David H. Maister, one of the world's leading authorities on the management of professional service firms, is the author of several successful books, including Managing the Professional Service Firm, True Professionalism, and Practice What You Preach, and coauthor of The Trusted Advisor.

Robert Galford is a managing partner of the Center for Leading Organizations (CLO). He divides his time across teaching at Executive Education programs and working with senior executives at the world's leading firms on the leadership issues that lie at the intersection of strategy and organization. He has taught on the Executive Programs at the Columbia University Graduate School of Business, the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University, and most recently Harvard University.

I'm co-author of The Trusted Advisor and The Trusted Advisor Fieldbook, and author of Trust-based Selling.

I'm founder and CEO of Trusted Advisor Associates: we help professionals become trusted advisors to their clients, and help organizations create trustworthy leaders and teams.

I grew up in the US Midwest, drove a NY taxi and got a philosophy degree in college, then an MBA at Harvard. I spent 20 years in general management consulting, first with The MAC Group, later with Gemini Consulting. In 1995, I left to start my own firm, and began focusing entirely on trusted relationships in business.

I have lived in Europe (based in Barcelona for a year) and the US (grew up in the midwest but have been an Easterner for quite a while now).

I've got two grown great kids and Sammy the Dog; we live in West Orange, NJ, and spend a lot of time in NYC. I used to play pedal steel guitar, but gave it up when I realized how long it would take just to get back to how good I used to be, which wasn't as great as I wanted to be. Still enjoy chick'n pick'n my Strat and Les Paul though.