A Tribute to Craig Dobkin

I have known Craig since 2010. What began as collaboration became partnership. What began as partnership became mentorship. What began as mentorship became one of the most meaningful friendships of my life.

Craig was an essential part of my professional journey, a co educator, collaborator, and brand ambassador for Colorado Wilderness Rides and Guides, but far more importantly, he became family.

We facilitated hundreds of programs together. In those early minutes of an event, the fragile first ten or fifteen minutes when a group decides whether they will lean in or hold back, I relied on Craig completely. He had a rare gift. He could open a room, soften defenses, spark laughter, introduce significance, and transform a collection of individuals into a community. While he engaged the group, I gathered my thoughts. While he built trust, I watched mastery in motion.

Craig was one of the most gifted experiential facilitators in the United States and World. Since 1985, he trained and coached corporate teams using experiential methodology. In 1994, he received the Association for Experiential Education’s Michael Stratton Practitioner’s Award for outstanding performance. In 2003, he was selected to deliver the prestigious Kurt Hahn Address as an exceptional experiential educator. He founded four nonprofits rooted in experiential learning and human development: Genesee Outdoor Learning, West Pines Training Center, YouthBiz, and Play for Peace, an international movement that brings together people divided by conflict through laughter, inclusion, cultural awareness, compassion, and trust.

He held a Bachelor of Science in Outdoor Education and a Master of Arts in Special Education. He was a trained facilitator of DiSC and Myers Briggs. But credentials never defined Craig. His spirit did.

Since I met him, Craig used a wheelchair. But he was never the wheelchair. It was simply a tool for movement. What moved people was his presence. He showed me how to live in a world of opportunity rather than a world of disability. He embodied the warrior spirit, not loud or aggressive, but undefeated, curious, and tenacious.

Craig taught enterprise and curiosity.

He modeled an undefeatable spirit.

He demonstrated tenacity and pursuit.

He taught intentionality over empty goals.

He reminded us to be ready for sensible self denial.

He championed grit and perseverance.

He believed in pursuing and honoring a personal dream.

He spoke of The Velveteen Rabbit and asked, What is real.

He asked participants to bring something that had made a difference in their lives.

He believed in cultural journalism, observing without judgment.

He taught Start, Stop, Continue.

He used metaphors masterfully through frontloading, reframing, and gifting language.

He practiced nonviolent communication without blame or shame.

He listened for awareness.

He insisted there is no right way, find your path and tell your story.

He believed in action every fifteen to thirty minutes.

He used isomorphic and metamorphic experiences to make meaning stick.

He taught us how to have one another’s backs.

He cared about linguistics, syntax, grammar, inflection, and intention.

He encouraged us to be animated.

He pushed us toward Big Hairy Audacious Goals and provocative propositions.

He believed in moving from good to great, or better yet, from better to best.

Above all, compassion.

Craig was a steward of compassion and empathy. A powerful spokesperson for Play for Peace. A possessor of an authentic warrior spirit. He lived adaptive dissonance, using stress and anxiety not as obstacles, but as educational tools that shaped resilience and growth.

He also wore the Colorado Wilderness logo with pride, respect, and dignity. He carried our name not just on his clothing but in his conduct. He represented who we aspire to be, on the field, in the classroom, and in the quiet moments in between.

On a personal level, Craig touched something sacred in me. His demeanor, his humor, and his kinesthetic metaphors carried echoes of the quiet magic my father shared with me. He always saw the best in me, sometimes before I could see it myself. I loved being in his presence.

We shared countless moments: laughter with the Colorado Wilderness team, High Holidays together, helping each other move homes, inside jokes, deep conversations, and the kind of silence only close friends can share. There was ease. There was respect. There was love.

Craig was a mensch. A true one.

We both shared and deeply believed that the enemy of the great is the good. Craig lived that conviction. He would never let a group, a team, or a person settle for comfortable when greatness was possible. His call was simple and bold. Let go. Be great.

I can say without hesitation that I loved him. Not just admired him. Loved him. He became part of my family and part of who I am.

His must read leadership books, stacked, worn, and highlighted, reflected his philosophy: build habits, communicate without violence, search for meaning, cultivate flow, endure, and lead with intention. But Craig himself was the greatest text I ever studied.

His legacy is not just in the nonprofits he founded, the awards he received, or the hundreds of programs we facilitated.

His legacy lives in the spirit he awakened in others.

Craig, thank you for having my back. Thank you for teaching me to live in the world of possibility and opportunity. Thank you for compassion above all else.

You will always be real to me