Dr. Ada Gonzalez is a conversation strategist. She has the ability to create engaging, efficient and innovate conversation. She helps people have important strategic conversations. Principal analyst, dialogue facilitator expert, and mediator Dr. Ada uses her exceptional interdisciplinary skills and experience to assist clients with complex, highly structured engagement, planning, conflict resolution and change efforts.
Through the years, Dr. Ada has spent more than 200,000 hours facilitating complex and often conflictive conversations among individuals, teams and couples. She helps organizations, business groups and professional couples going through a relationship crisis to prevent lockdown and find the best positive outcome. She is an expert in developing respectful, honest and constructive approaches to address difficult issues.
Dr. Gonzalez has spent the past 30 years studying, researching, and applying principles of psychology, neuropsychology, systems thinking, adult learning, transformation, and leadership development. Her Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Studies with Organizational Behavior as the focus, and her training and experience as a Marriage and Family Therapist, makes her an expert in her field. Yet, She also knows how to translate theory and research findings into day-to-day practice, supporting business strategy, relationships, and results.
Dr. Ada's executive consultations, facilitation, executive retreats, and relationship programs are based on proven scientific models and years of experience. Dr. Ada is also the author of the book: Transformative Conversations: The Heart of the Leadership Journey.
Dr. Gonzalez is the Founder & CEO of Transformative Conversations Consulting. She practices in the areas of leadership consulting, organization cultural transformation, and transformative conversations with leaders and couples. She works with leaders at the top, small business owners and professional couples to facilitate change, innovation, growth and connection through dialogue. Clients discover ways to explore and discuss sometimes divergent or competing interests and ideas and to use their differences to increase innovation and collaboration by optimizing the power of leading through conversations.
Skillfully facilitated dialogue often results in clearer, more workable plans, strategies, and agreements, incorporating the interests of each stakeholder. At the same time participants increase their own capacity and skills for future collaboration, problem solving, and tough conversations by learning better dialogue skills.
Born and raised in Cuba, she has lived in several countries and her multicultural experiences and fluency in both Spanish and English have contributed to shaping who she is, as well as how she communicates and interacts with the world.
Dr. Gonzalez believes open communication should be the centerpiece of leadership and relationships. A workplace where people are afraid to speak their minds lacks engagement and innovation. A loving relationship where a couple feels they need to walk on eggshells around their conversations becomes stale and disconnected.
Through her scientifically proven and neuroscience based Transformative Conversations® programs she shows executives and leaders how their most daunting leadership issues can be resolved by creating safe spaces where people are free to express themselves. Thus, leaders can optimize the power of diverse thinking minds and lead through conversations.
When working with women Dr. Ada shows them how to leave behind stress, worry, and fears in order to move forward and take the actions needed to fulfill their dreams.
Through her evidence based relationship programs she shows couples how to let go of conflict and negativity, and bring back the spark of intimacy and connection.
Dr. Gonzalez completed her undergraduate and graduate work at Andrews University in Michigan with an MA in Educational and Developmental Psychology. She trained as a Marriage and Family Therapist under Harlene Anderson at the Houston-Galveston Institute. She earned her Ph.D. from the Union Institute and University in Ohio. Her degree is in Interdisciplinary Studies with a concentration in Organizational Behavior. Her main areas of study were leadership, dialogue, and change. Her Dissertation: "Transformative Conversations: Executive Coaches and Business Leaders in Dialogical Collaboration for Growth" was one of the first ones with coaching as the emphasis for a doctoral program.
Dr. Gonzalez is member of the Association of Corporate Executive Coaches and the Organizational Development Network. She is also a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in the states of DE and TX and a Clinical Fellow of the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists.
As an experienced and effective presenter she has designed and delivered courses, seminars, workshops, and coaching clinics in the United States, as well as in many Latin American and several European countries.
In her free time Dr. Ada enjoys traveling, playing the piano, photography, and having conversations with her husband Roger, her adult sons, and her friends.
Curious about what I do when I'm not working with people. . .?
