Vaughan Broderick

Innovation coach helping you & your organisation thrive in disruption | Teaching proven practical methods to help people innovate | UC MBA | Follow for posts about startups, innovation & leadership

If you're leading change in your organisation, you've probably seen this pattern:

Smart people working hard, moving fast - and still building things that don't stick, don't scale, and don't really matter.

I know, because I lived it for over a decade.

By 2018, I'd built an award-winning mortgage and insurance brokerage - and was completely burnt out. Brilliant people exhausting themselves on work that didn't last.

That experience changed how I see innovation.

I sold the business, took my family backpacking through 23 countries, searching for a better way.

I found an approach that changed everything:

Stop guessing. Start discovering.
Stop doing innovation to people. Start designing with them.

Today, I help leaders and teams make change work inside real organisations - with real constraints.
I've worked with hundreds of leaders across NZ and Australia - founders, executives, government teams - all asking the same question: "There has to be a better way, right?"

My work focuses on the part most innovation efforts fail at: turning good ideas into implemented change.

My approach is called DUCTRI - a framework that extends design thinking to include Resourcing and Implementation. It combines design thinking, AI tools, and behavioural science for making change work in complex organisations.

I've captured this in Innovation in Action, co-authored with Christian Walsh, including the complete toolkit and case studies from 300+ real-world projects.

What happens when you work this way:
→ Solve the right problems before committing resources
→ Teams align with clarity, not pressure
→ Change actually sticks

If you're tired of workshops that go nowhere, pilots that never scale, and good ideas dying in PowerPoint - I understand.

There is a better way.

I know because I've lived both.

INNOVATION IN ACTION (Book)
A practical system for solving the right problems and creating lasting change.

"The essential playbook for turning ideas into impact."
Jeremy Utley, Stanford d.school

"A book for people tired of innovation theatre."
David J. Bland, Co-author, Testing Business Ideas

“This is a book that helps you not just innovate, but truly change systems for good.”
David Meates, MNZM (Ex NZ Health CEO) 

→ Join the waitlist: https://innovationinactionbook.com

FUTURE-STATE THINKING NEWSLETTER
Weekly insights on design thinking, AI & behavioural science.
→ Subscribe: https://vaughanbroderick.com

CONSULTING · WORKSHOPS · TRAINING
Advisory, workshops, and training to move from stuck ideas to implemented change.
→ Get in touch: https://vaughanbroderick.com/connect/

Research Associate

Co-authoring academic research papers on innovation and design thinking.

Vaughan Broderick 🦆🌳

Susanne Ekström

I Coach CEOs to Build Winning Companies Where People 💜 to Work (SME:s) | +$30M Client Profit Generated | Top Ranked Management & Leadership Creator Globally (#1 in Sweden) | Serial Entrepreneur

💡 Are you enthusiastic about waking up in the morning to be the master strategist of your company, or are you dreading another day spent fighting fires and not getting anything significant done?

👋 Hey! I'm Susanne, a CEO Coach, entrepreneur, #1 international bestselling author, and the founder of BeASmarterLeader and SEE Management.

𝐌𝐲 𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧: To guide CEOs like you in reaching the top of your game.
I specialize in turning your big business dreams into reality, making your company richer, your team happier, and your business more robust.
And if you're up for it, we'll boost your bottom line by $499k in 99 days.


𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐈 𝐆𝐨𝐭 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞: Back in 2001, life was amazing. I co-owned a big Swedish dot.com company and started our Netherlands office. I invested my heart, time, and money into it. But then, everything fell apart when the company went bankrupt. I lost everything, and it was devastating—going from a dream job to no job at all.


𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐖𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐖𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠: We made these 4 epic failures!
⛔ We didn't delegate effectively
⛔ We weren't ready for massive growth
⛔ We didn't have streamlined processes in place
⛔ We, the C-Suite, stopped listening to our people


𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝: Combining 20+ years in management consulting, over a decade in leadership, and hard-earned lessons from my dot.com collapse led me to develop a foolproof system to help CEOs like you:
✅ Boost your profits
✅ Keep your best people
✅ 'Buy back' +8 hours a week
✅ Build a scalable business model for growth


Great leaders aren't born; they're made.
True transformation can be challenging, so I've designed my system to help you save time, reach your potential, and become a top-notch CEO. 


𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐎𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫: Strategies to:
⭐ 'Buy back' your time so you can lead, not be 'all-over the place'
⭐ Create a CEO role that you'll absolutely LOVE having
⭐ Create space for innovation & big-picture planning
⭐ Create trust, structure, and sustainable growth
⭐ Build a winning, scalable company culture



𝐌𝐲 𝐅𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬: CEOs of SME companies on the U.S. East Coast, Canada, and Europe.
But why is this Swedish lady targeting the U.S. and Canada?
The mindset around the importance and value of a coach differs in the US and Canada from the rest of the world. I also love to speak English.
𝘚𝘔𝘌 = 𝘚𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘔𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘶𝘮-𝘴𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘥 𝘌𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘦


𝐍𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐩: Book a 15-minute Opportunity Call today!
👉 https://calendly.com/susanne-ekstrom/15mincall

Susanne Ekström
📞 +46 70 205 40 44
✉ susanne@beasmarterleader.com
🌐 www.beasmarterleader.com

Founder & CEO | BeaSmarterLeader

🔥 We help CEOs and Owners of Companies with $5-20 Million in Revenue, Strategically Work ON the Business Instead of Being Stuck IN it.

BeaSmarterLeader is 100% dedicated to helping CEOs and Owners across dynamic industries scale business operations and obtain unparalleled marketplace advantages to unlock transformative, growth-driven futures.

As the Founder & CEO, I work confidently with you while providing all of the dynamic tools and coaching methodologies required to take your business to the next level with The CEO Profit System!

Ultimately, I’m here to help enable the conditions for your peak performance, and you'll drive your business forward in ways previously unimagined. Sign up today to double your profits and cut your daily workload by 50% in less than 4 weeks!

👉 www.beasmarterleader.com/ceopsli (With a Large Discount)

Are meetings making you money... OR costing you? 
 
I'm pretty frankly really frustrated with how we treat our people's time when it comes to meetings. 
 
If you were a machine that stopped, we would try to fix you (the machine) asap to keep production flowing, BUT we tend not to have any problem inviting people to meetings without questioning how much of their time we consume. 
 
Even worse, if we don't have a clear goal and agenda for the meeting, people will feel frustrated and stressed. 
 
Cutting down the number of meetings and/or meeting time is one successful way in which you can: 
 
✅ Reduce costs 
✅ Delete the frustration of boring meetings 
✅ Make your business more productive & profitable 
 
...at the same time. 
 
A study at Bain & Company found that a single weekly meeting of mid-level managers costs one organization $15 million annually! 
 
Do you think those meetings generated more than $15 million annually? 
 
Are the meetings within your company making or costing you money? 💜 

👉 Anything you'd add?

I Coach CEOs to Build Winning Companies Where People Love to Work (SMEs) | +$30M Client Profit Generated in the Last 5 Years | #1 International Best-Selling Author | Serial Entrepreneur

CEOs: You make million-dollar decisions...
...but are you treating your own time like a 10x growth lever?

Most leaders think they are stuck in "2x tasks" (incremental growth).
The reality? Most are stuck in 0x tasks.

If your revenue is $8M–$20M, your time is worth ~$2,000 per hour.
But you're likely spending it on "low-leverage" tasks that yield $0 in new value.

𝗟𝗲𝘁’𝘀 𝗿𝘂𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗵 𝗼𝗻 "𝗕𝘂𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗕𝗮𝗰𝗸" 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝟭𝟬𝘅 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗽:
💰 CEO Effect: Reclaiming 8 hours a week = $16,000 in unlocked value every week.

💰 C-Suite Effect: If 5 leaders reclaim 8 hours (at $500/hr), that’s $20,000 per week.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝗻𝗻𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁?
That’s $1.8M in leadership capacity currently being "leaked" into zero-ROI low-value busy-work.

𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝟭𝟬𝘅 𝗦𝗵𝗶𝗳𝘁:
↠ Stop doing the "0x" low-leverage tasks that don't move the needle.

↠ Reinvest those 48+ hours into the 20% that creates 10x momentum.

