Dr Djahan Salehabadi
Design Thinking: A Human-Centred Approach to Problem Solving
Djahan-Banoo Salehabadi is the founder of Align Coaching, a boutique coaching firm that specialises in helping 21st-century professionals and teams navigate modern challenges, enhance communication and become authentic and effective leaders. In addition to coaching top executives from global companies such as LEGO, SAP, Novartis, Blackrock and Salesforce, Djahan is a regular guest lecturer at universities including ETH Zurich, EPFL, UZH, the University of Basel and the University of Freiburg.
Djahan is an Ivy League–trained researcher. She received her Bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College and her PhD from Cornell University. She is an ICF PCC-level certified coach with a background in positive psychology, design thinking (ETH and Stanford), mindfulness training and somatic coaching. As a coach and lecturer, Djahan never strays far from her academic roots. By training and by choice, she stays updated on the latest research on well-being, productivity, communication and leadership.
With roots in Canada, Iran, and Germany – and stopovers in the US and the Bernese Alps – Djahan believes that her cross-cultural upbringing, coupled with her rigorous training as a sociological researcher, helps her stay deeply empathetic, flexible and alive in her thinking.