Ruth Schimel Ph.D.
Life and Career Consultant
Experience, credentials, and range that reflect the head and heart
Ruth Schimel respects and enjoys the complexity and uniqueness of the over 2,000 individuals, groups, and organizations she has assisted. With proven, innovative processes, she continues guiding clients in how to appreciate and integrate their strengths and possibilities to make the most of accelerating change. That initial focus not only assists clients and readers to realize their true capacities but also eases transition processes. Uniting optimism and reality, Ruth’s doctoral research and six books show how people can access their capacity for courage for themselves and others’ benefit. Like many of her clients, she has no simple, single story. So skim the following, as you wish.
Ruth’s varied experiences in work and other cultures contribute to her empathy and commitment to continuous learning. Examples of her interdisciplinary interests are biology, social sciences, and the humanities, all beneficial for encouraging and appreciating human potential. They also provide anchors of meaning and purpose to work and relationships.
A 35-year-old who knew Ruth for over ten years teasingly called her a “mature millennial.” Her doctoral degree minor in gerontology also connects to lifespan development. Adding to her range of experience that deepens her consulting work and writing is Ruth’s family’s broad ethnic and religious background. Cultures and places where she has lived and worked include Turkey, Guatemala, India, and Ecuador. In the US, Ruth grew up in the Bronx and upper New York State, where she enjoyed exploring the Orange County woods and the Finger Lakes region. Thanks to the Foreign Service she also traveled to cities throughout the U.S. for her work, including Austin, Boston, and Gary, Indiana.
The theme of courage in her doctoral dissertation animates her practice, writing, and other professional activities. That includes consultation, talks, and guided collaborations by phone and online, enhanced by over 250 focused guides and seven books (last published early 2021). Ruth’s 1989 dissertation led to the only research-based, one-sentence definition of courage accessible to most people. For immediate inspiration and use, courage is a process of becoming involving the willingness to realize your true capacities by going through discomfort, fear, anxiety, or suffering and taking wholehearted, responsible action.
Here is a summary of Ruth Schimel’s experience and services:
Career and life management consultant: Ruth has consulted with over 2,000 career and life management clients of all ages and backgrounds. Building on and beyond conventional approaches, she provides a wide range of original materials, tools, and inspiration. Her tailored guidance shows clients how to cultivate and appreciate their strengths and take action to meet goals, as well as to sustain post-consulting self-sufficiency. She is also committed to preparing and training others to become career consultants using her materials and processes as well as their own ideas, experience, and education.
Author: Since 2013, Ruth has published six books on Amazon, starting with Choose Courage: Step Into the Life You Want based on her doctoral dissertation. That book defined the process of becoming courageous in an immediately accessible, user-friendly way. Also in softcover and ebooks, five related handbooks provide action-oriented, practical guidance for professional and personal development. They support readers’ self-defined success and efforts to sustain effective relationships.
Now available, Happiness and Joy in Work: Preparing for Your Future, is the only book about the future of work designed for each reader’s transitions and action. Descriptions of all seven books and access for purchase are at the books page dropdown at her website https://www.ruthschimel.com/books/happiness-and-joy-in-work/ and at www.amazon.com, books.
Among almost 40 articles published by YourTango over several years, some were syndicated in magazines such as Prevention and PsychCentral. Her over 250 digestible, adaptable guides and blog articles ease and encourage clients’ and inquirers’ progress in their professional and personal lives.
Foundation and Nonprofit Work: In honor of her parent’s work and values, Ruth developed The Schimel Lode with her mother, Beatrice, in 1998. She now leads and manages its interdisciplinary working Board. Using creative combinations of processes and subjects, this nontraditional foundation promotes collaboration and innovation for the public good in the Washington, D.C. area. The website is www.TheSchimelLode.net.
Management Consulting and University Teaching: Ruth continues consulting with individuals, groups, and organizations primarily by phone and online. Original aspects are “unlearning” and transcending the just comfortable by reaching beyond what’s known to be productive, inspiring processes and outcomes. With guided collaborations, she also encourages mutual mentoring to strengthen and add skills in areas such as leadership and management for a range of levels and situations. Other catalytic choices for online talks and guided collaborations that encourage continuous learning are each-one-teach-one, and accountability partnering. Training trainers also support self-sufficiency for effective transitions that stick and strengthen independence.
Ruth taught human resources and related subjects in the business schools at Georgetown and American Universities. For continuing education students at George Washington University, she taught negotiation skills; at American University, she helped design and teach in their nonprofit management program. At Marymount University in Virginia, she was an associate professor in the human resources master’s program.
Diplomacy: As a Foreign Service officer, Ruth worked at embassies in Ecuador and Guatemala, and as chief of the consular section at the US Consulate in Calcutta (now Kolkata), India. At the Department of State, she was chief of the human resource management division and of executive development, organized and managed selection boards, did research and intelligence analysis, and worked on desks for Latin American countries. She continues to speak Spanish.
Education: Ruth’s three degrees are:
Ph.D. in public administration, workforce development, and gerontology, George Washington University (GWU): Dissertation topic: Becoming Courageous: A Search for Process
M.A. in behavioral science, government, and human resources, GWU
B.S. in industrial and labor relations, Cornell University, ILR
© by Ruth Schimel, Ph.D., Career & Life Management Consultant, Author