Strategy · Systems · Technology and AI
Clearer thinking for what comes next.
Running a business is hard, and the ground keeps shifting. I help founders and leaders work through strategy, untangle complex systems and make sense of what technology and AI really mean for their business, their people and their lives.
Two decades of building and leading organisations. Still learning every day.
Where I help
Most problems worth solving sit across all four. We start wherever you are.
Strategy
When the direction feels unclear, or everything looks like a priority.
We work out where to play, what to stop and what to back.
Systems thinking
When fixing one thing keeps breaking another.
We map how the parts connect, then change the ones that matter.
Problem solving
When a hard problem has quietly stalled for months.
We break it into decisions you can actually make, then make them.
Technology and AI, in practice
When AI feels urgent but unclear.
We look at what it means for your people, customers and life. Not the code.
How I work
No template. Better questions, and an honest view.
I listen first, ask the questions that are hard to ask from inside, and tell you what I see, including when I'm not the right person to help.
- 01 ListenUnderstand the real problem, not the stated one.
- 02 MapSee the whole system and where it is stuck.
- 03 DecideAgree the few moves that matter most.
- 04 ActStay alongside while it happens.
Untangle a knot in your business.
Describe what you're stuck on. The loop sorts it into what's underneath, the ways forward, and one move for this week.
Underneath
- 1You are the operating systemDecisions, quality and client relationships all route through you, so growth stops where your hours do.
- 2Busy is not the same as profitableSome work keeps the team flat out at thin margins, and it's hard to see which jobs actually pay.
- 3Prices have not kept upCosts moved and your value grew, but your prices stayed where they were.
Example map
Ways forward
- AKnow your margin by jobTwo weeks of tracking margin per job or client type shows where the profit really comes from.
- BWrite down how you decideTurn your ten most common decisions into simple rules so others can make them.
- CReprice the bottom 20%Lift prices on, or step away from, the least profitable work to free up time and margin.
Block two hours this week to list last month's jobs with a rough margin for each. Circle the three worst.
Built, not just advised
The advice comes from having done it.
- Co-founded the Otago Polytechnic Auckland International Campus
- Group Deputy Chief Executive, Future Skills Group
- Partner and Strategic Advisor, SearchExperts
- Started emonks in 1999 with two friends. Grew up in Delhi, Auckland since 2006.
[Testimonial from 360 feedback, with permission]
NZ-India
A new trade deal, two very different markets.
Market entry thinking, partner introductions and making sense of the agreement, in both directions.
Thinking out loud
Where technology and AI meet life and business.
The first notes and essays are on their way. Until then, the conversation happens on LinkedIn.
Start with a conversation.
The first coffee is on me. No fees, no pitch. If I'm not the right fit, I'll say so and point you to someone who is.
Start a conversation