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Erica Dhawan

#1 Thought Leader on 21st Century Teamwork and Innovation. Award Winning Keynote Speaker. Global Executive Coach. WSJ Bestselling Author. Board Member. Free Guide: ericadhawan.com/aitoolkit

Erica Dhawan is a renowned authority on 21st-century teamwork and innovation, specializing in Connectional Intelligence and Digital Body Language in the era of AI and Digital Transformation.

Erica is a highly regarded keynote speaker, having been ranked among the top motivational speakers globally and recognized by prestigious organizations like Thinkers50 and Global Gurus.

She is the founder of Cotential, a company that provides virtual and in-person keynotes, workshops, and online courses on topics such as Connectional Intelligence, Digital Body Language, team building in the AI age, and executive presence in the modern marketplace.

Her clientele includes top-tier companies like Deloitte, Fidelity Investments, Credit Suisse, and Pepsico, and her work has been featured in prominent publications like Fast Company, WSJ, NYTimes, and Harvard Business Review.

With a strong academic background, Erica holds a Master's in Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School, an MBA from MIT Sloan, and a Bachelor of Science from The Wharton School.

She has a diverse professional history that includes leadership roles at prestigious institutions such as Harvard Kennedy School of Government, MIT Sloan School of Management, Legatum Center in Development and Entrepreneurship, and more.

Erica's expertise lies in helping teams and organizations thrive by leveraging innovative strategies and advanced communication techniques, making her a sought-after consultant, speaker, and writer in the business realm.

Highlights

Dec 29 · linkedin

5 Things To Let Go In 2023:

  1. Overthinking 
  2. Saying “I can’t” 
  3. Dwelling in the past 
  4. Procrastinating
  5. Trying to do everything alone

Which ones are you working on letting go in 2023?

#EricaDhawan #Workplace #Communication

Sep 15 · linkedin

I HATE THE TERM "QUIET QUITTING"

I find it interesting that everyone is trying to now define what quiet quitting is in a way that makes it seem like it’s a good thing that no one could be upset about: “it’s about rejecting the excesses of hustle culture”, “it’s about asserting good boundaries and managing your work life balance”. “it’s about doing exactly what your job is and not getting exploited by your workplace”  These are the new explanations for what this phrase actually means, but let’s all just pause for a second and acknowledge the truth:

It’s called quiet quitting because the original idea was to quit without quitting and see how long you could get away with it, and to take advantage of things like remote work lack of visibility. It comes out of the “antiwork” movement, and it thrives in environments where management is weak, which regretfully is a lot of modern corporate America.

For some people, it simply means quitting on hustle, always-on culture, which is a great thing.

But for many others, some of this advice would be terrible to people’s long-term careers. No one gets ahead by sleeping on the job, going through the motions, accepting a lack of engagement, joy and purpose in our work as a long-term solution to burnout. That’s the version of quiet quitting we need to quit.

The solution to quiet quitting will not be paying people more or having more town halls, it will be addressing the root issues that hurt the employee experience and retention and equip leaders with the skills to motivate and inspire engagement, no matter the distance.

Here are 3 things you can do right now to ensure the conversation on quiet quitting doesn’t devolve and turns into a lesson to drive productive teamwork:

  1. Do an exercise to talk about the opposite of quiet quitting - “Joyful Engagement” Ask your team: What have we loved about our roles? What activities make us most engaged? What are the best parts are our job? This will give you regular moments of connection with employees tied to your purpose and mission. Use this to match people to tasks they most enjoy and celebrate successful wins.

  2. For all employees, set up career conversations with them and proactively invest in their growth. Ask questions like: Where do you want to be in 5 years? What do you love? What saps your energy? Help them decide to stay and fully commit or support their departure.

  3. Be clear with your team that quiet quitting is not the answer. That the team is better off with someone fully engaged or someone who chooses to leave to find the right environment for them.  Additionally, gather feedback from your teams on what makes your team a worthwhile place to be.

How will you reframe the quiet quitting debate into a productive conversation for your team?

Here's a picture of me right now excited to hear from you!

Erica Dhawan
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Location

Tampa, Florida, United States