Wizardly Consulting
I help executives and enterprising teams rise to the complexity of our times; leading into the emergent so as to stay relevant in a changing world.
For over 15 years I've worked as a trusted mercenary-wizard in the cut-throat world of Enterprise Land. My clients include the senior leadership teams of Fortune 500 companies around the world including Microsoft, HP, Novartis, DHL, Red Bull, Cisco, Johnson & Johnson, Toyota, Honda, Porsche, Sony, Oracle, Honeywell and Salesforce, to other multinationals such as Beam Suntory, Vodafone, Tableau, Gartner, Xero, HP, Bupa, Red Cross, Bulgari, Pandora, Arup, Aon, PWC, Ricoh, Honeywell, KPMG, The World Tourism Forum and The International Institute of Research. I've also worked extensively across healthcare systems, research institutions, banking and financial institutions, university chancelleries, federal government, defence agencies, insurance, emergency services, and more.[^ My favourite clients are the ones whose names you don’t even know yet.]
What I ‘Do’
I am—amongst other things—a complexity practitioner. I work at the edge of that which you sense you need, but cannot quite yet articulate.
Conventional consulting is a world of pre-packaged and polished frameworks offering predetermined ‘solutions’ administered by rote-trained consultants. My work is significantly different.
I do “Wyrd Work.”
This requires that we first attune to the threads that influence what’s becoming—so we can shape the conditions that give rise to new value (rather than optimising obsolete patterns). It’s a complex/living systems and gestalt-informed disposition, wherein we work meta-rationally with and within the whole system—not just its parts. Rather than imposing pre-determined solutions, we first quest within context, sensing-into the adjacent possible so as to find what ‘wants’ to emerge.
In this way, change is natural—and something that can be catalysed.
How this works
An engagement typically spans 6–18 months, combining research, strategic development, catalytic facilitation, and ongoing guidance. This is not executing to a neatly scripted plan so as to tick off deliverables, but rather: cultivating emergence. Adaptively, together.
‘The way reveals the way’—and to walk the way we must be alive, awake and attuned to it.
But not everyone is ready to work in such a way. Most want a neatly packaged product—even if, deep down, they know it’ll only temporarily address the symptoms, whilst also generating new consequences, leading to (at best) an underwhelming success. And many wish for a “magic wand” to wave, so as to bring about a quick neat fix to a complex challenge. But if it were that easy—you would have already done it.[^ Besides: that’s not how magic works.]
This work therefore requires a tolerance and aptitude for generative ambiguity, a willingness to question deeply-held assumptions, and a knowing that meaningful progress doesn’t always follow a straight line.
For leaders and teams genuinely questing amidst complexity (rather than merely ‘managing change’)—this is how you sidestep the delusion of progress, so as to find your way to future relevance.
“We were facing some serious challenges across the CSIRO, and as a result we were forced to make some tough decisions about what programs and positions could continue. This, coupled with redundancies and a climate of uncertainty meant that the morale of our researchers and staff wasn’t at its highest.
The leadership team organised an important event to present our vision and strategy for progress to over 400 of our people. We wanted to solicit input from them to shape the strategy—but it was critical that the day was facilitated delicately, with good thinking and deliberate design.
And so we hired Dr Jason Fox to ensure this important event was a success. Serving as our facilitator and closing keynote speaker, Jason maintained a buoyant and practically optimistic tone throughout the day. His use of humour and intelligence was masterful—he had everyone constructively contributing to our strategy, connecting and collaborating at a level we rarely see.
And finally, his expertise in motivation design was exactly the pragmatic yet strategic perspective our people needed to move forward. I recommend Dr Jason Fox for any organisation wanting to progress important strategy in challenging times.”
Professor Keith McLean // Director of Manufacturing
CSIRO
“Dr Fox not only has an impressive beard, book, and breadth of knowledge on business strategy and motivation, but when we asked him to advise our tiny company on how to best structure and nurture our rapid growth for an intelligently designed and successful future, he delivered a day that was useful, meaningful, and which genuinely inspired us to start moulding and evolving the company almost immediately.
He took time to research us thoroughly and chat to each director before the meeting to get a thorough handle on things before we kicked off, which I appreciated. Also he quite enjoys a walking meeting, which I also do, so that’s nice.”
