Incorporating diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) into an organization’s culture is crucial for success. An inclusive and welcoming culture not only benefits employees but also contributes to the long-term success and sustainability of an organization.

Paradox Strategies makes this happen. Built on cutting-edge research in leadership, innovation, and inclusion, coupled with applied learning, Paradox Strategies offers advisory services, enriching experiences, and digital tools to assist global leaders in leveraging innovation and diversity to expand their organizations and promote positive outcomes.

Founded by Linda Hill (Faculty Chair of the Leadership Initiative and Professor at Harvard Business School), and Greg Brandeau (former CTO of Disney Studios and Senior Vice President of Technology at Pixar), Paradox Strategies is led by transformational agents that bring a rare blend of world-class strategy and execution capabilities to client engagements. The company’s strategies combine Hill’s trailblazing research on creative leaders and innovative businesses worldwide, Greg Brandeau’s Pixar innovation philosophy, and the expertise of partners Taran Swan and Cheryl Whaley, both C-Suite veterans and coaches.

Paradox Strategies assists companies in unlocking the potential of leadership at all levels, from new managers to the C-suite and board members, empowering leaders to transform their organizations. “Our method stands out because we integrate DEI research with innovation, exploring how leaders’ mindsets and actions influence their capacity to establish an inclusive environment that nurtures diverse thinking,” states Linda Hill, co-founder of Paradox Strategies.

Fostering Inclusivity with Innovative DEI Offerings

Paradox Strategies offers DEI services that help organizations embrace cultural differences, promote inclusivity, and foster innovation. While many organizations strive to minimize differences amongst employees, research indicates that organizations should amplify cultural differences so all employees can step into their potential, bring integrative solutions to life, and develop an organization that can innovate. Paradox’s approach is built on this framework of amplification vs. minimization of difference.

Through its DEI offerings, Paradox Strategies provides a comprehensive diagnostic and action plan, Beyond Awareness, which delivers specific actions that generate tangible results. This four-phase diagnostic assessment is conducted over 2 to 3 months and evaluates an organization’s culture, practices, and policies to identify ones that either facilitate or impede inclusivity.

The assessment process helps executive teams understand their organization’s strengths and weaknesses, develop effective strategies for change, and drive sustainable progress.

Another DEI service offered by Paradox Strategies is leadership coaching. This service provides one-on-one and group sessions with an organization’s leaders to drive and communicate a diversity-and-inclusion mandate throughout the organization. The coaching sessions cover various topics, from learning to have conversations about race, ethnicity, and unconscious bias to developing an authentic and compelling DEI voice. By partnering with a best-in-class executive coaching provider, Paradox helps firms cascade the DEI strategy throughout the organization by providing a scalable coaching solution, which leverages a unique Enterprise SaaS platform.

Equipped with data from the Beyond Awareness diagnostic or Paradox’s propriety organizational or individual inclusive culture survey, Paradox Strategies also conducts customized training that equip leaders with better skills to carry out difficult conversations for unlocking new ideas. According to data compiled by Paradox, organizations struggle with innovation due to the inability to engage in challenging conversations that result in positive and creative outcomes. By concentrating on generating ideas through discourse and debate and applying the organizational capabilities framework detailed in Dr. Hill’s book, Collective Genius: The Art and Practice of Leading Innovation, these sessions assist organizations in tapping into the “collective genius” of diversity, bringing the most insightful solutions to fruition. It ultimately fosters an environment where minority opinions are acknowledged and considered, allowing everyone’s unique genius to flourish.

Driving Change through Best-in-Class Digital Tools

Many organizations struggle with adequate development opportunities for diverse talent. Realizing this, Paradox Strategies has developed best-in-class approaches to assist organizations in developing leaders at all levels. These programs, often leveraging digital tools, improve their DEI outcomes and greater representation at all levels while creating conditions necessary for innovation. These tools also help companies enhance their inclusivity and foster an environment conducive to innovation.
One example is the “Being the Boss” app, a digital tool that is often deployed in professional development programs for women and underrepresented minorities. This app is based upon “The 3 Imperatives of Becoming a Great Leader” framework originally described in the Being the Boss book, which is a globally recognized methodology that also provides the foundation of the High Potentials Leadership Program at Harvard Business School. The company also offers simulations that allow leaders to experience the transition from visionary leadership to cocreation, a mindset that encourages leaders to engage their teams in solving problems to ensure that everyone’s voice is heard, and true diversity of thought is achieved. These simulations provide real-time, hands-on experiences that provide an edge in leading innovation.

Walking the Talk with Proven Results

Numerous stories attest to Paradox Strategies’ record of success. It deployed its Beyond Awareness diagnostic with a Fortune 50 company and conducted a series of workshops with its senior team. This workshop series and diagnostic served as the foundation for strategy and goal setting with their Board of Directors and Diversity Council. Recognizing the importance of having leadership that reflects the overall population, the company underwent an 18-month program for high-potential Black and Latino emerging senior managers. The program advanced most participants within one year through promotions. It had an 82 percent success rate (measured by promotion, stretch assignment, or increased scope) and received a satisfaction rating of 4.9 out of a 5-point scale from the participants.

Another example comes from a global media company that sought to increase overall engagement of women in their organization along with the percentage of women occupying senior leadership roles as they emerged from the pandemic. They implemented a program for high-potential women using “Being the Boss” as the foundation, which also included short-term coaching. The program received a 100 percent satisfaction score and was oversubscribed, leading the company to expand the number of participants.

These success stories are testaments to the expertise of the talented team at Paradox. Its overarching mission serves as a rallying cry for a more equitable and interconnected world, propelled by conscious, adept leaders, and inclusive, inventive organizations capable of fostering innovation. Paradox Strategies’ offerings catalyze this transformation, igniting positive change one leader – and organization – at a time.