Carl Wright has devoted his entire working life to global action through grass roots activism and international diplomacy. During the past fifty years he engaged with world leaders and political icons from across the globe, including Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, Indira Gandhi, Julius Nyerere, Shridath Ramphal, Fidel Castro, Aung San Suu Kyi, Ban Ki-Moon, Cyril Ramaphosa, Helen Clark and Bob Hawke. In these and many other encounters, he reflects his experiences of, 'What it was like to be there,' as he puts it. Having made official visits to some 100 countries from developed to developing nations, to fragile states and countries undergoing democratic transition he has seen at first-hand what is required to implement good governance. These high-level missions included most of the 54 nations of the Commonwealth, along with some of the world's least visited countries, such as Moldova, Myanmar and South Sudan. Written from the perspective of a grass roots activist, Commonwealth diplom