Genie Zylks Laborde (February 19, 1928 – January 14, 2023) was an American author, educator, video producer, and artist.
She was the founder and CEO of International Dialogue Education Associates, Inc., a business seminar company based in Palo Alto, California.
While some of the skills overlap with those of neuro-linguistic programming, Laborde emphasizes the psychological principles of Fritz Perls as well as the concrete and theoretical differences between integrity and manipulation in business communication and actions.
In 1991, Laborde traveled to Russia on invitation from the Russian Psychological Association to teach seminars which included research demonstrating a statistically important movement towards increased personal responsibility as shown by the pre- and post-test figures.
The Mercury News featured her as the "Grandmother of Silicon Valley" in regards to her Palo Alto real estate where a number of tech giants including Nest got their start