Meri Aaron Walker, MA
 
Meri Aaron Walker is committed to facilitating positive changes that create fair exchanges between people.
 Her current work is aimed at helping teachers, trainers, coaches and consultants produce and deliver learning products and services directly to global learners who need them.
Wherever and whenever they need them.

For the price of a fast-food lunch.Can you imagine that?
 
A BIG VISION
 
Its a big vision. Bigger than she can achieve alone. But its not so big that it cant be achieved with teachers, trainers, coaches and consultants working together beyond the confines of conventional classrooms.
Learners problems might be things like not quite understanding how to use the quadratic equation. Or not speaking English fluently enough to connect fully with people who do. Or not knowing how to measure pollutants showing up in a local water supplyand then get the local community to take action based on the data. Or not being able to see the way through a prickly conflict. Or needing to be able to write about ones own experience in ways that demonstrate good fit with the needs of a local employer. Or needing a masters feedback on a guitar riff thats still not quite right.
You get the idea. The list of learners potential problems is endless. Everyone has problems theyre learning their way through.
 
Meri defines problems as places we dont see the resources at hand. Or dont yet know how to use them. Or both.

But all it takes to tackle problems even the most complex is to put together teachers and learners who are willing to work together.

Now that we have the Internet, teachers and learners dont even have to be in the same place to work together. They just have to be willing to engage.

Because of this, Meri now focuses her attention outside conventional education systems, supporting Web2.0 tool makers and teachers and learners who are using Web2 tools to work together everyday. Online. Whenever and wherever learners need help
 

Meri Aaron Walker is an absolutely superb teacher, trainer, personal coach, and organizational change agent. She has some powerful tools at her disposal, not the least of which is her extraordinary insight that reaches to the heart of the issue, be it personal blocks, organizational needs or group dynamics.

I have employed her services in three non-profit organizations ranging in size from $100k per year to $260 Million per year as well as personal coaching and mentoring. She is caring, compassionate, confident, and competent. I highly commend her to you and your organizations.

- Jan Brown, PhD, JB Consulting  
 
MERIS BACKGROUND
 
Meri, herself, has a Masters degree in Communication from the University of Texas at Austin. She is trained and certified to teach five subjects at the secondary level and shes taught in secondary schools in the US and Europe. After completing her Masters, she earned the Cambridge certification to teach English as a foreign language and, among other things, used this training to help visiting scholars, foreign graduate students, and semiconductor research scientists to present their thoughts in English in ways that allowed their colleagues to better appreciate their genius.
 
Meri has also served as adjunct faculty at the University of Texas at Austin and St. Edwards University, teaching journalism, academic writing, presentation skills and business communication. She has taught managers and coached executives inside small and midsized businesses and in Fortune 500 corporations in across North America and Europe.
 
She has also been a trusted advisor to executive directors of many nonprofit organizations, especially those whose programs focus on helping young people succeed in our increasingly complex global economy. Much of Meris work prior to opening MAWS TOOLBOX has focused on helping leaders and teams develop processes of shared leadership so they can accomplish complex goals quickly and efficiently. In 2001, Berrett Kohler published a strong-selling business book she co-authored with colleague Christopher Avery, Teamwork is an Individual Skill: Getting Your Work Done When Sharing Responsibility.
 
Recognized by her peers for the depth of her personal commitment to helping people achieve high personal satisfaction while helping groups achieve their goals, and acknowledged by hundreds of clients for the depth of her insight and the practical value her consultation, Meri Walker has emerged as one of the most successful facilitators of positive change in the country.
 
Between now and the time her body wears out, Meri has committed herself to helping re-create public education as an activity in which processes of productive inquiry and critical thinking have the highest priority. And teachers of all kinds receive a fair exchange for all they contribute to others success.
 
MAWSTOOLBOX.COM and TEACHINGFORALIVING.COM are places Meri hosts ongoing conversations about new ways for teachers - of all kinds - to create and sustain a high quality of life, both for themselves and for the people who need their help in order to thrive in the 21st Century global economy.
 
WHAT SOME CLIENTS HAVE SAID ABOUT RECENT WORK WITH MERI

Meri Walker provides a thoughtful, caring learning environment for leadership teams. Because she understands that leadership strength in an organization resides in its diversity, she pulls out the strengths in each team member and facilitates the team's interactions to better leverage these strengths.
Working with Meri makes a positive difference in the confidence level of individual leaders as well as the interaction of the whole team. In a short time, in an organization that had neglected strategic planning for over a decade, with Meris help I was able to produce five-year strategic goals, recommendations for capacity to implement the goals, and a 5-year budget projection to pay for our success. Two years later, I still am benefiting from our work together.
Great training, great follow up, great individual, great lasting results.
 
-Helen Dale Simons, CEO, Communities in Schools, Austin
 

Meri is the consummate professional. I first worked with her as a client and then later as a co-facilitator on a strategic planning process. She is a quick study who doesn't stop with her first understanding but digs in to learn the details and nuance in every field she learns. She is passionate about her work and serving her clients.

- Bill Gardner, Director, Global Talent Development, Advanced Micro Devices
I brought Meri into my organization to introduce the appreciative inquiry process and bring together a diverse group of people who were not only different in their styles but also their tenure, objectives, competencies and approaches. In two days, Meri took us all to a new level of intention, creativity, team work and performance through telling stories and bringing out the best in everyone. We built on that throughout the next year and continue to enjoy the ongoing benefits of her work with us. The last year has been the strongest ever in the history of the company.
 
- Christina Tibbets Rndle, CEO, The Effective Edge

In working with Meri Walker during a very complex strategic planning process with a number of diverse stakeholders, what struck me most was Meris inviting, collaborative nature. She was able to marshal all our resources, both internal and external, and arrive at a solution that was best for our organization while also satisfying peoples individual goals.
 
Meri is a gentle, warm person, yet she has a strong, focused vision that can cut through resistance to change or entrenched ways of doing things. She can help you delve deeper than you thought possible and come up with the real gold in yourself and your group.
 

- Ericca Long, Communications Manager, The 401K Company, Austin, TX
 

Meri is wonderful to work with. I worked with her on a strategic planning and organizational change project. She was a superb facilitator and easy to work with. The systems she has developed to help corporations and non-profit organizations develop more effective work environments are excellent tools. Meri is thoughtful in her work, smart, and great at working through tough issues to get to meaningful solutions.
 

- Kierstan Schwab, VP, Digital Content Development, KLRU-TV, PBS Affiliate, Austin, TX
 

Meri helped us through one of the most crucial times at Youthlaunch, a not-for-profit in Central Texas. As the President of the Board now - and a Board Member then I saw her contributions significantly alter the course of our organization. Weve gone from limping along with less than adequate support for our important work to garnering multi-million dollar grants and strong private sector support!
 
Meri has my unqualified endorsement and everlasting thanks for leading us in a thoughtful process that helped us get ourselves re-oriented and then helped us hire the right person as Executive Director.
 
- Billy Wilkinson, Senior Investment Advisor, Johns and Wilkinson
 
At every opportunity - at least three times a year, - I brought Meri Walker into SEMATECH to provide some form of her Inclusive Communication training. She is an extraordinary teacher and coach and her ability to bring together diverse points of view and positions into a single interest has had profound effects on scientific and technical productivity. She is one of a kind!
 
- Mike Bown, Senior Performance Improvement Specialist, International SEMATECH
  

We put Meris Inclusive Communication training in our first catalogue of offerings when we opened The Crossings. It coincides with our values here. Both Joyce and I are fans of Meris, like the subject area she talks about, and think its very pertinent to be teaching it at The Crossings.
 
The whole idea in business these days tends to be much more about win-lose and its so important to find ways for business people to bring spirit into the workplace and respect the other person. Within the Inclusive Communication structures, all parties can work with issues that might otherwise tend to shut them down without having to set up barriers for protection or defense.
 
- Ken Beck, retired Dell Computer Sales Executive, Founder and Owner, The Crossings
 

Meri's insightfulness and ability to inspire is remarkable. She gets great results, shes personable, and shes highly creative. Her guidance and fearless questioning have opened up new possibilities in my thinking and attitudes that have been invaluable.
 
- Wes Taylor, co-leader Nonviolent Communication Training Institute