democratizing
leadership
Putting leadership tools that drive change into the hands of anyone who seeks meaningful outcomes
the foremost mission-based Adaptive Leadership organization worldwide
Adaptive Change Advisors (ACA) emerged from the pioneering work of Eric Martin to steward Adaptive Leadership to worldwide application and scale.
Our select cadre of leadership experts have stewarded Adaptive Leadership from Harvard to real-world application and scale. Leading institutions partner with ACA for executive team alignment, leadership development and training, facilitation and multistakeholder convenings.
We have worked in a variety of capacities at the US White House Presidential Personnel Office, Google, Microsoft, Rockefeller Foundation, United Nations Innovation Network, World Bank, Sustainable Brands, Cornell University, Acumen, National Academy of Science Engineering and Medicine and elsewhere around the world.
Our work has touched hundreds of thousands of people worldwide to tackle pressing challenges of our times – such as transitioning to a low-carbon economy, reducing poverty and inequity, improving health equity and access, supporting the growth of social enterprises, and evolving the role of advanced information and technology in our daily lives.
Featured Offerings
ACA works at the leading edge of Adaptive Leadership training and application.
ACA is the leading design and delivery partner for leadership fellowships worldwide. By leveraging Adaptive Leadership design principles, conveners maximize the impact of their gatherings. We have helped design fellowships for social enterprise, health equity, conservation, education, civil rights, early childhood development, public health, tribal sovereignty and more.
Profound adaptive change awaits those who seek to master Adaptive Leadership as trainers, coaches or advisors. This programme help you internalize the “X” factor of Adaptive Leadership through intensive workshops, case-in-point facilitation, 1:1 shadowing and mentorship, and material and IP support.
Leadership Coaching, often paired with team alignment, supports senior executives and teams to accelerate and sustain large-scale change initiatives and strategic planning implementation. Build alliances as you approach key inflection points, important decisions and milestones. Lead adaptively through challenges and obstacles that arise during times of transition, uncertainty and possibility. De-risk change without neutralizing impact.
ACA is the world’s first and largest provider of online Adaptive Leadership courses and e-learning. We have reached hundreds of thousands of people worldwide using our approach to change. Are you struggling with a leadership team challenge that has left your team moving in circles? Do you have silos that need to work together to accomplish a task? Would you like to cultivate your team’s skills to solve adaptive problems?
From day-long strategy sessions to multi-day retreats, skillful adaptive facilitation builds your team’s capacity to create and deliver on lasting change. Leverage your team’s leadership moments and inspire leadership in others. Do you have a strategic plan that’s sitting on a shelf awaiting implementation? Are you and your team having the same conversations without any change? Are you launching a new initiative and need people to engage with a deeper sense of ownership?
Bring Adaptive Leadership to your team or organization with a standard or customized introductory workshop. In-person and virtual workshops cover the core concepts of Adaptive Leadership: leading with and without authority, getting on the balcony, differentiating between technical and adaptive problems, exercising leadership vs exercising authority, navigating organizational politics and mobilizing stakeholders, and courageous conversations.
public offerings
The first step is to talk about your needs and how ACA can support your goals. Set up a time to talk here.
Introduction to Adaptive Leadership || Level 1 Workshop (December 2023)
Introduction to Adaptive Leadership December 2023 Online workshop Level 1 Workshop As the premier Adaptive Leadership offering outside of Harvard University, this workshop lays out basic concepts of Adaptive Leadership (TM). Adaptive Leadership is a practical framework developed at Harvard for leading change, particularly during times of transition, uncertainty and immense possibility. Leading any form of change initiative is complex. You need to work across organizational boundaries, build partnerships, deal with conflict and overcome differences in values, visions and
Train-the-Trainer || Level 4 Adaptive Leadership (2023)
Adaptive Leadership Train-the-Trainer Level 4 Immersive Online Programme Master the art of Adaptive Leadership Training The need for effective leadership facilitation is increasing as our global community and organizational challenges get more complex, less certain and simply harder to manage. “Facilitation” in these contexts often extends beyond simple training facilitation to holding—and even leading—competing stakeholders through a process of creative disequilibrium to undergo a deep experiential learning process. For the facilitator, as for a leadership practitioner, a guiding question
Leverage Your Leadership Moment || Level 3 (Self-guided course)
Adaptive Leadership Leverage Your Leadership Moment Level 3 – Self-guided course Have you ever struggled with a problem that would not go away? The solutions may often seem obvious, such as the need for a new technology, an expert capability, a different process or better communication. Yet when you try to move forward, you face unexpected resistance to these seemingly obvious fixes, or else the problem stubbornly persists. You may be facing an adaptive challenge for which there is
“Meta” Retreat || Personal Leadership Deep Dive
The Meta Retreat is designed as a kind of metaphorical, or literal, pilgrimage culminating in a 5-day experiential gathering hosted by Eric Martin
Discover Your Leadership Moment || Level 2 (Self-guided course)
Adaptive Leadership Discover Your Leadership Moment Level 2 – Self-guided course Why Lead at All These past few years are the latest of many events, big and small, that have revealed deep structural and systemic issues in our society. From equity issues to people’s loss of trust in institutions. The need for a different approach to leadership is evident. Developing a new kind of leadership starts with a deeper look at ourselves. We created this course with this in
What is Democratizing Leadership?
Democratizing leadership is the idea that anyone, anywhere can lead change — regardless of their history, identity or access to financial or political resources.
our people
The ACA team is our greatest asset built on a culture of continuous growth and learning. Spanning the globe, our leadership advisors have spent years mastering the tools and techniques of Adaptive Leadership.
Molly Alexander
What do our partners think?
