New ways forward

Market dynamics. Human reactions.

I’m preoccupied with what makes sectors and people tick, and by what happens when market dynamics and human reactions collide.

Trusted business and brand strategist

For more than 20 years I’ve worked with senior teams to identify how they set and achieve bold new goals at critical moments of change. My approach is results- and revenue-driven.

In my view, strategies need to be clear, strong, responsive and focused on helping your brand(s) compete from the best position possible.

Together we can redefine your place in your market, strengthen your likeability and provide the framework to front-foot it with competitors.

I can help with:

  • Business strategy
  • Repositioning and differentiation
  • Brand portfolio strategy
  • Trust building
  • Pitching and new business

Recent outcomes

  • An NGO defined its future relationship with Government and other agencies
  • An emerging European lifestyle brand broadened its mandate
  • A public sector agency redefined, simplified and restructured a complex brand architecture

Cultural change-agent

There’s so much talk about changing culture, and most of it seems to be based on telling people they need to stop what they’re doing and start doing something different. But culture of course is about much more than how a place feels. It’s about the behaviours, ideas, habits and attitudes that have shaped how things get done.

I focus on helping leaders identify where their people find the energy to give the best to their work, starting with defining ambitions and purpose that really test and challenge what the business believes about itself, and then carrying through into wider and deeper conversations to stimulate and inspire people throughout the business. It’s all about capturing and explaining new thinking in ways that make sense to people.

My experience is that there can’t just be instruction, there must be buy-in. There must be a plan that everyone can relate to and have ownership of and it must lead to a place that people want to go.

Let me work with you to make you collectively more competitive, and to build the programme needed to drive an invigorated and committed culture.

  • Finding purpose
  • Internal values and behaviours
  • Leadership conversations
  • Internal motivation and alignment programs

Recent outcomes

  • The leadership team of a major social services provider recognised how they should lead the culture forward
  • A major Australian infrastructural company used story to redefine its future
  • A digital platform simplified and rejuvenated their values

Some of the brands I’ve worked with in recent years

Disruptive storyteller

Storytelling may be something of a buzzword at the moment, but the fact remains that it’s the brands and businesses that can shape and tell interesting narratives that have people leaning in for more. Let’s tell the story of your products and/or your organisation to your own people, your customers and your investors.

Of course, stories are underpinned by language and I also have deep experience in building the brand language systems that power an unique voice. You need to be able to articulate what you believe and what you sell in ways that are clear, strong and distinctive. Your verbal language is an important part of that. I can work with your marketing team and your internal resources to define the language you use (and the language you choose not to use) to bring more personality to how you express yourselves.

I’ll help you engage or re-engage with the people who matter to you:

  • Creative development
  • Brand storylines
  • Content strategy
  • Storytelling – internal and external
  • Brand language development
  • Pitch preparation

Recent outcomes

  • A large property company found new ways to frame what it does to stakeholders through an innovative narrative
  • A bank found a new voice internally that aligned more directly with its external positioning
  • A financial institution aligned its voice to its purpose in preparation for a major market relaunch
  • New language rules helped a university separate their academic brand from that of their student body