Book excerpt: There are extraordinary moments when people set aside their self-interest to take action that will benefit something larger than themselves: their extended family, company, community, or country. These moments are enormously important; they result from a deep and natural response to challenging conditions, a response that leads to solutions better than compromise. From Silicon Valley to villages in rural Asia, author Gil Steil has employed this natural collaboration response in leading summit meetings of all shapes and sizes for three decades. Within this book Gil presents eight simple axioms, which, when employed by leaders, enable the emergence of agreement and effective action in even the most horrendous of times. Stories that are true and surprisingly readable educate the reader about the social psychology of collaboration, and then the author shares genuinely practical tools for leading your own strategic planning meetings that elicit the collaboration response.