Aditi CHAKRAVARTY
Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion.
Culture Change.
Human Development.
Do not be afraid to fail.
Be afraid to succeed in things that do not matter.
About
I am a culture-builder, organizational designer, and social scientist. I believe that companies are, as Rha Goddess puts it, "eco-systems of humanity” and potential sources of connection, development, and evolution.
I specialize in diversity, equity, & inclusion (DE&I) strategy, change management, and talent development, combining my marketing & communications expertise with a rich organizational consulting background across the private, non-profit, and government sectors. From high-level strategic thinking to practical implementation, my skills span leadership development, instructional design, facilitation, strategic & tactical planning, strategic communications, team building, and personal and organizational transformation. I am also driven by my passion to ensure that the latest insights from the fields of organizational behavior, social psychology, and education are skillfully and sustainably reflected in workplaces around the world.
For over a decade, I have practiced within and advised organizations ranging from Fortune 10 companies, to start-ups, to cultural institutions on how best to navigate intentional and unexpected change. I've partnered with companies to co-create, pilot, and iterate adaptive solutions with an eye towards promoting inclusivity & equity, enhancing employee and leader capacity, and driving learning and innovation.
Finally, as a former opera singer whose career has taken her to concert halls around the world and as the daughter of two Indian immigrants from a far-flung global family, I bring a multicultural and cross-disciplinary perspective to my work and a deep belief that intentional design of organizational systems is the key to achieving equitable and inclusive workplaces, expanding human freedom, and unlocking business potential.
About ME
I believe that organizations are, as Rha Goddess puts it, "eco-systems of humanity." Even more than that, I believe workplaces are potential sources of human connection, development, and evolution.
I vividly remember sitting at a “Galentine’s Day” dinner in the East Village with nine dear friends, all young professionals from diverse backgrounds working in different industries across New York City, when a gut-wrenching realization hit me. Each woman sitting around the table had shared a harrowing personal story of sexual assault or harassment at a workplace. It was unfathomable and completely normal at the same time, and I was quietly, deeply enraged. A couple of years later, I found myself in the strange position of helping an organization I worked for navigate its own complicated sexual harassment crisis, shedding light on toxic cultural patterns that undermined not only much-needed diversity at the company, but the company’s existence as a whole. Unsatisfied with this single-company level of impact, a colleague and I subsequently began working after-hours, preoccupied with building a platform, a solution, something that could help employees in general expose cultural fault lines at high-growth companies and incentivize greater organizational accountability. This project led me to graduate school, where I dedicated time to understanding the nuances of diversity research, its practical applications, and the mechanics of organizational behavior change at scale.
And this is why I do the work that I do. Because even as the daughter of two Indian immigrants who fought hard to build an incredible life for their children, or even as a former opera singer who spent countless years performing in spaces around the world where I was often well-intentionally celebrated as a novelty, I am profoundly aware of the privilege and access I’ve been granted to organizational systems and networks that shut equally-deserving and capable individuals out. I fundamentally believe that equitable and inclusive workplaces lead companies, individuals, and society as a whole to reach their full potentials. I also believe that intentional design of organizational systems is the key to achieving this vision-- it’s messy, complicated, and imperfect, but it is the only way.
getting beyond
the
ping pong table
How I Help You Design
Talent Solutions
that Sustain Innovation and
Inspire Ongoing Development
Applying BEHAVIORAL INSIGHtS
The latest behavioral science and social psychology research shows us how to create more effective recruitment, hiring & learning programs but these insights rarely make it to the field. I strive to change that.
design tHINKING
& safe-to-fail experimentation
Using design-thinking and experimentation best-practices, I help you generate and institute rewards, communication, and measurement systems and management structures that enhance the developmental capacity of all employees
AUDITING &
marketing CULTURE
Defining cultural values & critically examining company norms, roles, rituals, myths, shared "insider" language, etc. for value alignment is the bedrock of any recruitment and retention strategy. I facilitate and manage this ongoing process so that you market your company culture optimally
DiversifyING talent CHANNELS
& broadenING "fit"
Using people analytics in talent acquisition and reexamining conceptions of "who fits," I create infrastructure that enhances the diversity outcomes necessary for teams to innovate and increase performance
A compendium of cross-disciplinary organizational wisdom and meditations on 'difference' spanning the globe and the ages. Lighting the way to a more human-centered, diversity-embracing future of work.
Experience
Organizational Behavior & Leadership Lab, Harvard Business School
Researcher (Feb 2016 – Present )
Designed projects exploring how warmth, competence, and power are communicated and interpreted through nonverbal behavior; administered study protocol to explore how children aged four and six associate posture with perceptions of gender; produced literature review on the uses of smartphone applications for passive data collection in mood research
Learning Innovations Laboratory (LlLA), Harvard Graduate School of Education
Communications Specialist (Oct 2015 – Present)
Developed comprehensive research summaries and literature reviews for attending Chief Learning Officers and member organizations; facilitated and documented group learning processes and insights during LILA conferences
Whabee
Co-Founder (Jan 2015 – Present)
Advising start-ups in early periods of rapid growth in four key areas of organizational culture development: defining specialized roles, diversifying talent, identifying and codifying cultural values, and instituting adaptive management structures that enhance learning and innovation. Whabee's goal is to support leaders in building equitable, inclusive work environments so that companies, and the individuals who work within them, reach their full potentials.
Black Mountain Systems
Marketing Director (Jan 2012 - August 2015)
Established the company's marketing function from the ground-up and built scalable and sustainable marketing infrastructure to produce data-driven inbound and outbound lead generation campaigns. Identified channels to effectively market company culture and recruit an increasingly diverse talent pool
Behavioral Insights Study Group,
Harvard Center for Public Leadership
Executive Committee (Jan 2016 - June 2016)
Created engaging programming and career development opportunities for students from across Harvard interested in the application of behavioral science; launched Harvard’s first-ever Experimental Pitch Innovation Competition (EPIC) in partnership with Harvard Business School and Harvard Kennedy School
LEAD: Harvard Leadership & Organizational Behavior Group
Co-Founder (Sept 2015 – Present)
Convened students from Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) and across the Harvard community to explore the research and practice of organizational behavior, personal leadership development, and the teaching of leadership. Our three goals are: to enhance our members’ knowledge & practice in these areas, to prepare our members for diverse careers, and to encourage ongoing professional and social cross-pollination amongst our members.
© 2015