Nick, Trish, Beth and Brice
_{^{Cat Photos by Beth Applegate}}

Meet Our Founder

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As a leader in organization development, change and building just systems, Beth Applegate, MSOD, has a passion for partnering with colleagues and clients to transform the way teams, leaders and organizations succeed in service to creating a better world.

Beth is known as an insightful, forthright and compassionate person who holds a deep concern about racial and social justice. She approaches her work and life with a sense of inquiry, possibility and purpose. As a white organization development (OD), and cultural equity, inclusion and justice (CEIJ) practitioner, coach and facilitator, Beth values differences and upholds the idea of multiple realities. Beth Applegate CV

Beth identifies as an Applied Behavioral Science practitioner-scholar and healer positioned to bring to the fore the tradition of inquiry and dialogue in the service of healthy individuals, groups, organizations and ecosystems. She roots herself in the constructs of human potential and development, empowerment, mercy and justice, equitable processes, in and the importance of building just systems and cultures of belonging that embrace emotional, racial and cultural literacy as key indicators of success.

Drawing upon three decades in leadership roles in various statewide, nationwide and Europe-wide organizations, Beth has served in the roles of Executive Director, Board President, Field Director and Women's Outreach Director. Beth brings lived-experience and pragmatic guidance to her client's initiatives.

Beth is one of a few hundred facilitators and keynoters certified in Dare to Lead™ (DTL), a program based on the research of Dr. Brené Brown. This challenging program is one of the most sought-after leadership and culture interventions globally for organizations that want to build sustainability into the future. It is an empirically based courage-building program for leaders, teams and individuals. The most significant finding from Brené's latest research is that courage is a collection of four skill sets that are teachable, measurable and observable.  To learn more about our DTL offerings, visit our "Online Courses" and "Speaking Engagement" pages. You can also learn more about Dr. Brené Brown and her work at brenebrown.com.

Beth is also a member of the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) Expert Hub of Catalyst-Ed. The DEI Hub gives leaders across the country access to selected consultants with the skills, guidance and courage they need to nurture diverse, equitable and inclusive organizations. Beth's work is inextricably linked to advancing racial equity and racial healing, social justice and humanistic values.

Beth is a graduate of the 2-year Polarity Thinking Mastery Program, and provides online seminars and workshops in Polarity Thinking. Please see our "Online Courses" page for information about our public and client offerings. ACG utilizes Polarity Thinking to support our clients to augment "either/or" thinking with "both/and" thinking so that they can expand the possibilities in decision making, strategic planning, cultural equity, inclusion, and justice initiatives. Polarity Thinking supports clients, when faced with challenges that seem to lead in two different directions, to see the full picture. Polarities are unsolvable, unavoidable, indestructible and unstoppable. Each polarity is a powerful energy system that, once we understand it, we can learn to leverage it to achieve positive change. For example, which one is more important? Racial Justice (disrupting white supremacy systems, structures, policies and laws) OR Racial Healing (doing the essential inner healing, emotional literacy and racial identity work to cultivate a solid sense of self); Intention OR Impact; Individual Racism OR Structural Racism; Making a Difference OR Enjoying Life; Mercy OR Justice; Freedom for the Part OR Equity among the Parts within the Whole? Framing any of the polarities above as "problems to solve" creates damaging false binary choices and fruitless interactions.

Beth has had had the privilege to work with over 100 organizations, including: "Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative" (Realizing Rights was led by Mary Robinson, the first woman President of Ireland, the former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights); the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center; the National and the DC Assembly on School-Based Health Care; the U.S. Office of Personnel Management; the Center for Women's Global Leadership at Rutgers University; ExLibris, a global company based in Israel; the United Nations Development Program; the Center for Health and Gender Equity; the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice; the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation; the Lucille Packard Foundation, The Gill Foundation; the Casey Foundation JDAI Program; the Astrea Foundation; the Women's Foundation; the Highlands Coalition; the New York State Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Community Services Center; Whitman Walker; Congregation Beth Simchat Torah; the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service; and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Stuttgart Germany.

Beth is an active contributor to the field of applied behavioral science. Beth is the co-author of "Embracing Cultural Competency" in the nonprofit sector: A capacity builder's guide. She has also written numerous articles for academic journals, including a piece on a mentor entitled, "Organizational Change and Justice: The Legacy of Judith H. Katz", written for The Palgrave Handbook of Organizational Change Thinkers project. She co-authored a chapter in The Sustainable Enterprise Fieldbook, "When It All Comes Together on Mental Models", and published an article in Practicing OD entitled "The Best View is Inside: Use of Self as Transformative Practice." All of these materials are available on the "Resources" page of this website.

Beth's next publication is due out in the summer of 2020 and entitled Re-imagine Equity and Justice Through a Polarity Lens. This chapter will appear in the applications book, the second of a two-book volume. To learn more about the Foundation and Application book set  "And", please visit the Polarity Partners page. Beth is a big believer in nurturing a healthy body, mind and spirit. She is a Pilates devotee and loves to dance. She's a mixed media artist, quilter and gardener, and enjoys long walks in nature. She currently lives in Bloomington, Indiana, with her life-partner Trish and their two rescue cats, Nick and Brice.