Baktash is a sought out speaker and advisor for his unique insights and skills on his listening and empathetic approach to engagement, conflict resolution, and leadership development. His craft and approach to building connections, which has been cultivated over the years on the front lines of conflict, crisis management, and humanitarian relief efforts seeks to bring worlds together across cultural, linguistic, racial, and national divides to find common ground in our shared humanity.
GET IN TOUCH- Radical Curiosity and Imagination : Self Actualization
- Vulnerability and Change : The Power of Storytelling
- Culture and Forced Immigration : Welcoming “the Other”
- Cultural Illiteracy : What the United States Continues to Get Wrong about War
In this TEDxTalk entitled, "Change and Vulnerability", Baktash shares detailed stories of people in his life that had the courage to share their most sacred vulnerabilities. He speaks about the importance of courage and vulnerability in human connection. Many of us fear vulnerability because we don’t want to open ourselves up in a way that allows us to potentially get hurt, but Baktash suggests that vulnerability is the where true human connection and intimacy between people emerges.
Baktash's Opinion piece published in the Washington Post entitled, "I was a combat interpreter in Afghanistan, where cultural illiteracy led to U.S. failure". His perspective captures the humanistic and cultural perspective of what it means to be in relationship with those that the United States was hoping to serve, yet didn't fully understand.
Baktash's interview with the BBC entitled, "Afghanistan: US was culturally illiterate". He believes is one of the major reasons why the United States failed in Afghanistan because there was a lack of understanding and trust between American and Afghans.
This is a beautiful compilation of the responses to the question, "What's your message to the world?" from distinguished guests on the Stories of Transformation podcast. Please feel free to take a listen and share far and wide.
To celebrate National Peace Corps Association's 40th anniversary, NCPA recognized the extraordinary achievements of 40 individuals it believes exemplify a new generation of leadership within the Peace Corps community and beyond, and they are proud to share their stories. Baktash was one of the individuals fortunate enough to make it to the list, alongside distinguished Congressmen, Presidential Advisors, and the Chief Environmental Officer at Microsoft.
