Dear Friends,

I hope you will join me in a simple work that I believe can have great impact for good-hosting conversations as the means to restore hope to the future. Many large-scale change efforts-some of which won the Nobel Peace Prize-began with the simple but courageous act of friends talking to one another about their fears and dreams. In reviewing a number of these efforts, I always found a phrase, "Some friends and I started talking."

I am hopeful that we can change the world if we can start listening to one another again. Simple, honest, human conversation. Not mediation, negotiation, problem-solving, debate, or public meetings. Simple, truthful conversation where we each have a chance to speak, we each feel heard, and we each listen well. Conversation is the natural way we humans think together. We may have forgotten this, or no longer have time for conversation, but it is how good thinking emerges into actions that create real change.

I wrote this book in the Spring of 2001, before the world turned even darker. I wrote it for all of us, for adults and teen-agers, Africans, Asians, Americans, Europeans. I hope you will join me in this work of initiating conversations within your organization, school, and community. If enough of us engage together, we can restore hope to the future, for all peoples.

Margaret J. Wheatley

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