect of the manuscript, shared in a story, or both you have my gratitude: Bill Aal, Andrés Agudelo, Jennifer Atlee, Tova Averbuch, Emily Axelrod, Azalea Blalock, Peter Block, Phillip Bonser, Frank Catanzaro, Chris Corrigan, Scott Davis, Tom Devane, Michael Dowd, Howard Finberg, Katherine Fulton, Sono Hashisaki, Seth Henry, Jon Host, Christopher Innes, Sylvia James, Van Jones, Lion Kimbro, Amy Lenzo, Nancy Margulies, Holger Nauheimer, Dan Oestreich, Geneva Overholser, Harrison Owen, Manuel Ortega, Jessica Partnow, Gifford Pinchot, Libba Pinchot, Cathy Remus, Martin Reynolds, Peter Rinearson, Diane Robbins, Kelly Robson, Alberto Rossi, Jim Rough, Pankaj Sapkal, Stephen Silha, Maurreen Skowran, Anne Stadler, Sarah Stuteville, Samantha Tan, Gail Taylor, Penny Walker, and Leslye Wood.

To Steve Cady, thanks for pulling together a group to review the book with me in real time: Sherri Black, Kristoff Koch, Emily Lewis, DeAnna Martin, Nancy McMorrow, and Lizette Tucker. What an intense and valuable process!

My thanks to Connie Barlow for reviewing the science. Any errors remaining are mine.

To the Berrett-Koehler reviewers, no question the book is better because of your counsel: Katherine Armstrong, Frances Baldwin, Marisa Handler, Jeff Kulick, and Rebecca Maillet. In particular, Katherine, your mixture of enthusiasm and challenging, specific advice guided me closely as I rewrote. If it is a friendlier, more accessible book, you are a big part of why.

To Diana Whitney, who told me in 2008, “Peggy, you need to write a book”: Diana, you were right! And for encouraging me to take the plunge as I put my toe in the waters of these ideas, thank you, Peter Block.

The ideas I share have many influences. While I never knew three of my teachers—Thomas Kuhn, Christopher Alexander, and Thomas Berry—many of the thought leaders who have influenced me I’m glad to call friends. My thanks to Billie Alban, Dick and Emily Axelrod, Juanita Brown, Barbara Bunker, David Cooperrider, Sandra Janoff, Harrison Owen, Jim Rough, Brian Swimme, Marvin Weisbord, Meg Wheatley, and Diana Whitney.

Deep gratitude to my fellow travelers in learning what it means to engage emergence: Tova Averbuch, Connie Barlow, Chris Corrigan, Michael Dowd, Tree Fitzpatrick, Candi Foon, Teresa Posakany, Christine Whitney Sanchez, and Tenneson Woolf. In particular, Anne Stadler, Mark Jones, and Tom Atlee, you have been constant companions. So many ideas are rooted in our conversations and experiences together.

To my Journalism That Matters partners, it’s been quite a road! Our work taught me about the challenging realities of emergence. Many thanks to Stephen Silha, for your partnership. To our companions, Chris Peck, Bill Densmore, and Cole Campbell (deceased but not forgotten), we couldn’t have done it without you.

To the staff at Berrett-Koehler, you sure know how to support an author! My thanks to Jeevan Sivasubramaniam, Steve Piersanti, and especially my editor, Johanna Vondeling. Johanna, your confidence in me gives me confidence. Elissa Rabellino, your gracious, rigorous copyediting adds accuracy and polish. It also keeps me humble. Thank you.

Teresa Posakony and Steven Donaldson: your place at Ocean Shores held me, giving me the spaciousness to focus and write. Paul Dupree: thank you for your design sensibilities. Images of people made it in! Sheri Herndon and Richard Rogers, thank you for the network map. Kathy Ryan, thank you for the shared learning during our morning walks. Shelley Schermer, many thanks for your design eye on the book cover. Guillermina Hernandez-Gallegos, my gratitude to you for, on behalf of the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, funding research on evolutionary dynamics that can be used to transform social systems. That work provided seminal insights for this book.

Finally, I thank my husband, Neil, for so many reasons! Among them: sounding board, cheerleader, and chief nudger. Thank you for being patient every time I disappeared into a writing haze. I love you.

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