A book like this uses a wide range of terms and ideas, some of which have multiple meanings. The current chapter sets out and defines ideas, including “governance” and “management”. It goes on to compare and contrast related but different organisations such as labour-managed firms (LMFs), professional partnerships, cooperatives, and player-governed orchestras (PGOs). The second half of the chapter explains who this book is about. It explains how the PGOs were chosen for study and the parameters used. I then provide the reader with thumbnail sketches of the PGOs, including the differing paths to player-governance that each took. The people in these organisations are the focus of the book, and the chapter wraps up with introductions to them. The chapter sets up the rest of the book and focuses attention on the case studies that complement and interact with the theoretical sections.