Four decades unleashing real change when it’s needed most.

Dialogos was founded by pioneers in systems thinking, organizational learning, and transformational dialogue—people who didn’t just study change, but shaped it.

Our work draws from deep roots in civil rights leadership, academic innovation, and field-defining practice, and from decades spent guiding teams, institutions, and global systems through moments of profound change.

We carry that legacy forward with new ways of working built for today’s biggest challenges. We partner with those ready to think together in new ways, who understand real transformation doesn’t begin with answers, but with the courage to speak, to listen, and to move. Together.

Our Heritage.

Dialogos was born of a simple insight: what stops systems from shifting isn’t a lack of knowledge, it’s the inability to talk about what matters. From our work in post-crisis environments to complex corporate leadership transitions, we’ve helped organizations move through stuck patterns toward coherence, trust, and aligned action.

We don’t impose new systems. We surface what’s already there—and build the conditions for it to take hold.

For over 40 years, we’ve worked with leaders and institutions to understand what drives change—and what gets in its way.

Dialogos was forged from some of the earliest and most influential work on dialogue and organizational learning. Our founder William Isaacs authored the seminal book Dialogue: The Art of Thinking Together, still a cornerstone in boardrooms, universities, and leadership programs worldwide. As founding instigators for MIT’s Center for Organizational Learning, we contributed to establishing dialogue, systems thinking, and collective intelligence as essential to leadership. We’ve directly collaborated with pioneers including Jay Forrester and Peter Senge (MIT Systems Dynamics), Edgar Schein (organizational culture), Chris Argyris (Harvard, organizational learning), quantum physicist David Bohm (On Dialogue), and family systems therapy pioneers David Kantor and Richard Schwartz—all of whom directly shaped our practice.

Over the decades, Dialogos has designed and facilitated multi-year leadership programs for major companies and industries, supported complex stakeholder processes across sectors and geographies, and helped national governments and central banks build the collective intelligence needed to act in conditions of uncertainty. Our methods have evolved to include large-scale convenings, immersive dialogue labs, and deep team-based inquiry, all grounded in the disciplines of systems thinking, organizational development, and the art of listening.

We have also grown and nurtured a global community of thousands of practitioners, professionals, and alumni—our Catalysts—who continue to apply the principles of our work in their own practices every day.

This isn’t theoretical work. It’s a living, adaptive practice honed through tens of thousands of hours in rooms where alignment felt impossible, and movement became necessary.

Why Experience Matters.

We’ve been doing this longer than anyone.

Dialogos helped define the field of organizational dialogue and collective learning. We’ve worked with central banks, Fortune 100 companies, global development institutions, and leadership teams across sectors to create the conditions for transformational coherence.

We work at the level where real change happens.

Our team has guided leadership alignment through crisis, helped field-builders move from fragmentation to shared action, and re-patterned conversations in organizations facing impossible complexity. This is work we’ve refined over decades—not from theory, but from lived practice.

We go where others can't.

From boardroom silos to post-conflict societies, we help people surface what’s avoided, transform what’s entrenched, and move forward together. We are not one-size-fits-all consultants. We’re architects of collective intelligence.

The leaders behind Dialogos.

We are facilitators, systems thinkers, and organizational architects with decades of shared experience. Our backgrounds span leadership, economics, psychology, racial justice, complexity science, and organizational design. We work collaboratively, with humility. We integrate a wide range of tested practices and ideas that no other firm offers in one place.

William Isaacs

Founder and CEO

Bill, author of the seminal Dialogue: The Art of Thinking Together, co-founded MIT’s Center for Organizational Learning and has served as a senior lecturer at MIT’s Sloan School of Management for more than 20 years. He has led transformation initiatives with Fortune 100 companies, national governments, and multilateral institutions on five continents, and his work has shaped the field of dialogue-driven leadership and systemic change.

Skip Griffin

Principal

Skip has led large-scale civic and organizational change efforts for more than three decades, including a long tenure at The Boston Globe in senior leadership roles. A recipient of Harvard’s W.E.B. Du Bois Medal—its highest honor in African and African American Studies—he has advised national leaders, built enduring cross-sector coalitions, and shaped initiatives recognized for advancing systemic change.

Alden Mills

Senior Associate

A bestselling author and executive coach, Alden has honed high-performance leadership through his Navy SEAL experience and entrepreneurial acumen. He founded Perfect Fitness and scaled it into an Inc. 500 company, developing dozens of patents and powerful lessons in discipline, innovation, and resilience.

Tim Fitzgerald

Senior Associate

Tim has held senior leadership roles in both start-ups and large organizations where he applies broad strategy, finance, domain, and international expertise to help groundbreaking innovations achieve early traction. His current focus is microalgae as a solution to climate and food challenges, and his global energy and environmental insights have been featured at several forums including The World Economic Forum, SOLVE at MIT, and CERAWeek.

Tristan Jackson

Coaching Community Director

With two decades of global leadership experience, Tristan leads the Dialogos coaching community. He has directed large-scale energy initiatives—from startups to microgrid design—and helped First Nations in Canada develop strategic, sustainable investment models.

Alper Tenguez

Senior Associate

Alper Tengüz holds degrees in Industrial & Operations Engineering and a PhD in Economics. Formerly with McKinsey, he’s designed executive programs and led transformation and coaching work across Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.

Didem Tekay

Senior Associate

Didem is a seasoned executive coach and consultant, honored with the Thinkers50 Distinguished Achievement Award for her work in organizational transformation and forward-focused leadership.

Ann Ralston

Programs Director and Senior Associate

Ann has coached leaders and teams across five continents, specializing in business innovation and purpose-driven culture. Co-founder of Ralston Consulting, she brings over two decades of experience in leadership development and organizational design. In addition, Ann is certified as a Scaling Up Coach, Metronomic Growth Coach, and ExO Coach and Ambassador.

