Anneli Blundell

Biography

Anneli is on a mission to humanize the leadership landscape and change the way we see each other.

Anneli's passion for decoding people and performance dynamics makes her a sought-after speaker, mentor and leadership expert. She makes the complex job of understanding why people do what they do (and how that impacts their results), both accessible and entertaining.

Humour, relevance and a knack for practical reality are keys to her high levels of audience engagement and consistently outstanding feedback. She works hard to understand the challenges of her audience and tailors her unique presentations accordingly.

Known affectionately as the ‘Professional People Whisperer’ (don't hold that against her), Anneli has become the trusted advisor for many executives and leaders when it comes to communicating, connecting, influencing and engaging with those around them.

Led by her constant thirst for understanding people, she has travelled the world and studied under global thought leaders in fields of language mastery, non-verbal communication, group dynamics, the neuroscience of human connection and motivation, power and rank dynamics and the psychology of human interaction. (Yes, it’s an addiction)

Anneli uses her vast knowledge and decades of experience decoding people, to bring the everyday behaviours and communication habits to the forefront of getting results. It’s often the simplest shifts that create the biggest results, but the key is knowing what to shift. The way we interact, communicate and connect with others has a dramatic impact on our ability to get results. If people don't like us, respect us or understand us, it can compromise our outcomes. If they do like us, respect us and understand us, it will leverage our impact.

Anneli’s clients’ know that social skills are the skills for the future - Customer service, collaboration, leadership, culture, change management, sales, negotiation, all require an ability to read people, to connect with people and to understand what makes them tick. People skills amplify technical skills. No connection, no competitive advantage. And the choice is always ours.

Topics

• The Leadership Lens: Change the frame to change the game
  Developing leaders who surpass your expectations by cultivating the psychological conditions for growth and development.
• Credible communication: Is your value lost in translation?
  Building authority, influence and impact through unconscious language and behaviour patterns.
• Finding the unlikely leader: Valuing difference and diversity
  Facing our human tendency to judge competency based on assumptions not facts. How to find, value and amplify the silent skills all around us for next level leadership.
• Leading women: the invisible forces that shape women in leadership
  Navigating the new inclusive leadership landscape by understanding how men and women see each other at work and how our inbuilt cultural expectations drive or divide opportunities for equal growth.
• Communicating for collaboration and connection
  Exploring the impact of perception and judgement on our ability to communicate and work effectively with others; particularly those we don't know, don't understand or simply don't like.
• Change matters: Navigating the neuroscience of change
  Understanding, navigating and managing the emotional complexity of high change environments.
• Critical Conversations: Dealing with the tough stuff
  How to talk about the hard stuff, without bruising or breaking relationships.
• Moments of impact: Decoding the ‘experience’ in customer experience
  Understanding how the science of human connection impacts our ability to provide excellent customer service and how to radically transform our ability to go above and beyond for our clients.
• Nurturing the next in line: decoding derailers to release performance
  Closing the gap between potential and performance by redirecting leadership habits that threaten to derail performance.

Testimonials

The question time was incredibly engaging and on point with what the audience needed.
People & Community Development Projects Coordinator
Gardiner Dairy Foundation

Anneli is such a dynamic, engaging speaker. Her unique style and delivery was exemplary. By combining humour, examples, and an informal but highly focused presentation, she demonstrated her command of the topic and gave her audience immediately useful take-aways. I would highly recommend Anneli.
Conference Project Manager
Salvo Global

At DeakinCo. we look for opportunities to share thought leadership with our valued clients and the broader learning community. While these events are always insightful, with Anneli we also got engaging and entertaining – a compelling trilogy that was appreciated by all who attended.
CEO
DeakinCo

Anneli was a stand-out speaker at our National Congress. I knew right away I wanted her for our next conference as well. She was engaging, interactive and informative. The delegates loved her style and the substance of her message with comments including, “fantastic and engaging” “very honest and compelling"
"loved the real life stories and excellent content”. Over all she was really well received, a pleasure to deal with and we look forward to her presentation at our next conference.
Program Director
Intrepid Minds

