Scaling Conversations

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This book, and its author, are the product of a life of unearned advantages provided by being raised in a unique way by principled and deeply loving parents in traditional Secwepemc territory and encountering many people who imparted powerful ideas into my world‐view. A common and noble declaration of those who seek to improve businesses and society is that their work is to plant trees whose shade they will never sit in. In considering the acknowledgments of this book I was happy to spend time reflecting on what made it possible while sitting in the shade of the trees planted by those who came before me.

The best way to understand how I grew up is to imagine you unexpectedly dropped by our small house in a small town in the middle of British Columbia, Canada, at dinner time. If the door wasn't already open, someone opens it when you ring the doorbell. Maybe it would be one of my two genetically related sisters, maybe any one of my several unrelated neurodiverse brothers and sisters my parents also cared for, maybe a friend or cousin living with us, or maybe an elderly neighbor.

Regardless of who opens the door, they lead you to the kitchen where ten to 20 people are eating together. As you approach, somehow the table magically extends and there's a chair for you, and enough food, as if my mom knew you were coming. You try to say you don't need to eat but it doesn't work. As you fill your plate with casserole and fresh salad from the garden, you look around the ...