Dr. Aftab Erfan & Amiel Handelsman - The Many Faces of JEDI

Dr. Aftab Erfan (she/her) is a scholar-practitioner currently serving as the City of Vancouver’s first Chief Equity Officer. She leads internal transformation for a public organization of nearly 10,000 employees. Originally from Iran, she moved to Canada as a teenager. Her formal education is in environmental sciences, fine arts, and urban planning. Aftab did much of her growing up within the youth environmental movement, where she learned that activism is an effective antidote to despair. In her late 20s, Aftab completed an action-research-based Ph.D. in Community and Regional Planning at the University of British Columbia, where she subsequently taught for nearly a decade and completed a 4-year stint as Director of Dialogue and Conflict Engagement for the university. She has worked as a consultant on four continents but finds much more meaning in working locally. Next to her family, Aftab's primary engagement is with the large systemic issues of our times. She wonders how we can become useful leaders in times of societal struggle,  transition, and collapse.

Amiel Handelsman is a seasoned executive coach with 20+ years of experience helping leaders and teams navigate complexity. His clients have included college presidents, C-level business executives, and teams at every level. He is passionate about climate solutions and specializes in helping people deliver what they promise and build highly engaged workforces. Amiel is the author of four books, including Practice Greatness and the free e-books Reimagining American Identity and How To Be An Anti-race Antiracist, and is a frequent guest on podcasts. He holds a B.A. in Public Policy Studies from Duke University and an M.B.A. from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. Amiel lives with his wife and two children in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Resources Mentioned In This Episode

• Article: The Many Face of JEDI by Dr. Atfab Erfan
• Article: Response to Erfan by Amiel Handelsman
• Resource: Tobert's Action Logics
• Resource: Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI)
• Book: 4000 Weeks: Time and How to Use It by Oliver Burkeman
• Book: Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson

A Quote From Atfab's Article 

• "When the JEDI movement looks in the mirror, it sees many faces reflected back. I can only hope that giving names and definitions to some of these faces enables all of us who see ourselves a part of this movement to take our next steps with more awareness and mutual responsibility to one another."

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