We turn conviction into capacity.
Atlas & Crown is a strategy and advisory firm guiding institutions through complexity with soul and structure. From equity-centered planning to infrastructure diagnostics and executive coaching, we help organizations do more than state their values—we help them build systems that reflect them.
Insight & Thought Leadership
Strategy & Systems
How to Build a DEIB Scorecard
The strongest equity efforts don’t live across ten dashboards. They live on a single scorecard that sets priorities, clarifies tradeoffs, and keeps budgets honest. One page can shift an entire institution when it becomes the anchor for every meeting and decision.
Reducing time to first action
Plans are only as credible as the speed with which they become visible. The gap between strategy and first action reveals whether leadership is serious or stalling. Trust builds when change shows up quickly in the student and staff experience.
Budget logic for equity
Write a description for this tab and include information that will interest site visitors. For example if you are using tabs to show different services write about what makes this service unique. If you are using tabs to display restaurant items write about what makes a specific dish particularly worthwhile or delicious.
Metrics & Evidence
Understanding the Equity & Infrastructure
The Equity Infrastructure Index distills complexity into clarity: one composite score, three moves, ninety days of action. Data is only valuable when it simplifies decisions and accelerates momentum. Simplicity, not volume, makes equity durable.
Retire vanity metrics
Activity counts don’t change minds—or budgets. What matters are the outcome measures leaders actually use to decide. Keep the seven that drive action, and retire the rest as noise.
Missing data, real decisions
Every institution has blind spots. Progress doesn’t wait for perfect data—it requires transparent scoring and honest choices. Unknowns should be acknowledged, not ignored, so leaders can move forward with integrity.
Leadership & Communications
Crisis scripts that lower heat
Moments of pressure are when words carry the most risk. The right script doesn’t add noise—it calms, protects trust, and keeps equity credible. Say less, let every word matter.
Governance that sticks
Real governance is proven in turnover. Structures like roles, RACI charts, and steady cadence make equity work resilient when leaders change. Institutions that last engineer accountability into the design.
Turning skeptics into champions
Executives aren’t persuaded by slogans, but by clarity. Plain-language narratives that link equity to risk, return, and reputation open doors where resistance once stood. The right story moves boards from caution to commitment.
We partnered with Atlas & Crown a year ago; they were instrumental in my enterprise's growth.
- Jane Smith
