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Dedication

This volume is dedicated to the life and career of Diane Downey. I met Diane for the first time when we were both presenting in a workshop on executive talent management sponsored by the Human Resources Planning Society. She struck me immediately as very sharp, no-nonsense, gutsy, and utterly down-to-earth. She proved herself to be every bit of those qualities and more.

As we got to know each other and I explored her work on leadership and organizational design, it became evident that Diane’s savvy and insight were born of firsthand experience forged by deep reflection. She had the mental agility of a first-rate scholar with all of the practicality of a seasoned executive. It turned out that she came by this rare combination honestly: prior to building her own internationally recognized consulting firm, Downey Kates Associates, she held senior corporate positions responsible for management and organization development at Citibank USA and Harper & Row Publishing. Diane also held faculty appointments at the University of Maryland, Howard University, and Antioch College, and taught courses at Cornell and New York University. What made her intellect and street smarts all the more palpable, however, was her deep compassion. As well as a successful businesswoman, Diane was a skilled therapist, social activist, generous colleague, caring teacher, and, most of all, a dear friend.

For all of these reasons, this volume is dedicated to Diane Downey. I think she would be proud to be part of an interdisciplinary, multicollaborator effort to help organizations and the individuals that populate them make their full contribution and find deep fulfillment. After all, this was an enduring theme across her many professional and personal activities.

Robert B. Kaiser

Greensboro, North Carolina

May 2005