My Writing
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If you’re new to my work, these pieces provide an entry point:
Areas of Inquiry
My work is organized around several recurring themes:
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Disagreement as civic and organizational capacity. Understanding disagreement as a structured and necessary feature of organizational life.
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Alignment, congruence, and institutional coherence. Examining how gaps between values, practices, and incentives generate conflict.
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Belonging, power, and relational dynamics. Exploring how identity and material conditions shape participation and agency.
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Organizational justice and equity strategy. Examining how organizations design fair, context-specific approaches to equity that align with mission, strategy, and institutional legitimacy.
Education
BA, Sociology + Anthropology and Japanese, Swarthmore College
MA, Education, Stanford University
MBA, Stanford University
PhD, Organizational Behavior (Sociology Track), Harvard University
More
Disagreement as civic and organizational capacity
Holding the Tension is a five-part series in Stanford Social Innovation Review, presented by the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life at Tufts University, examining disagreement as a civic and organizational capacity. I worked with the editorial team at Stanford Social Innovation Review to develop and curate the series, bringing together scholars and practitioners to explore how institutions can engage disagreement productively while maintaining legitimacy and shared purpose. The series examines disagreement from multiple organizational perspectives, including institutional governance, compliance and accountability systems, organizational coherence, cultural context, and leadership practice. Across the five articles, contributors argue that durable equity and institutional legitimacy depend not on suppressing disagreement, but on developing the structures, systems, and leadership capacities required to engage it with clarity and discipline. Together, the series explores how institutions can build the relational and structural capacity to engage disagreement while sustaining shared purpose in complex and pluralistic environments. Also see the series summary resource.
I co-authored two articles in the series:
Brown, Ahmmad, Molly Routt, and Dustin Liu
When Conflict Reveals the Work
Stanford Social Innovation Review (2026)
This article examines how misalignment and incongruence can undermine diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts even when organizations share broad agreement on values. The article introduces a framework for understanding how strategy, structure, and culture must align to sustain durable equity work. I also developed a companion resource that elaborates on the alignment and congruence concepts and their roots in organizational theory.
Brown, Ahmmad, Danielle Loevy, and Robert Corbett
Teaching Disagreement Is Leadership Work
Stanford Social Innovation Review (2026)
This piece outlines four disciplines leaders can use to navigate and teach disagreement inside organizations. The article argues that engaging in constructive disagreement is not merely a communication skill but a core leadership responsibility essential to sustaining relationships, community, and ongoing collective work.
Brown, Ahmmad
Dialogue — Not Debate — Can Help DEI Efforts During Times Of Crisis
Forbes (2023)
This article examines how organizations can navigate moments of crisis and heightened tension by shifting from adversarial debate toward structured dialogue. It argues that debate often reinforces polarization and performance, while dialogue creates the conditions for learning, mutual understanding, and sustained engagement across difference. The piece highlights the role of leadership and organizational design in creating environments where difficult conversations can be held productively, particularly when identity, power, and institutional legitimacy are at stake.
Alignment, congruence, and institutional coherence
Brown, Ahmmad, Molly Routt, and Dustin Liu
When Conflict Reveals the Work
Stanford Social Innovation Review (2026)
This article examines how misalignment and incongruence can undermine diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts even when organizations share broad agreement on values. The article introduces a framework for understanding how strategy, structure, and culture must align to sustain durable equity work. I also developed a companion resource that elaborates on the alignment and congruence concepts and their roots in organizational theory.
Ninh, Amie, and Ahmmad Brown
A Leader's Choice: DEI Paradigms and the Consequences of Misalignment.
Organization Development Review
The field of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) operates under different ways of thinking, or paradigms. This paper identifies four DEI paradigms in research and, through interviews with 16 tech industry DEI leaders, examines how they apply these in practice. While DEI leaders can integrate multiple approaches, their organizations often lack the same flexibility and understanding. This misalignment creates challenges in setting expectations and executing DEI efforts. The paper also discusses what this means for DEI leaders and organizations moving forward, highlighting the impact of these gaps on DEI work.
Brown, Ahmmad and Ritu Tripathi
Global Firm and Local Labor: Delivering Paid Parental Leave*
William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan (2024)
A teaching case on the challenge of implementing an equitable parental leave policy in a global industrial firm. It follows TriBrown—operating in 70+ countries with growing international revenues—as it seeks to align its diversity, equity, and inclusion goals with its people strategy. Centered on Maya Marshall, VP of DEI, the case highlights data analysis, stakeholder negotiations, and cross‐country differences in law and culture. This case focuses on the ability to diagnose, design, and implement policies that must balance global scale, local variation, and equity in practice.
