History of Strozzi Institute

Strozzi Institute Mission

Our mission is to produce leaders who embody pragmatic wisdom, skillful action and grounded compassion.

History of Strozzi Institute

The genesis of Strozzi Institute began in the mid 1960s when founder Richard Strozzi-Heckler, Ph.D. was earning his Ph.D. in psychology. He became intrigued by the psychology of individual and team mastery – a subject already part of his own experience as an athlete and martial artist. In 1967, Richard took first place in the 100-meter dash and 400-meter relay in the Pre-Olympic Meet and Central American Games in Mexico City.

Richard took his work of a body-oriented psychology and began to work with individuals, inner-city gangs, and professional athletes on personal development and team building. During this period, Richard was also developing his own proficiency in the martial art of Aikido. It wasn't long before he began to evolve the concept of somatics – the unity of language, action, feeling, and meaning. Somatics is based on the idea that the mind and the body are inextricably linked: to develop one, you must cultivate the other.

Between 1970 and 1985, Richard Strozzi-Heckler’s work was oriented primarily toward the health profession: training therapist, bodyworkers, psychiatrist, counselors and other health professionals in a form of somatics that laid a foundation for other health and bodywork modalities.

In the mid-1980’s, Richard became involved with a classified project for the Army Special Forces, with a mission to train a group of Green Beret’s to become more effective in all areas of their existing expertise. The outcomes of the training showed a 50 to 100 percent increase in mental, emotional and physical capacity, with a marked increase in leadership ability from participants. Realizing the leadership possibilities inherent in the discourse of somatics, Strozzi Institute, the Center for Leadership and Mastery was born.

About this same time, Richard Strozzi-Heckler began a decade long collaboration with Fernando Flores, PhD., combining the business application of Fernando’s linguistic distinctions and Richard’s somatic distinctions. Since that collaboration, Strozzi Institute has incorporated the embodiment of linguistic business processes as part of the somatic work. The continual refinement and evolution of Strozzi Institute’s somatic practices is the ground for Strozzi Institute’s leadership work.

Today, Strozzi Institute is a year-round destination for individuals and business leaders from throughout the United States who come to hone their leadership skills.