The Theory of Enchantment with Chloé Valdary

Dec 16, 2022

“Chloé has an independent cast of mind and a roving curiosity that leads her to ask probing questions, pursue original lines of inquiry, and reach provocative and often brilliant conclusions. Every time I see her, I walk away with my mind buzzing with new ideas—her ideas.”—New York Times columnist Bret Stephens

Chloé Valdary has a refreshing and humanizing approach to the fraught moment we're in and a completely different take on how we can heal racial division and hatred inside our organizations and across society in general. She calls her approach the "Theory of Enchantment" — "an antiracism program that actually fights bigotry instead of spreading it." Chloé sees bigotry as expressing a deep loss of sense of self in the person who behaves in a racist way—and she teaches people to overcome bigotry by reaching for their humanity (and understanding their own). The 3 laws of enchantment: “treat people like human beings not political extractions,” “criticize to lift up and empower, never to tear down and destroy,” and “root everything you do in love and compassion."

After spending a year as a Bartley fellow at the Wall Street Journal, Chloé Valdary developed The Theory of Enchantment, an innovative framework for compassionate antiracism that combines social emotional learning, character development, and interpersonal growth as tools for leadership development in the boardroom and beyond. She has also lectured in universities across America, including Harvard and Georgetown. Her work has been covered in Psychology Today Magazine and her writings have appeared in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. Read a profile piece on Chloé in The Atlantic here.

Funding for this program was provided through a grant from Florida Humanities with funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities.