Adriano Pianesi

Adriano Pianesi is an executive coach, organizational change expert, and adjunct faculty member at Johns Hopkins University, with more than 20 years of experience helping leaders and teams turn strategy into action in fast-changing environments.

His work centers on the human side of organizational transformation – helping managers, teams, and executives turn strategy into action in complex workplaces. His writing and speaking explore how leadership, culture, and design thinking intersect to shape employee experience, performance, and innovation.

As the founder of ParticipAction Consulting, Adriano works with executives, middle managers, and cross-functional teams to create the conditions for genuine collaboration and measurable results. His clients have included Microsoft, IMF, World Bank, U.S. Marine Corps, the Internal Revenue Service, Gates Foundation, Johns Hopkins Medicine, and global nonprofits such as Vital Strategies and the Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use.

He is the creator of The Changemaker Atlas and the Manager to Changemaker framework- two tools that help organizations equip their “missing middle” with the influence, clarity, and confidence to lead transformation without waiting for top-down mandates. As student of Harvard’s Ron Heifetz, he draws on the disciplines of adaptive leadership, Liberating Structures, and Systems Thinking to designs participatory learning experiences that enable people to surface hidden barriers, strengthen trust, and act decisively on what matters most.

At Johns Hopkins University’s Carey Business School and Krieger School of Arts & Sciences, he teaches graduate courses on leadership, innovation, and organizational change, blending academic rigor with the hands-on practicality of a consultant who has led transformation from the inside. His teaching has been recognized for turning leadership theory into live, in-room practice - helping students and professionals develop the mindset and tools of changemakers.

Adriano is a regular speaker at leadership and workplace transformation conferences, including the Bloomberg Global Partner Summit, the Association of Meeting Professionals (AMPs), International Association of Facilitator, and the Training Officers Consortium. His insights on leadership and change have been featured in The System Thinker and other university publications. 

Over the course of his career, Adriano has become known for his unique blend of intellectual depth and practical immediacy. He invites leaders to replace “change management theater” with meaningful dialogue and real work - transforming the way organizations learn, adapt, and grow.

Born and raised in Rome, Italy, Adriano brings an international perspective to his work, combining European humanism with American pragmatism. His signature message- “Stop managing. Start moving what matters.”—captures his belief that leadership today is not about authority but about mobilizing energy, courage, and commitment in complex systems.

He continues to write and speak about the evolving role of managers in the digital workplace, psychological safety in hybrid environments, and the practices that sustain engagement and accountability in the modern organization.

He is the author of Teachable Moments of Leadership, coauthored with Jill Hufnagel, of Change. A User Manual (Etsy) and of The Changemaker Atlas: A Traveler’s Guide to Navigating Organizational Change – (upcoming).

A practitioner-philosopher of change, he blends curiosity, empathy, and experiment to help people rediscover purpose at work. he lives and works out of his home base in Washington, D.C., with his wife, his teenager’s kids and Vesta an Italian Spinone. He often spends his weekends cycling along the Potomac, experimenting with Italian recipes, and sketching new ideas for change over a strong espresso.