For more than a
decade, Tom Zimmerman has been sharing his message with delighted audiences across the
country. It is really quite simple. He believes that all of us are smarter than any of us,
and it is imperative that we work together. His mission is to increase cooperation,
decrease the negative effects of stress, and enhance positive communication. Tom works
closely with his clients to make sure that together they can achieve a WIN/WIN/WIN
solution. A solution that’s good for his client, good for him, and good for the world
we all live in.A licensed marriage
and family counselor, Tom says he learned his counseling skills from his father.
He’ll tell you that his father was a real SOB. You see, both he and his father are
sons of butchers, and it was across the meat counter that Tom learned about unconditional
positive regard and how to actively listen. He is one of six children raised in a home
where they were taught responsibility and cooperation, teamwork and loyalty.
His resume includes experience with local
and federal government positions, manufacturing, transportation, retail sales, restaurant
management, customer service, and nine months working in a cat house. (For those of you with
a dirty mind, that was in the Lincoln Park Zoo, working with lions, tigers, cheetahs and
leopards doing the dirty work.) He spent six mostly delightful years as a classroom
teacher, continuously learning from the wisdom of the young, and then six more wonderful
years as school counselor.
In 1990, Tom and his wife, Ellen, founded
Synergy Counseling & Consulting so they could continue their work with individuals,
couples and families, and at the same time increase their work with businesses and organizations.
In 1992, with Tobin Quereau, he co-authored The New Game Plan for Recovery:
Rediscovering the Positive Power of Play. Since then, his clientele has included AMD,
IBM, 3M, TCADA, TNRCC, and almost the whole alphabet. He has worked with principals and
postmasters, the makers of Tylenol and microchips, doctors, nurses and patients, judges
and jailers, district attorneys and former felons. The diversity he has found in his life
has been invaluable and life enriching.
Tom is a master of verbal Aikido – a non-violent, cooperative martial
art. This particular martial art is unique in that it works to restore harmony and balance
– two traits that Tom demonstrates in his daily life, and shares with his
audiences. Through laughter, cooperation, and positive communication, Tom Zimmermann
is making this world a better place – one audience at a time!
