Dr. Roy L. Kirby has blended a background in academia with a long career in industry and consulting. His doctoral studies at the University of Arizona focused on executive leadership and the management of change in flat organizations. He was CEO of a mid-sized management consulting group for ten years, specializing in the assessment and improvement of organizational effectiveness, and career / work counselling. Dr. Kirby’s consulting interests include coaching executives, managers and scientists, and organizational problem- solving. Today he is Professor Emeritus go Management at Jilin University / Lambton College in Changchun, China. His priority has been achieving Quality in education, for which he wrote the accompanying book and ran professional development sessions at the School. He also teaches a special course in Managing Difficult Conversations at the Eric Sprott School of Business at Carleton University in Ottawa.