Zoë Foster-Blake // Founder & CEO
Go-To Skin Care
“Earlier this year the Environment & Resources business at Arup planned to hold a business planning retreat (or offsite) to set the strategy for the next three years. And then Covid 19 hit and we were compelled to look at how we might do this in a virtual environment. We immediately appreciated that driving blue sky thinking, via an interactive session, involving multiple participants (160 staff) in multiple location (across Australasia) in an online environment, was ambitious and would require careful planning. We needed help, and so we engaged Dr Jason Fox to serve as, what he described, ‘a wizard advisor & facilitator-host’ to help us conceptualise, plan and run the event, ensuring that event remained engaging and en point.
From the start I loved working with Jason, his was engaged and thoroughly collaborative, seeking to understand our vision and desires and then helping us to frame an event that was structured and robust, whilst flexibility enough to pivot as the conversations unfolded.
He brought adventure, intrigue, innovation, whimsy, energy and clarity. As I write those words, I appreciate they are odd descriptors, but an online event requires something unique to maintain the energy and engagement and Jason absolutely nailed it.
The event was a massive success, exceeding all our expectations. Attendees appreciated the intimate and honest discussion we were able to facilitate through the breakouts, the new connections they established across our Australasian business, the courageous conversations, the deep collaboration and investment from our leadership and the strong vision for the future the event engendered. All of which was made possible by the careful stewardship and facilitation of Jason.
I have revelled in this experience and we will certainly be working with Jason in the future.”
Dr. Andrew Spinks // Principal Operations Leader
Arup
“We have an annual team off-site where our entire firm is brought together in-person to explore the future and discuss our strategy. Naturally, we want to make sure we made the most of our time together. Our people are very insightful, well-read and switched on—which is why a regular futurist or leadership speaker would not do. We needed someone that could positively challenge our people with fresh thinking and offer new ways to approach strategy. This is why we hired the wizard Dr. Jason Fox.
Jason contributed greatly to the success of our event, opening our audience up to deeper conversations and connections with each other. Even our most skeptical people warmed to the occasion and actively engaged in the sessions. We also appreciate the time, empathy and care that Jason demonstrated in seeking to understand our context before the event itself, and how he tailored his contribution to serve this. We thoroughly recommend Dr. Fox for any strategy or leadership event.”
Amy Mehrton // Executive Director
Acil Allen
“Most of us are so busy dealing with what’s right in front of us, we rarely stop to consider what truly drives the world around us.
Fortunately, Dr. Jason Fox does. He has a rare ability to distil big, complex ideas into insights that feel immediately relevant and useful.
Take a moment. Step back. Let him shift your perspective on what’s really going on.”
John Halpin // CEO
WPP Media, New Zealand
Where I help
I work with clients who seek to lead amidst the liminal—the messy interlude between stable chapters. There are a few domains in which I assist.
፨ You want strategic optionality
The world is changing, and your strategic trajectory is no longer as apt as it was once thought to be. A time of inflection is approaching. But before leaping to a new strategy, you need viable alternative options to consider, first.
This goes beyond mere incremental improvement, and your leadership team needs to be a part of this journey. You need to cultivate in-house intelligence. This calls for questing as a precursor to strategy.
I offer 3–15 month engagements to partner with you in the journey to cultivate a living strategy.
⇶ You want leadership alignment
You already have a strategic orientation that makes sense. And whilst you don’t need perfect agreement, you want to ensure your leadership team are aligned.
If there are legitimate concerns, misaligned incentives, differing working styles, conflicting values or the tension of hidden commitments—these are worth surfacing and working through. Otherwise your leadership team may find themselves subconsciously sabotaging your overarching strategy—despite best effort and intent. You build trust and confidence in a team by being willing to venture into the discomfort and the dark. This is how you get high performing teams that have each others’ backs.
I offer leadership offsite development and facilitation, and serve as mentor and guide to leadership teams over 6–18 month engagements.
𖥸 You want advanced leadership development
You have recruited talented people, but much of their experience was forged in a paradigm that has since expired. The new world demands a different set of sensibilities, including (but not limited to): fluid competency and meta-rational nous, negative capability (generative ambiguity), pattern acuity, poetic attunement, adaptive strategy, and the ability to rise to meet the complexity of our times.
It’s one thing to keep the ball rolling—it’s quite another to ensure it’s rolling in the right direction. I offer advanced leadership development for already-excellent leaders. Folk smart enough to be at the top of their game—but wise enough to know the game is changing.
I offer the fundaments, facilitation and fruitful delivery of bespoke 3–9 month leadership development programs that are timely, relevant and apt.
ཐི༏ཋྀ You want ‘performance beyond measure’
Everyone knows the basics of motivation—the goal driven, metric-obsessed, mechanical and incentive-oriented approach to motivating performance within known contexts. And most are up to speed with atomic/tiny habits and systemic behaviourist approaches to cement strong foundations for excellence.
