Strategist · Connector · Builder

Turning ideas andrelationships intolasting momentum.

I work across business growth, strategic partnerships and organisational capability, helping people turn good ideas into practical action, stronger relationships and work that lasts.

Explore the workRead my thinking

The thread through my work

Making sense of what matters, bringing people together and helping ideas become something useful.

My work has crossed consulting, partnerships, programmes, digital platforms, events and community leadership. On the surface, those can look like very different things. The common thread is that I tend to work best where there is something to shape, connect or move forward.

I enjoy taking something that is still a little unclear, finding the useful idea inside it, bringing the right people into the conversation, and helping turn it into something others can understand and act on.

How I work

Strategist. Connector. Builder.

Three ways I tend to add value.

01

Strategist

Spot the opportunity. Make sense of the complexity. Shape a practical path forward.

BGS structure · consulting growth · programme design · digital strategy
02

Connector

Bring people, organisations and opportunities together where there is genuine mutual value.

Universities ↔ industry · BGS NZ ↔ APAC · speakers ↔ members · clients ↔ expertise
03

Builder

Turn the idea into something people can see, use, join, attend or learn from.

Apps · books · websites · events · awards · programmes · content

A few markers

20+years building businesses, programmes and relationships
2,000+BGS members represented in New Zealand
APACpartnerships and cross-border professional collaboration
Multiplebooks, apps, websites, events and learning products built

Things I’ve helped build

A body of work, not a list of job titles.

Click any project to open the story behind it.

A few things I believe

Trust and relationships are the foundation of almost everything worth building.

People often have more potential than they realise. Good leadership creates the conditions for them to find it and use it.

Generosity matters. Share what you know, open doors where you can, and help people move forward.

You don’t need to know everything or be the smartest person in the room. Surround yourself with good people who know things you don’t, and give them the space to contribute.

Whether you’re the CEO or the cleaner, everyone has value. Respect should never depend on a title.

Writing & thinking

Ideas worth making useful.

See all thinking →

Recognition

Selected milestones.

Leadership

President, Beta Gamma Sigma NZ Alumni Chapter

Leading strategy, relationships, events, recognition and member engagement.

Recognition

AACSB Influential Leaders

Recognised through AACSB International's global Influential Leaders programme, highlighting leadership impact beyond traditional business roles.

Community

BGS Outstanding Alumni Chapter Member

Recognition for contribution to the Beta Gamma Sigma community.

Academic

Master of Business, First Class Honours

AUT, with further study including design thinking and innovation at the University of Virginia.

Current lens

Human-centred
leadership in an
AI-shaped world.

I am interested in what happens when technology gets faster but leadership still depends on trust, judgement, empathy and the ability to bring people with you.

That is increasingly where my thinking sits: practical AI, future-of-work, communication, leadership and the quality of human connection.

Connect

Good things usually startwith a conversation.

I’m open to conversations about business growth, partnerships, leadership, organisational capability, speaking, advisory work and interesting collaborations.

Emailalexwaddellnz@gmail.comLinkedInConnect with Alex ↗

Leadership · Community · Partnerships

Beta Gamma Sigma New Zealand

A national alumni chapter became a platform for community, university relationships and practical professional development.

My role

President and chapter leader across strategy, partnerships, governance, events, communications and volunteer leadership.

What I helped build

A stronger member experience, university and industry relationships, MasterClasses, APAC collaboration, awards and a clearer operating model.

What it taught me

Volunteer leadership is not positional leadership. Clarity, trust, ownership and follow-through matter even more when nobody has to be there.

Coach2Coach app showcase

Digital product · Learning

Coach2Coach

A simple idea: put practical coaching support in a manager’s pocket.

My role

Co-development, concept shaping, learning content, product thinking and launch support.

What I helped build

A mobile learning experience delivered across Apple and Android, designed around practical use rather than long-form training.

What it taught me

Good digital learning is not about putting a course on a phone. It is about making the useful thing available at the moment it is needed.

Growth · Operations · Consulting

Building a boutique consultancy

Small consulting firms require range. There is rarely a neat line between strategy, growth, delivery and operations.

My role

Business development, client relationships, programme support, operations, marketing, websites, events and growth.

What I helped build

The commercial and operational infrastructure around a specialist leadership consultancy over nearly two decades.

What it taught me

Small businesses do not give you the luxury of saying “that is not my job.” The advantage is learning how the whole system fits together.

Web · Brand · Communication

Digital platforms and content

Strategy becomes more useful when people can see it, understand it and interact with it.

My role

Web, content, brand, video, photography and digital experience across consulting and community work.

What I helped build

Websites, landing pages, digital content, event assets and communication systems that translated ideas into usable experiences.

What it taught me

Design is not decoration. It is part of how an idea becomes clear enough for someone else to act on.

Book

Building a High-Performing Learning Team

A practical exploration of the conditions that help teams learn, improve and perform.

Why it matters

The strongest teams are not simply collections of talented individuals. They create habits and conditions that make learning part of the work.

My contribution

Co-development of the ideas, frameworks and practical application behind the publication.

Where it fits

This work connects directly to my long-standing interest in organisational learning, leadership and capability.

The Six Elements of Effective Listening book cover

Framework

The Six Elements of Effective Listening

A practical framework for improving one of the most underestimated leadership capabilities: listening.

Why it matters

Listening affects trust, decision quality, coaching, collaboration and the ability to understand what is actually happening.

My contribution

Development and communication of a practical framework designed to move listening from a vague “soft skill” into observable behaviours.

Where it fits

This remains highly relevant to leadership in an AI-shaped world, where information is abundant but attention and judgement are scarce.

Research article visual

Research

Senior leadership & organisational learning

Research into how senior leaders influence the conditions for organisational learning.

Focus

The relationship between leadership behaviour, organisational context and the ability of people to learn collectively.

Output

Published in Management Learning and presented at ANZAM.

Why it still matters

The question is even more important today: how do leaders create environments where people can adapt, learn and use new tools intelligently?