Planning an immersive leadership and team development course for a group of 10 NASA astronauts in the backcountry can be stressful. What do I have to really offer them? How can I, a simple earthling, figure out what they need? How do I build rapport with an astronaut? How do I responsibly send highly valuable government assets into an inherently risk-filled environment? All these questions and concerns were going through my head as I planned for, designed, and implemented a week-long backpacking expedition along the rugged coastline of the PNW. During that experience, as well as all my work in leadership development, I’ve continually learned three things: 1. regardless of position or status, everyone’s voice and perspective has true value, 2. curiosity is a superpower, and 3. vulnerability is the key to opening the door for trusting relationships. I have leveraged these three core principles to craft relationships in which a unique perspective is valued as much as expertise, created team environments where listening to understand rather than waiting to reply is the norm, and led initiatives that transform the way people work together to produce bottom line results.And, you’re probably wondering what happened to those 10 astronauts. Well, they connected as a team, learned to take difficult situations in stride, and acquired the self-awareness and communication skills to question their assumptions of each other. They made it back safe and happy, and seven of them have since embarked on missions to the International Space Station.