Jill Barr is a lecturer at Coventry University, teaching student nurses and MBA/MSc students in health care. She has worked as a Principal Lecturer at the University of Wolverhampton and also at De Montford University, with a number of awards from pre-registration nursing to Community Specialist Nursing programmes, Non-Medical Prescribing, Physician Assistant/Associate, Advanced Practitioner and Public Health Masters. Her own professional career has been exciting, varied and totally integrated with personal development, including writing with Lesley Dowding for over twenty years. Jill qualified as a nurse, midwife and health visitor, working in all these areas in practice as well as gaining her nurse licence in Michigan, USA. With a breadth of practice experiences in acute, community and industry, the patients, women, families and communities that have been served have been an important tapestry in her personal development. Lesley Dowding's career has encompassed several different experiences since qualification, as a nurse and midwife, ranging from General Theatres, Midwifery, Gynaecology, nanny in the USA, veterinary assistant (USA), Anaesthetics & Recovery Sister, and as Nurse Tutor within schools of nursing and universities. Lesley teaches a variety of subjects for pre-registration nursing students including Management Studies, and has a passion for effective management techniques, endeavouring to make what might be considered dry theory applicable to clinical practice. To do this Lesley and Jill have written two books related to management theory and practice in health care: Managing in Health Care: A Guide for Nurses, Midwives and Health Visitors (2002, Pearson Education) and Leadership in Health Care (Sage, first edition 2008).