First Mover Fellowship

The Aspen Institute First Movers Fellowship is the leading global network and professional development program for corporate social entrepreneurs. The team wanted to move away from the monotonous mix of cohorts and onboard more diverse and driven people to bring in the change they envisioned.

What is First Mover Fellowship?

Since 2009, the First Movers Fellowship Program has equipped business leaders with the tools, skills and confidence they need to drive innovations that increase business value and make the world a better place.

The Program Experience

Innovation

Fellows advance a Next Stage Innovation Project that moves their company toward greater strategic integration of business success and positive social or environmental impact.

Seminars

Fellows attend three four-day seminars structured around four core themes: Innovation, Leadership, Reflection & Community. Between-session instruction and structured peer coaching complement seminar content.

Network

Fellows join a lifelong network for ongoing professional development, support and cross-industry collaboration.

The Selection Process

1:1

Gender Distribution

12.9

Average Years of Work Experience

72%

Fellows discover new approaches for social & environmental value creation

88%

Projects Contributed to Company

100%

Fellowship Recommendation

Cohort Distribution & Impact

The Curriculum

The year long program is divided into 4 phases Innovation, Community, Reflection and Leadership. Each phase focuses on giving the fellows a holistic insight and deep dive into how to apply those skills and make an impact socially and environmentally.

The fellows attend three four-day seminars in a year in 3 different centers:

Aspen, Colorado

Tucson, Arizona

Manhasset, New York

The program fee is $27,500. This fee, which is paid for by Fellows’ companies, covers all programming and associated expenses throughout the year.

Project Scope

Design new strategies for identifying and reaching suitable First Mover Fellowship candidates. The team is specifically interested in strategies that would help it reach typically under-represented groups across the US: people of color; people in core business functions; people in B2B companies; people and companies based in ‘middle America’ – outside of the coasts.

Role

Research

Strategize

Design

Hand-off

Timeline

4 Weeks

Constraints

Time: 40 hrs ≤

Budget: $5,000

Integration

Program Design

Program Communication & Promotion

Social Toolkit

Talent Recruitment Process

Meet the Team Meraki

Saumya Ghai

MS SDM Parsons School for Design, New York

UX Designer @ Airtel, India

Pamela Roque

MS SDM Parsons School for Design, New York

UX Designer @ SeriousMD

Cut Lakeisha

MS SDM Parsons School for Design, New York

Product Specialist, Freelancer

Mihika Mehta

MS SDM Parsons School for Design, New York

Co-founder, Klaid, Goa

Project Flow

Forming, Storming, & Norming

WhatsApp Image 2021-11-10 at 1.52.00 PM.jpeg

Dissecting the Problem

The Aspen Team is searching for diversity in their cohort but what is diversity?

So, we dissected the different meanings of diversity:

1. Diversity in Color & Culture

2. Diversity in Skills & Background

3. DIversity in Approach & Problem Solving

4. Diversity in Mindset

About 50% of the cohort comes through alumni recommendations which is one of the main reasons the cohort is not diverse enough.

Proposals

IDEA 1

Kickstart #FirstFellowChallenge

#FirstMoverChallenge: A Nomination Campaign

a la viral social media “challenges.”

Each time someone nominates, they are prompted to share on social media using a preset template.
The nominee is also asked to challenge someone they consider a “First Mover.”
Aspen Team keeps track of social media posts for further outreach.

IDEA 2

Mobilize Alumni KOLs

Alumni with good social reach and presence will be asked to share the #firstmoverchallenge on their social platforms

Increasing organic reach to potential diverse fellows from their network, and get a fair chance to make the difference the world is longing.

Alumni with good social reach and presence will be asked to share the #firstmoverchallenge on their social platforms

Increasing organic reach to potential diverse fellows from their network, and get a fair chance to make the difference the world is longing.

IDEA 3

D&I Recruiter Webinars

WHY?

Aspen will have to target the right kind of people to get a diverse set of talent on board. Diversity and inclusion recruiters help share a voice with talented people across different backgrounds and experiences.

HOW?

Identify Diversity and Inclusion focused recruiters based in middle America.
Prepare primer info for the webinar.
Send out invites indicating the value to D&I recruiters
Webinar takes place
Nominations take place
Application procedure carries on as usual

IDEA 4

Leverage Social Media Platforms

Suggested Marketing Message: Looking for candidates that are dedicated, diverse in mindset, and dynamic
- Include in one-pagers sent to nominators
- Include in the overall tonality of the campaign
Refreshed visuals and illustrations
Determine #hashtags for easier analytics
Leverage professional social platforms: LinkedIn and Twitter
Create a wide array of asset types for social media platforms

Share • Track • Show • Promote

Follow the Trend

#MethodMakeMove

#DiverseDedicatedDynamic

#HASHTAGS

#SustainableBrandsSustainableFuture

#AspenInnovationHub

#ImpactMakers

Businesses use hashtags to attract new customers and grow their online presence. Hashtags help facilitate filtering and discovery of related content. Users searching a hashtag you've used can come across your account and engage, becoming new followers and potential customers.

This could have a long-term effect on how Aspen increases its visibility and the program is able to pool in a more diverse cohort.

#TheFirstMovers23

#ImpactInnovation

#SocialImpact

#FirstMoversFellowship

Change the way we communicate

WHY?

Instead of verbalising diversity through text, instil the idea through visuals. Rethink the way we ask about race and ethnicity. And usually, exclusion happens when we solve problems using our own biases.

HOW?

Recognize exclusion
Solve for one, extend to many
Learn from diversity

Appreciate diversity

Understand the true meaning of diversity?

Diversity is about what makes each of us unique and includes our backgrounds, personality, life experiences and beliefs, all of the things that make us who we are. It is a combination of our differences that shape our view of the world, our perspective and our approach.

Bring in the diversity of

Mindset
Culture
Personalities
Background
Values
Skills

BONUS IDEA 5

How do we effectively make use of a diverse cohort?

The curriculum followed during the fellowship is quite whole some and well organised. The entire curriculum is divided into 4 crucial parts - Innovation, community, reflection and leadership. Each part is well designed and structured

Innovation - Problem reframing, design thinking, ecosystem mapping, etc.
Community - Peer coaching groups, clearness committees, alumni network, etc.
Reflection - Energy audits, personal purpose, meditation, yoga, etc.
Leadership - Giving voice to values, change theory, story telling for influence, etc.

We realised while all this is well structured and planned there is still one thing that could help bring the change needed and effectively manage a diverse cohort - Inclusive decision making.

By simply adding a course of Inclusive Decision Making towards the end phase of the fellowship i.e the leadership phase, the cohort itself would start getting more diverse year on year.