Meet Erica Dhawan

Author, Entrepreneur, Award Winning Keynote Speaker

Who is Erica Dhawan?

A 21st CENTURY COLLABORATION EXPERT

I’ve studied human innovation and collaboration for over 20 years.

AN EXECUTIVE LEADER

I’ve started and built businesses, and had plenty of failures along the way.

AN AUTHOR

I’ve written two WSJ bestselling books on collaboration, communication, and teamwork.

A KEYNOTE SPEAKER

I’ve shared insights with millions of people around the world.

A BOLLYWOOD DANCER

I love that music & dance transcend difference to connect us in new ways.

WORLD CLASS RESEARCHER

I’m honored to have my research on 21st century teamwork featured in New York Times, WSJ and the World Economic Forum at Davos

Rated World's Top Female Keynote Speaker on Teamwork and Innovation

Erica Dhawan’s story

As a shy, introverted Indian-American girl growing up in Pittsburgh, I struggled to find my voice and my place. I juggled two languages and two cultures, and, eventually, I learned the skills I needed to build connections across difference. I became fascinated with human connection.

I’ve been studying 21st century teamwork and collaboration ever since.

How Erica Started

As a shy, introverted Indian-American girl growing up in Pittsburgh, I struggled to find my voice. I always got A’s in school, but every report card said I wish Erica spoke up more. — Wanting to feel like I belonged somewhere, I developed a few tricks, and one of them was a talent for deciphering other people’s body language and studying what made certain people build connections and others not…

I’ve been studying teamwork and collaboration ever since.

Interview with Robin Roberts

My childhood preoccupation with creating meaningful connection grew into an academic interest. I went on to teach courses in leadership and collaboration as a research fellow, first at Harvard and MIT. The research I contributed to during that time motivated me to start my own speaking business and scale it from a what-if idea into a global company. It’s been a journey of growth. At the start, I had no big speaking experience and no media connections. I was just an entrepreneur, asking: How can I get big things done? Before I knew it, my book Get Big Things Done became a best-seller. I was addressing global leaders at the World Economic Forum, getting interviewed by Good Morning America host Robin Roberts, becoming a “sought-after” keynote speaker by CEOs and top executives, and teaching twenty-first-century collaboration skills to thousands of leaders across a range of industries, companies, and countries.

I owe my success to a superpower that we all share: Connectional Intelligence™

Let’s innovate further and faster, together

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Connectional Intelligence

We all have the power to drive innovation in the age of AI. We just need to get past the roadblocks we’ve created: endless meetings, cross-team dysfunction, resource-wasting duplication, and a lack of real, meaningful inclusion. How do we do that?

By harnessing knowledge from the places we’d never thought to look.

WORK IS TOO COMPLICATED. INNOVATION IS TOO SLOW.

Let’s Make a Change.

Email erica@cotentialgroup.com to get started