- Leadership
- Human Connection
- Compassion
- Team Building
- Kindness
- Peacemaking
Over a ten-year period, Dr. Schmidt trained in empathy-centered conflict resolution, mediation, and the principles of team cohesion under the late Dr. Marshall Rosenberg, the creator of Nonviolent Communication. Rosenberg was considered among the world’s innovators in developing collaborative systems and in preventing/resolving conflict, methods honed in extreme and war-torn conflict zones, such as Rwanda, Bosnia, Afghanistan, Congo, Iraq, and South Africa, as well as with organizations in need of dispute resolution. In truth, these methods were fundamentally about deepening our capacity for connection with other people and finding the peaceful center within ourselves.
Dr. Schmidt realized that these methods were ideally suited to individuals, teams, units, and groups that operated in extreme, remote, or isolated environments. They also prevailed in circumstances of considerable hardship. In all such cases, the limiting factor to success is often the manner in which individuals can emotionally thrive and how such dynamics impact groups. Dr. Schmidt has evolved these empathy-centric methods to support individuals in extreme or challenging performance environments, to build strong cohesive teams, to facilitate collaboration, and to facilitate recovery after challenging or tragic experiences.
For individuals, the implementation of this approach can be life changing, as it results in a greater sense of clarity, a sense of peacefulness, a greater capacity to hear others, a greater capacity to love, an expanded capacity for deep empathy, and a greater capacity to recognize the humanity in others. This capability naturally leads to strategies that are more heavily based on the principle of shared needs, which leads to true collaboration rather than compromise. This derives from the concept that strategy should always follow a clear understanding of needs (needs before strategy). This language of ’empathy’ and ‘needs’ can become the foundational strength of individuals and the glue that binds strong teams together.
What also stands out, regardless of the group, is the powerful force of human connection that binds people together, and the importance of individual and shared purpose. In competitive, extreme, hostile, or survival environments, the force and depth of these human connections become even more critical.
Our Expedition Team at the Continental Divide in the Panama Jungle; Geoversity Life-Changers Expedition: From the Pacific Coast to the Atlantic Coast of Panama, Dr. Michael A Schmidt, Sovaris Aerospace