About the Authors Gary M. Heil is an internationally recognized expert on leadership, service quality, and change management. As a popular and highly regarded speaker represented by the Washington's Speaker Bureau, most of Gary's insights concerning service strategies and organizational improvement have grown out of more than 18 years of consulting and speaking to private and public sector organizations throughout the world. He has conducted hundreds of organizational assessments in a wide range of companies and has served as a member of the Board of Examiners for The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. Gary has also developed several widely acclaimed service programs that include Legendary Service, in collaboration with Blanchard Training and Development, Beyond Customer Satisfaction for Banc One, and Managing Customer Relations for Corporate Satellite Television Network. He is a faculty member of the Institute for Management Studies and the University of Southern California's Center for Telecommunications Management. As president of Heil and Associates, Gary is dedicated to helping organizations implement strategies for continuous improvement. Gary recently founded The Center for Innovative Leadership, a consortium of consultants, educators, and managers dedicated to developing information that can help leaders improve the effectiveness of their implementation efforts. Thomas Trebitsch Parker (AKA Tom Parker) is a noted organizational consultant, educator, and author. He has developed communication tools and strategies for over 50 corporations and has taught at Stanford and the University of California. His first novel, Small Business, was honored by the Commonwealth Club and his second, Anna, Ann, Annie, was recently nominated for the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. He is also coauthor of CEO: Building A $400 Million Company From The Ground Up with ASK Group founder Sandra Kurtzig, and the national best-seller Winfield: A Players's Life with baseball superstar Dave Winfield. Rick Tate is internationally known for his work in service quality improvement, leadership development, and organizational excellence. An outstanding speaker and writer, he has worked with a wide variety of organizations for over 15 years. As co-founder of Innovative Thinking, Inc., an international training and consulting firm, he helps others to challenge their mindsets and develop the ability to think about "new answers to old questions." Rick's expertise at capturing the imaginations and the minds of his audience are backed up by 12 years of line management experience. In addition to speaking, Rick has developed and written several highly-acclaimed programs which have been used worldwide. His programs include Legendary Service, Frontline Service, and The Service Monkey.