↠ Watch your impact 10x as you ditch your "Firefighter" mode.

👉 What is one low-leverage task you are doing today that provides $0 in growth?

PS. You can't build a 10x future while living on a 0x schedule. 💜

CEOs, are you driving your top talent away without even realizing it? 
My teenage basketball experience taught me a crucial lesson. 👇 
 
As a teen, I loved basketball and played on my high school team every day. 
 
I wanted to play guard, but my coach told me to play center because I'm tall. 
 
He didn't explain why I couldn't play guard, and I slowly started performing worse and worse because I felt I was not good enough. 
 
I had low self-esteem, felt anxious to attend training, and was no longer motivated to play. 
 
One day, I just quit the team and never came back. 
 
I have never ever played again since then. 
 
I deeply regret not speaking up then, but I learned a priceless lesson about leadership and communication. 
 
Great leaders aren't just bosses; they are listeners. 
 
〰️Don't TELL people what to do. 
〰️Instead, ASK for their opinion & LISTEN to the answer. 
 
And... that's what my basketball coach didn't do.
He didn't ask for my opinion. 
 
Because of poor leadership, he allowed a motivated team player to gradually become unmotivated and then leave the team, never to play basketball again. 
 
I often say that CULTURE EATS STRATEGY* for breakfast any day of the week. 
 
If you don't listen to your team about their ideas and problems, you won’t win many matches. 
 
 
👉 Anything you'd add? 
 
* Quote from Peter Drucker

Are you planning your agendas, or are your meetings a time-suck?

Lisa, a CEO with 85 employees, conducted many meetings that kept her busy almost all week.

When she had some time in between the meetings, she had a line of employees who wanted to:

💢 ask questions
💢 get her decision on a specific matter

She rarely had time to work on her essential tasks during office hours.

WHAT DID WE DO?

We:
〰️ Drastically decreased the meeting time
〰️ Implemented the tips for crafting a "Killer" agenda


THE RESULTS WERE:
✅ 45% more free time in just 3 weeks
✅ Better prepared, motivated participants
✅ Enhanced accountability/results pre & post meetings

...& this was just the first step on our list for her & her people to be more productive.

Do you want to be the next Lisa? 💜
Send me a DM with the word "Killer."


👉 Anything you'd add?

How to Design a Killer Agenda

AI is not the reason leadership feels so demanding.
AI is the light that shows us we are still trying to lead like 'Commanders of a rigid stone cathedral.'

In my talk last Thursday, I shared why this old model is failing.
A cathedral is, by design, slow and heavy & it's now beginning to crack as the world changes faster because it relies too much on the person at the top holding it all together.

We need to transition from the cathedral to something more like a biological colony.

This evolution starts with creating a company 'shared brain' for your team, because information should not be trapped in system/organizational silos or in your head alone.

In a colony, knowledge flows to everyone instantly & this allows your team to stop waiting for your permission.

AI is the nervous system that enables this.

It manages the shared brain and handles the invisible coordination that usually drains our energy.
It frees us from being the bottleneck, allowing us to fully focus on the judgment that matters.

When you stop trying to hold up 'the roof' by yourself, you finally have the time and headspace to lead.

This change is the main focus of my latest book, Smarter Leadership with AI.
It is about designing a way to lead that works like a living organism rather than a static building.

You'll find the link to my speech and the book in the comments.

Imagine being a CEO and having hours back in your day. Unthinkable? 
Here is the reality... 👇 
 
❌ 𝗗𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗛𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀:
↳ Micromanage employees 
↳ Fail to delegate effectively 
↳ Fail to prioritize your calendar 
↳ Spend much time on low-priority tasks 
↳ Attend meetings without a clear agenda 
 
✅ 𝗖𝗹𝗮𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗱 𝗛𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀: 
↳ Paint the big picture for your company 
↳ Develop & execute a strategic plan 
↳ Build a kickass company culture 
↳ Lead & inspire by example 
↳ Recruit & nurture talent 
 
 
And...
DITCH the Chief Problem Solver hat! 💜 
 
 
👉 Anything you'd add?

𝗗𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗛𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀
- Avoiding hard conversations, Westley Harnett
- Too many "priorities" at once, Jill Avey

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