ADVOCATE. SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR. PASTOR.

Rich Tafel

Bringing together coalitions of unlikely partners to solve the most significant challenges of our day

Join the Mission: Revolution of the Heart

Today, our workplaces and our communities are becoming ever more divided. People are afraid to share diverse viewpoints for fear of being judged, canceled, or even fired. This time of complexity and change calls for a new leadership competency in empathy and Diversity Intelligence℠. Knowing that, how do we begin depolarizing difficult conversations and get to win-win-win solutions in our personal, professional, and civic lives?

Join us at Public Squared in the revolution of the heart to create the change we can believe in.

Why Work With Us

Diversity alone isn’t enough to guarantee strategic advantage.

Without a strategy for authentic inclusion, diverse teams can underperform homogeneous ones (Harvard Business Review). Managing for inclusion means creating conditions that hold space for individual perspectives and worldviews that do not necessarily align with the larger group’s assumptions, habits, and beliefs. While understanding another’s point of view is not the same as agreeing with it, in case after case we have found that it is foundational to building trust within groups.

At Public Squared we work with leaders and their organizations to build high-performing teams, and to crisis-manage when teams become dysfunctional. Our training, coaching, and consultation work is built around our custom Cultural Translation℠ framework that cultivates Diversity Intelligence℠ in the workplace, and yields higher productivity, engagement, and results.

Download my services offering to learn more.

Public Speaking

Hear strategies for building bridges and getting things done in business, public sector and civic life.

Executive Coaching

One-on-one support to tap into your values, and bring your purpose to life through effective Cultural Translation strategies.

Leadership Training

Build up your teams to listen compassionately, understand complexity, and translate authentically into diverse value systems.

Organizational Consulting

Together we can help design organizational strategy to depolarize workplace cultures, leading to win-win solutions.

Testimonials & Articles

By providing training to today’s leaders, Rich is addressing toxic polarization head on. His message of transformative change will leave [us] ready to get to work building better workplaces for a better world.
Johnny C. Taylor, Jr.President and Chief Executive Officer, SHRM-SCP

After 35 years, Rich Tafel still helps me see the world in new and better ways. He recently told me about a book he's writing, which explores... [read full testimonial].
Abner MasonFounder & CEO, SameSky Health

Rich's work is truly inspiring. [He is] a professional bridge builder who aims to solve seemingly insurmountable problems. From tackling bias head-on to fostering connections between corporations, he has incredible stories to share. He shared that when we strip away ‌surface-level differences, we find that our core values remain the same worldwide.
Emily M. DickensSHRM C-Suite Executive | Board Member | Speaker

Rich has been an incredible coach to rising social entrepreneurs. I was so fortunate to have him as a coach during this summer. He has clear insights, expectations and suggestions to planning, scaling and running a social enterprise. The opportunities he provides to connect to impact investors are other invaluable parts of his coaching.
Prakash BistaSocial Entrepreneur and an Educator

Rich's message strongly encourages us to see past the surface and realize that, despite our differences, we all share basic, important values at our core.
Jim LinkCHRO at SHRM I Human Capital Strategy I Talent Acquisition I Leadership Development

Rich's message strongly resonates and is a powerful statement that we are stronger together. Thanks for sharing this and reminding us of the core values.👏
Jay PriceCorporate HR Director @ Diverse Facility Solutions | MBA, Compliance

In The News

Diversity and Inclusion training for the U.S. Department of Navy at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business. Rich Tafel, CEO of Public Squared is here presenting the Cultural Translation model alongside Johnny Taylor, CEO of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).