First and foremost, Leo is a volleyball fan. He connected with Beth through fan club events. He and his wife joined Beth and her team for a two-week European tour, during which they began the conversations which led to this book. Leo Hopf is the co-author of Rethink, Reinvent, Reposition: 12 Strategies to Renew Your Business and Boost Your Bottom Line, which was named the book of the month in July 2010 by the Institute for Management Studies. He has led strategy efforts in 15 countries and in 40 different industries. He earned a Master of Business Administration degree with highest distinction from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and has bachelor's degrees in chemical engineering and in metallurgical engineering from the University of Minnesota. He has led hundreds of strategy sessions with CEOs, leadership teams, and boards of directors, and he designed the decision-making and strategic-planning processes for five of the Fortune 100 largest companies.

Beth Launiere enters her 31st season at the helm of the University of Utah volleyball program in 2020 and is coming off one of the most successful seasons in the program's history. Launiere was named the Pac-12 Coach of the Year in 2019 after leading Utah to a 24-10 record, a third-place finish in the Pac-12 and the program's fourth Sweet 16 appearance (two in the last three years), with four players named to the All-American team. Along with earning her first Pac-12 Coach of the Year honor, she also was named the AVCA West Region Coach of the Year for the fourth time (2001, '06, '08, '19). She had been named the Mountain West Conference (MWC) Coach of the Year three times (2004, '06, '08).