What gets measured is what gets done. But—what about the things that can’t be measured? Curiosity, empathy, and initiative? Work that needs doing, but isn’t within anyone’s formal role description? Discretionary effort that goes above-and-beyond the default? Contribution beyond ticking boxes and hitting your own targets?
Meaningful progress is qualitative, leading, and beyond measure.
I offer enterprise-wide masterclasses and programs to bring leaders and managers up to speed. These can be rolled out so that there is shared language, understanding, and behaviour across leaders and teams.
ঌ You want to ‘be known for what you know’
This is a line from the Thought Leaders Business School, which I once-upon-a-time taught within.
We now live in a world inundated with that-which-masquerades-as-thought-leadership. Thanks to large language models, it now takes significantly less time to ‘produce content’ than it takes to consume it. Where does this lead? Lemon markets saturated with homogenised slop. Brandolini’s law compounds this.
But you and your team Actually Know Things. You have knowledge, expertise, experience, insight and differentiated perspective that is of genuine value. The question is: do others know it? Do they believe it? And are they wise enough to discern true value from artificial hype?
I offer comprehensive guidance and developmental quickening to help your lead innovators and sales teams be known as authentic thought leaders (in this age of cheap and artificial intelligence). Or rather: to be known as wizard.[^ A wizard is, amongst other things, i) a wise person, ii) a person who produces results expediently; as if by magic, iii) a software utility that guides a user through a complex task by asking a series of questions, and iv) a person who is very skilled or knowledgeable in a particular field.]
I offer comprehensive 6–9 month thought leadership development programs to enterprise leaders seeking to cultivate an in-house body of work, along with the skill and savvy to bring this knowledge to life.[^ For individual practitioners, I run the elusive School of Fox Wizardry—subscribe to my museletter to know when next intakes are happening.]
“We first engaged Jason to facilitate an important strategic offsite with our senior leadership team. The opportunity for such offsites is rare, and the time senior leaders have together at such offsites is very precious. It was essential we engaged someone who could not only cover the agenda, but also provide space to explore new possibilities. Jason did this and more. He immediately built rapport with the team, and was able to challenge us to think beyond our defaults.
The result was a strategy that was refreshing, courageous and differentiated, and a leadership team that was inspired to make it happen. We couldn’t have predicated this, but Jason’s unique approach allowed it to happen.
We have since then engaged Jason to help us build momentum with our people. He delivered a keynote to our business in support of the strategy, and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. We loved that he was able to tailor it serve the strategy.
Then, recently, we engaged Jason again to facilitate further strategic development. And it just gets better and better! We look forward to such experiences, and will be working with Jason again in the near future.”
Alli Smith // Executive General Manager
Suncorp
“For nearly 10 years I have had the privilege of working with a great leadership team. My people are incredibly astute, analytical, sceptical and busy—such is the nature of our industry (medical devices). At our annual strategic offsite this year, I wanted to bring in a new perspective, and to participate with the team, rather than lead the workshop. After much searching, we decided to hire Dr Jason Fox to facilitate our leadership offsite. Why? Because our time is precious, and my team don’t suffer fools lightly.
From the get go Jason was a joy to work with. He took the time to understand us, without making big assumptions or trying to box us in to a standard program. You can tell he knows his stuff—he was able to hold the space and facilitate a lively, rigorous yet organic conversation exploring whole new domains and encounter possibilities we had never before considered. We were immersed in deeper thinking and conversation—beyond operational matters, and beyond our own defaults. The experience enriched us as a team and provoked our curiosity, starting many new experiments within in our business.
Five months on, we have demonstrated new and meaningful progress with those experiments born of our conversations with Jason. The team is still buzzing from the momentum generated, and as a leader it feels great to see them (and myself) so energised
If you lead clever people and you want to pioneer, work with Dr Jason Fox.”
Chris Cowley // Managing Director
Varian Medical Systems
“We loved working with Jason. He took the time to understand our strategy and context, and tailored his delivery to match. In half a day—and with 120 of our most senior leaders—Jason delivered an insightful masterclass that was timely, relevant and deeply engaging.
Jason’s diverse experience and refreshing perspective evoked rich and meaningful conversations amongst our people, and continues to be talked about and referenced to in the business.
Importantly, Jason brought a pragmatic focus—and as a result, we concluded our event more than just inspired. We had our sleeves rolled up, ready to lean into new behaviours to lead meaningful progress and change.”