*First Place Winner; 2024 William Davidson Institute DEI Global Case Writing Competition
Belonging, power, and relational dynamics
Cechony, Anna, and Ahmmad Brown
Addressing Structural, Social, and Symbolic Exclusion of Disabled People
Journal of Applied Social Science (2025)
This piece examines how senior leaders at U.S. colleges and universities perceive the experiences of disabled students on their campuses. Through in-depth interviews, we found that most leaders focused on physical or structural access, such as ramps or accommodations, while paying much less attention to the social and cultural barriers that shape students' everyday experiences. We offer a practical framework for recognizing different types of exclusion and share concrete ways leaders can foster real inclusion. This includes not only improving access but also shifting campus culture and decision-making practices, especially in a time when diversity and inclusion efforts face growing public scrutiny. Full text available upon request.
Also see Anna Cechony's and my resource document (PDF) for applying key insights from this paper in organizations.
Brown, Ahmmad, and Ty-Juana L. Flores
Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice (2025)
Studies show that students at mostly White colleges often stick to their own racial groups, with Black students in particular having fewer interactions across racial lines. To help improve this, we analyzed the Black Scholars Initiative (BSI) at the Berklee College of Music, a program designed to foster positive cross-racial interactions and a sense of belonging. The study found that programs like BSI can help Black students feel connected to their peers and the whole campus, which helps them grow and succeed. Full text available upon request.
Brown, Ahmmad
Allyship Is A Starting Place, Not An End Goal
Forbes (2023)
This article examines the role of allyship in advancing equity and inclusion within organizations, drawing on examples of leaders who have embraced the practice with meaningful results. It argues that while allyship can serve as an important entry point, it is insufficient as an endpoint. Instead, the piece highlights the need for sustained engagement, shared accountability, and deeper forms of participation that extend beyond symbolic support and contribute to lasting organizational change.
Brown, Ahmmad
Why Communicating Organizational Identity Is The First Step To Get Belonging Right In The Workplace
Forbes (2023)
This article examines the relationship between organizational identity and belonging, arguing that many organizations struggle to define belonging because they have not clearly articulated who they are and how they operate. It contends that effective belonging efforts begin with clarity about organizational identity—including expectations for behavior, work, and participation—rather than broad or aspirational language. The piece highlights how clearly defined and consistently enacted identity provides the foundation for building environments where individuals can engage, contribute, and experience belonging without ambiguity or overreach.
Organizational justice and equity strategy
Brown, Ahmmad, Andrea Polanco, Allison Troy, Andie Thompkins
From Performative to Transformative: Navigating Equity & Inclusion Across a Diverse Animal Advocacy Movement
Faunalytics (2025)
This report offers a practical guide for farmed animal advocacy organizations and leaders, with broader relevance for social sector organizations seeking to align diversity, equity, and inclusion with core mission and long-term impact. Based on interviews with advocates and prospective advocates of color, as well as leaders across racial identity groups, the report outlines two key approaches: organizational justice and social justice. Organizational justice represents the essential baseline for any organization committed to this work, while social justice approaches can be layered on strategically and with honest self-assessment about how they connect to the organization’s mission and identity. The report provides tailored recommendations by advocacy type and mission focus, and invites organizations to move beyond symbolic gestures and take meaningful steps toward deeper inclusion, shared power, and lasting change.
Also see Andrea Polanco, the report's second author, and I discuss the paper and recommendations for animal advocacy and social sector organizations generally.
Brown, Ahmmad, and Pamela Coukos
Organizational Justice: A Path Forward for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Work
Stanford Social Innovation Review (2025)
This piece offers a grounded framework for advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion in organizations amid rising political and institutional backlash. Drawing on the concept of organizational justice, we argue that fairness in structures, processes, and treatment should anchor sustainable equity and inclusion efforts. We show how context-specific strategies, transparency, and institutional legitimacy can help leaders and practitioners maintain impact, even in challenging environments.
You can also listen to Pam Coukos, CEO and Co-founder of Working IDEAL, and I discuss the article and how the organizational justice framework provides a grounded and forward-looking framework for building more resilient and just workplaces.
Brown, Ahmmad
Blaming The DEI Industry For Failures Misses The Point
Forbes (2023)
This article examines common critiques of the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) field, arguing that they often overgeneralize the work, rely selectively on research, and conflate narrow interventions with the broader practice. It contends that these critiques frequently misplace responsibility, attributing failures to DEI practitioners while overlooking the role of organizational leaders in shaping, resourcing, and implementing these efforts. The piece reframes the conversation by emphasizing the importance of context-specific strategy, leadership accountability, and the integration of DEI into core organizational practice.