I had the incredible pleasure of having Anneli present at a business event I hosted last week and my clients are still raving about her. It is difficult to find sufficient superlatives to describe Anneli, but I will try. Not only was she engaging, funny, inspirational and thoroughly thought provoking, her content found the perfect balance between pushing people's thinking and yet giving them immediate, simple and actionable take aways that they could apply tomorrow.
But perhaps what stood out to me the most about Anneli is how she completely embodied her message. In a world where congruence and authenticity seem harder and harder to find, Anneli didn't just talk about how to make you present your expertise in an engaging and considered way, she delivered it in spades.
Thank you Anneli, you were amazing!
Technology speaker, author, mentor and trainer
Digital Communications Club

Very authentic and engaging presenter who, through the art of storytelling evokes emotion to create change.
Operation Manager
BSH

To say Anneli’s presence was a high point of the conference is an understatement. Over the past ten years I seen over 500 presentations and Anneli’s was definitely above the 95th percentile. Anneli was very well prepared, extremely knowledgeable and highly engaging. The response from delegates was very positive. We would gladly have Anneli speak at one of our conferences in the future. I would also like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank Anneli and her team - they were a joy to deal with.
Head of Digital
CommStrat

Anneli was recommended to me when I put a call out to my network regarding a speaker for an event that Women in Banking and Finance was hosting, and she was certainly the right woman for the job. Before a large crowd of bankers, she relayed very practical and logical strategies for them to deploy in an array of scenarios, from personal agendas to complex commercial pitches. She is an articulate presenter with solid content that resonates well across a diverse audience, although I feel it was her ability to make each participant feel that she was offering personalised advice to them that really hooked them in. I can recommend Anneli for teams or individuals looking to shift their results up a gear.
CEO
WIBF

As the current Managing Director of the largest professional association for Coaches in Australia and New Zealand and the former Director of Learning and Development for AIG & AIA, I have developed an extensive network of high calibre speakers, trainers, coaches and facilitators.
There are many professionals in the network who excel in one or more of these modalities, but there are few like Anneli who are able to excel across all of these areas.
I invited Anneli to provide a keynote presentation at our recent National Coaching Conference and she was a standout highlight amongst her peers and a clear top-of pack leader against the other 21 speakers at the event.
Anneli Blundell is a leader in the industry. She is the ultimate professional and a delight to work with.
Managing Director
ANZI Coaching

Anneli presented recently at an internal forum. She was engaging, motivational and thought provoking; most importantly it was behaviour changing. Her messages were delivered with humour and without compromising on relevance. Anneli is delightful and I would highly recommend her.
Local Government Segment Manager
Melbourne Water

Thank you for delivering such an engaging and useful change seminar for some of our leaders. I’ve had several of the attendees reference content from the session and have seen them share it with others – such a great result!
General Manager, Talent and Culture
Peninsula Leisure

Anneli’s session on credible communications was highly relevant, engaging and interactive. Anneli teaches what should be taught at schools and universities. The room was buzzing with energy and enthusiasm. She understands the audience and can work a room. She knows her topic and can communicate it!
CPA Australia

It was indeed a privilege to be involved in Anneli's outstanding presentation on Critical Conversations. Enthusiasm, a proactive approach and her ability to understand the reality of our scenarios engaged all network principals and teaching and learning coaches immediately. Providing both the 'will' and the 'skill' made complete sense and along with a simple, yet highly effective framework to develop our conversations within, empowered all of us. Anneli certainly left her footprint, building our abilities in such a crucial area and thus strengthening our capacity as instructional leaders. Thank you for such a brilliant presentation Anneli.
Principal
Dandenong Ranges Network

The feedback I received after your session has been extremely positive, with many comments focussing on your engaging and enthusiastic style, the highly relevant materials and anecdotes that you used and the practical and honest pointers that you offered to the group.
General Counsel & Company Secretary
Ford Motor Company of Australia Limited