Vanessa Gavan

Location
Earth
Areas of Expertise
Communities
Leadership
Economies

Expert Bio

Vanessa Gavan is the Founder and Joint Managing Director of Maximus, one of Australia's most progressive and future-focused leadership firms, where she drives the firm's strategic direction, enterprise capabilities, and a differentiated portfolio of leadership offerings built on decades of expertise, progressive partnerships, and rigorous theoretical research. A seasoned entrepreneur, psychologist, and commercial advisor, Vanessa brings a rare combination of commercial acumen and deep human insight to her work with senior leaders seeking transformative, future-focused solutions. With a steadfast belief that leadership is both a privilege and a responsibility, she champions the alignment of personal purpose with visionary, forward-looking organisational goals — empowering leaders to build high-impact companies that deliver meaningful change at scale. Her work at Maximus reflects a commitment to advancing leadership excellence across Australia, underpinned by humanity, heart, and a legacy-driven approach to organisational development.

Sessions

The Great Reframe

Community, Government, Change Management, Risk Management, Corporate Culture

Ahead of us lies a decade of possibilities. Beyond any period of hardship, there is always a period of renewal.

The past two years have limited our imagination and connection. At times, it has seemed the world has conspired to limit our progress.

This is only part of the narrative. We have made tremendous progress, as a species and individuals. The story of collapse and renewal is as ancient as civilization itself. The world of psychology highlights that we hold on to the narrative of collapse long after the threat has passed.

A radical reframe is in order. One that focuses on renewal. One that unlocks potential across teams, organisations and societies. This goes beyond a good news story – it's a step change in how we view ourselves in the context of who we are and what is possible. Welcome to The Great Reframe keynote, where we unlock potential at scale.

Target Audience: C-Suite executives, Boards and Senior Leaders

Key Takeaways:

- The psychology of collapse and renewal.

- The power of dreaming big and owning our information diet.

- Unlocking mindsets and potential for growth.

Belong to the Convicted Post-pandemic workplace dynamics and employee sentiment are calling for a new kind of leader. One with the mindset to unlock others in service of impacting a better tomorrow.

This executive workshop takes a data-driven, future-focused view to exploring key inflection points in history where conditions were created to unlock advances at a rapid scale and the mindset of the shape-shifting leaders behind them.

This next era calls for the coming together of collectives, to bring ingenuity and technology, coupled with capital and a mindset for impact. The connecting of ecosystems, powered by insight and technology.

Every day, we are given signals and cues on what the world needs. Signals that many executives walk past, failing to comprehend that they can unlock enormous value and potential rather than leaving important challenges unnoticed or ignored.

Often, it is not capacity or capability we lack, it is the conviction to make an impact. We question, we doubt, we overanalyze and underestimate. Ultimately, we allow a lack of conviction to limit our legacy. This is a choice - not a condition.

This session explores the role of conviction in making choices, mobilizing people, and the clarity and focus required to influence the key things that matter. We will examine lived examples of conviction over history that has led to disproportionate impact. We will help executives identify opportunities to sharpen the conviction of their people through experiences. Together, we will identify and own our opportunities to scale our conviction and leave a legacy of proven value in the organizations we lead.

Target Audience: C-Suite executives, Boards and Senior Leaders

Key Takeaways:

- Manuscript for executive leaders to steward the future in the 21st Century

- The use of ecosystems in collaborating towards common purposes

- Journal to support the development of deep purpose, insatiable curiosity, and build the mindset for impact and legacy as leaders

The Antifragile Organisation We are more resilient and adaptable than we believe. How can we leverage our resilience to innovate and impact at scale in the post-pandemic era?

For many, life has been so good for so long, that our true fragility has rarely been tested. We have built an economy made up of organizations and leaders that tend to over-estimate their resilience and ingenuity and underestimate the major forces that will disrupt their businesses.

It is time to enter a new state of future focus – proactively building a resilient economy through resilient leaders and organizations.

Antifragility as a concept is based around the idea that many natural and man-made systems benefit from shocks and gain from strain – leadership and organizations included.

Inspired by Nicholas Nasim Taleb's findings and our own learning from working with hundreds of businesses, we explore and bring to life key components of antifragility including 'a willingness to self-disrupt' and 'a love of misadventure'.

In this workshop, we will self-examine our own leadership and organizations to assess their antifragility and explore methods to prepare them for disruption. We will challenge ourselves to disrupt our own thinking, business model and leadership methods. Ultimately, we will pressure-test our ability to lead into the headwind.

Target Audience: C-Suite executives, Boards and Senior Leaders

Key Takeaways:

• The risk of fragility and stagnation

• Four key methods to build anti-fragile organizations

• The systemic role of leaders in preparing our economy for the future

The Founder Within

Belonging, Government, Change Management, Personal Development, Corporate Culture

What does the future of leadership look like? In an age where humans and technology are inseparable, what does it take to thrive?

When the world around us moves at an exponential pace, short term horizons are the quickest way to irrelevance. The 21st century demands more of leaders. We must uncover the Founder Within.

As Founders, our role is to unlock ingenuity in service of purpose, progress and performance. We must tap into bold ambitions, reintroduce imagination, spark creative ingenuity and connect the dots in a way machines cannot. Welcome to 21st century leadership - a place of limitless horizons where founders thrive. Welcome to the future of leadership.

Target Audience: C-Suite executives, Boards and Senior Leaders

Key Takeaways:

- How to unlock ambition.

- Shifting minds from short term goals to longer horizons.

- Introducing imagination, play and creativity as a competitive advantage.

Unlocking Emotional Commitment

Community, Entrepreneurship, Strategy , Creativity, Digital Transformation

What does it take to turn organisations from hollow systems into connected organisms?

We are wonderfully effective at convincing ourselves that we are rational. In truth, we are human. We have evolved over millions of years, to be hyper-emotional beings. We are hardwired to seek and give emotional commitment. The best leaders tap into this superpower and unlock emotional commitment in service of extraordinary outcomes.

Target Audience: C-Suite executives, Boards and Senior Leaders

Key Takeaways:

- The emotionally-charged world of 21st century organisations.

- The role of leaders in unlocking emotional commitment.

- Nurturing and curating a culture of emotional commitment.

Expert Bio

Sessions

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