Volker Brendel

Science Advisor

Volker is a scientist and educator whose research spans bioinformatics, computational biology, and genomics. A professor at Indiana University, he has published extensively on genome structure and evolution, and has led international research collaborations advancing agricultural and biological sciences. His research lends rigour to Dialogos’ approach to understanding complex systems.

Kate Isaacs

Senior Associate

Kate is a speaker, author, and strategy advisor who helps leaders design distributed leadership organizations and multi-stakeholder partnerships where people and places can thrive. A Senior Lecturer at MIT Sloan, she directs executive programs on inclusive growth and future-ready leadership, and serves as faculty with the Higher Ambition Leadership Alliance. Her work draws on design thinking, system dynamics, and developmental psychology, and her writing has been featured widely—including in HBR at 100: The Most Influential and Innovative Articles from Harvard Business Review’s First Century.

Rick Maguire

Senior Associate

Rick brings three decades of leadership from the submarines to C-suite. As a former nuclear submarine officer turned strategic advisor, he specializes in developing high-performing teams and pathways for leaders scaling organizational growth.

Cees Kramer

Senior Associate

Cees is a former senior executive at BP with extensive international leadership experience across Europe, Africa, and Asia. He established BP’s first joint venture in China and managed post-merger integrations in Europe, Asia, and the US. At Dialogos, he combines practical experience with a passion for leadership development, helping leaders integrate diverse teams and unlock collective intelligence. Cees holds a Master’s in Business Administration from Erasmus University, Rotterdam, and is fluent in English and Dutch, with working knowledge of German and French.

Bradley Chenoweth

Senior Associate

Bradley is an Australia-based lawyer and member of the teaching faculty for MIT Sloan’s IDEAS Asia Pacific program. As faculty for the Leadership for Collective Intelligence program, he brings senior coaching and facilitation expertise developed across Asia and Europe, combining legal acumen with leadership development skills to help executives and teams navigate complex challenges.

Ayalew Asfaw

Senior Associate

Ayalew is an Ethiopian executive and consultant with more than two decades of leadership and organizational development experience. He is Executive Director of Dialogue Ethiopia, founding President of the Ethiopian Institute of Corporate Governance, and General Manager of AMDAMU PLC, the consultancy he established in 1998. Ayalew has worked with the Ethiopian government, UN agencies, and the financial sector across Africa, and was formerly an instructor at Addis Ababa University. He holds an MBA from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and a Bachelor’s in Business Administration from Addis Ababa University.

Maja Tampe

Senior Associate

Maja is Associate Professor at Esade Business School, where she directs the MSc in Sustainability Management. Her research explores regenerative business and the practices that allow sustainability to take root, with projects ranging from regenerative agriculture in Europe to sustainability standards in Latin America. A former McKinsey consultant with experience at the World Bank, she earned her PhD at MIT Sloan and a Master’s at Harvard Kennedy School. Based near Barcelona, she grows her own vegetables, rows competitively, and shares her home with three cats.

Dalia Olshvang

Operations Manager

Dalia keeps Dialogos running smoothly, with clarity and care. She has led operational improvements across corporate and nonprofit settings, introducing systems that make work more effective and collaborative. With a PhD and a people-centered approach, she brings a broad perspective on how systems and people connect, ensuring that processes strengthen teamwork and help Dialogos deliver its best work.

Jessica Sloan

Chief of Staff

Jes brings clarity and strategic thinking to executive support, shaped by 25 years working with celebrities and CEOs across industries from sports and entertainment to biotech and design. Her wide-ranging experience equips her to anticipate challenges, ask the right questions, and suggest strategic solutions that help leaders move forward. With startup energy, attention to detail, and a focus on building strong relationships, she keeps executive offices and partnerships running smoothly.

Strategic Advisors

Jim Stanard

Jim is an investor and board member of Dialogos. He founded RenaissanceRe in 1993, building it into one of the world’s most profitable reinsurers, growing the company’s market value to over $3B when he left in 2005. He later co-founded TigerRisk Partners, a leading brokerage and advisory firm. A founding investor at Pelican Ventures, he has helped launch and scale multiple insurance and reinsurance companies globally. Jim also serves as a trustee of the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences and sits on the board of Habitat for Humanity International.

John Sviokla

John is a business strategist, author, and advisor who has helped senior leaders navigate waves of digital transformation. Formerly a partner at PwC and head of its Global Thought Leadership program, he co-authored The Self-Made Billionaire Effect and has written widely on innovation, markets, and value creation for Harvard Business Review and Forbes. John also serves as an Executive Fellow at Harvard Business School and co-founded GAI Insights, advising organizations on how to harness artificial intelligence for growth.

Roger Brown

Roger brings over 35 years of experience in global downstream energy and fuels value chains. His experience spans structuring energy and infrastructure transactions in emerging markets and leading operational improvement across complex supply chains. Formerly COO of BP’s European Integrated Supply & Trading business and VP at TNK‑BP, he went on to lead Varo Energy as CEO, guiding its rapid growth. He now serves as Operating Partner at Ara Partners, advising energy and infrastructure investors.

David Marsing

David led advanced manufacturing and network communications at Intel, serving as VP in the Technology and Manufacturing Group and COO of the Network Communications Group. His corporate strategy experience spans decades of global operations.

Who We've Worked With.

Dialogos is trusted by Fortune 100 companies across energy, finance, manufacturing, and tech; by national governments and central banks; by multinational foundations and philanthropic networks; and by coalitions working toward economic and social regeneration. When the stakes are high and alignment feels impossible, this is where we do our best work.