Lizzy Geremia // Head of Internal Communications
BUPA
“We had the goal of bringing together key stakeholders and leaders from our industry to focus on prioritising long-term research for future innovation. Anyone who has attempted this will know that it can be a challenge, as the tendency is to focus on existing priorities or at least those which we can see more clearly.
To get people truly thinking to the future requires a different approach, and we are very fortunate to have engaged Dr Jason Fox for this. He has a unique and refreshing approach that just works. His expertise and experience were invaluable.
Jason partnered with us from the start, working and mentoring us through concept development, communication design and progress management. This all lead to an inaugural ‘Futures Forum’ event that facilitated real breakthrough thinking, and left us with a refined set of priorities and areas to focus on.
Jason’s involvement allowed us to make great progress in this new area of investment, and it really motivated people to get excited about the possibilities and future of the industry. If you’re serious about exploring new opportunities for innovation and competitive advantage, you can’t go past Jason Fox.”
Paula Jones // General Manager of R&D
Cotton Research & Development Corporation
“We recently had Jason run an immersion session for our transformation team, and it was a real standout moment for us. He’s a rare kind of speaker and his style is authentic, unorthodox, and refreshingly bold. He pushed us to think differently without ever making it feel heavy or complicated.
Jason introduced mental frameworks that helped spark creative thinking and encouraged us to a more open mindset toward transformation and change. What really impressed me was the amount of prep he put in. Through our pre-briefing sessions, he took the time to understand our team, our challenges, and where we’re trying to go.
By the time the session came around, he was completely dialled in. He spoke directly to what our colleagues were dealing with and helped build confidence about what’s ahead, created safe space for honest reflection and fresh ideas.
It was a refreshing, thought-provoking session that landed really well with the whole team. I’d happily recommend him to any team looking to transform, adapt, or challenge the status quo.”
Adip Butalia // Executive, Strategy & Transformation
National Australia Bank
What you get
There are many advantages to working with an independent advisor-accomplice you trust.
When we work together, you always work directly with me (and with the support of my partner, Dr. Kim Lam).[^ Kim is a gestalt practitioner, ethnographic researcher, veterinarian, illustrator and writer with vast and varied international experience. Kim brings meticulous insight and deep integrity to the work we do.]
You have my intellectual honesty and commitment to the project. I am a PhD-trained scientific researcher, multiple-times bestselling author, and an experienced practitioner who has worked across countries, cultures and contexts.
When needed, I am also able to bring in curated established experts from my global network. Professionals I trust, and paragon-exemplars in their respective fields.
I work with no more than five clients at this depth at any one time. I also ensure no conflict of interest: I have no ‘products’ to angle you towards, no pyramid schemes to lure you into, nor any vested interest beyond serving your context well.
If you hire me as your consultant and accomplice-advisor, you remain the centre of the story. I’m not here to steal the show, nor stamp my ‘brand’ across everything we conjure together. The role of any good consultant is to make themselves redundant—to create the conditions in which they are no longer needed. I do not create dependencies, and I am not a barnacle. I’m here to make you look good, and to achieve the unprecedented.
All consulting assignments are value-based. By design, I eschew the conventional consulting model that leverages the heavily marked-up time of junior consultants. I do not charge based upon time. This means I do not fabricate protracted work hours for the sake of performing effort to justify longer timeframes. I am incentivised to deliver the value you seek (not to extend the time it takes).
I am also incredibly generous with my “intellectual property,” along with all the hidden labour and deftwerk that makes working together feel effortless.
Next steps
It all starts with a bright minded and forward-thinking leader who reaches out. That might be you. You might not even quite know yet what you need; but you know: something needs to change.
I work directly with executive leaders. If you need to run this by a boss character, you may not be in the best position to engage my services yet. But still: reach out. Perhaps we can plot something clever.
Most engagements are in the low-to-mid ‘six-figure’ territory. If you don’t have this budget, you can hire me for a catalytic event such as a strategic offsite or leadership conference.
Kim will get back to you with a link to some calendar options for an exploratory conversation. I’ll listen, ask questions, and together we’ll sense-into if and how we might work together.
If we decide not to work together, then I will have likely helped you realise a better pathway forward. If we do decide to continue the conversation, I will then offer some initial, low-friction ways in which we might work together. We can then explore a deeper commitment on the other side of an initial engagement.
That’s a lot of courtship, I know—but these engagements are relational. This is how we find the best pathway forward; the way that has you achieve complex goals whilst saving you immense effort and time in the long run.