Dr Josie McLean - Hire Keynote and Guest Speaker

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Key Points for Dr Josie McLean

Nationally recognised by Human Synergistics, Josie McLean has led powerful cultural transformations within complex organisations, most notably with the City of Marion and HomeStart Finance, shifting them from struggling institutions to award-winning examples of adaptive, values-led leadership.
Honoured with the International Coaching Federation’s Global President’s Award in 2009, Josie’s influence stretches across Australasia and beyond. As co-founder of the Climate Coaching Alliance, she continues to lead the charge in evolving coaching toward deeper climate and systems consciousness.
Her acclaimed doctoral thesis, Embedding Sustainability into Organisational DNA, explored complexity as the heartbeat of long-term change. Her writing Big Little Shifts, Purposeful Cultures, and co-edited Ecological and Climate-Conscious Coaching, translates that thinking into practice for organisations ready to move with the times, not against them.
As part of the Federal government-funded NCCARF research team on Adapted Future Landscapes, Josie brought systems thinking and practical insight to the national conversation on sustainability. Her work continues to bridge aspiration and implementation, inviting leaders into a regenerative, purposeful future.

Topics for Dr Josie McLean

Change: Managing the emotions of transformation
We are all changing whether we want to or not! Change is a force of nature – it’s natural despite an organisational desire for certainty and predictability. Change creates a context in which we can learn about ourselves as humans and what we can contribute, enabling a deep sense of meaning and purpose. Mergers, restructures, technological changes, weather disruption and AI are all realities for many organisations. With years of experience working with service organisations undergoing rapid and transformative change, Josie understands how disturbing and challenging these times can be. She asks us to redefine our daily doing, reconsider our beliefs and reset our identity.
In tis keynote you will:
- Understand why change is natural and hard to plan.
- Explore the underlying fundamental neuroscience of profound change.
- Understand the emotions that are a part of profound change.
- Discover the importance of learning to manage your emotions.
- Develop a stronger sense of agency to initiate or respond to change.
Disruption: How to lead in complexity
Complexity is complex and so much more than problem solving and aligning everyone. Obsessed with opening up new possibilities for organisations, Josie has been researching and practicing in the sphere of complexity for 20 years. Reconciling the different perspectives in organisations and communities where there are many stakeholders is always a challenge. Emotions and stakes are high! We are now in the world of rolling disruptions where we need to engage people to learn new ways of responding together. Sharing the responsibility to generate adaptive and coherent responses is the secret to innovation, cultural evolution and profound change for sustainability.
In tis keynote you will:
- Identity the distinction between ‘complex’ and ‘not complex’.
- Raise your awareness about how our unconscious thinking impacts our effectiveness.
- Reflect on the different effects that zooming in and zooming out have on problem solving.
- Understand the importance of engaging people within the system to enable them to take responsibility too.
- Identity a model for engagement of the broader system.
Sustainability: Systems thinking for effectiveness
The world needs us to move from a focus on parts to a focus on wholes. Whole people, teams, communities and landscapes. We need a world of nested systems that are in constant dialogue with each other. All living systems evolve to survive and thrive. Josie brings a different understanding of sustainability and how we need to ‘be’ in the world. Her thinking has a strong resonance with many First Nations cultures. It is a worldview with humanity at its heart. Sharing findings from her award-winning PhD thesis, Embedding sustainability into organisational DNA: a story of complexity. Josie is able to teach the ability to zoom in and out, to notice the interconnections between everything sustainable and complex.
In tis keynote you will:
- Recognise how the unconscious assumptions we make determine our effectiveness.
- Explore the shift from seeing parts to wholes and how it can improve your effectiveness.
- Learn how the world of living systems includes humans.
- Identity what and how an organise may profoundly change itself from the inside out to be sustainable and sustaining.
Purpose: Engaging people and innovating with purpose
Are your people struggling to keep up with wave after wave of change? Is their wellbeing suffering? Josie is passionate about organisational transformation. Creating cultures where people can be themselves, are enabled to grow, develop their strengths and speak up with their ideas. ‘Purposeful organisations’ is a term that is usually associated with those enterprises that seek to deliver positive impacts in our communities. What if you could nurture a human environment, adding meaning and purpose in which whole individuals and teams could contribute for the benefit of society.
In tis keynote you will:
- Understand why innovation is cultural rather than a prescribed process.
- Identify the team environment as a primary container for organisational cultural change.
- Recognise the connections between personal growth, adaptation, diversity, and resilience as key leverage points in your team and organisation.
- Discover simple ways to promote wellbeing personally, in your teams and organisationally.

Testimonials for Dr Josie McLean

She has a rare ability to hold space for the discomfort of facing reality—challenging assumptions while guiding constructive dialogue. In our sessions, she has helped council members and leaders alike move beyond wishful thinking and into meaningful action. Her expertise, clarity, and ability to engage diverse perspectives make her an invaluable contributor to any discussion on sustainability and systemic change.
General Manager
City Futures

It’s not easy keeping experienced community leaders engaged, but all were enthralled from start to finish. Josie possessed a unique vision and an unwavering commitment to empowering others. She has an exceptional ability to inspire those around her, fostering an environment of collaboration and innovation... She will leave a lasting impression on all who have the privilege to listen.
President
Local Government Association of South Australia

Despite the often-overwhelming nature of the climate change topic, Josie managed to establish a strong connection with the audience... Her presentation was both engaging and thought-provoking, offering practical strategies to begin conversations on what can be an overwhelming topic within our communities, workplaces, and families.
Community Services Manager, Organising Committee
Light Regional Council

Josie’s gentle demeanour, authentic and passionate approach touched many hearts and minds. I am sure she has planted the seeds of sustainability and influenced many to rethink their ways of behaving and being.
Asia Pacific Alliance of Coaches (APAC)
Singapore

Josie McLean’s keynote was not just informative; it was transformative. Her insights and expertise are invaluable, and her ability to convey complex ideas with clarity and enthusiasm is truly commendable. I would highly recommend Josie to anyone seeking a thought leader and educator in the field of systems thinking, complexity and adaptive leadership... Her ability to bridge the gap between theory and real-world application is remarkable.
LAST Conference Adelaide

During the 2022 Public Libraries SA (PLSA) Conference, I had the pleasure of hearing Josie speak about climate change in her presentation Code Red Opportunities. Despite the often-overwhelming nature of the climate change topic, Josie managed to establish a strong connection with the audience comprising more than 150 library industry professionals. Her presentation was both engaging and thought-provoking, offering practical strategies to begin conversations on what can be an overwhelming topic within our communities, workplaces, and families. I would recommend Josie as a speaker for your next conference or event.
Community Services Manager, Organising Committee
Light Regional Council

As one of the founders of the CCA, Josie McLean has dedicated the last 4 years to nurturing and building the CCA to where it is today with over 3600 members, instrumental in galvanising a joint statement on climate change by 11 coaching bodies, co-editing the book Ecological and Climate Conscious Coaching, and having curated hundreds of amazing and impactful events. So, it was wonderful to finally have Josie delivering her own Keynote speech, on “Liberating Living Systems” (which of course is exactly what she has enabled with the CCA itself). Her speech was a beautifully clear portrayal of the gap between our current prevailing mechanistic societal systems, and the living systems that we need to bring to life instead. She offered very concrete tangible examples that helped to make bridging the gap seem more plausible than I had previously thought and gave some great ideas to go away and experiment with in our client coaching conversations. Thank you, Josie, for all your wisdom, insight and thought leadership.
Global Coordinator
Climate Coaching Alliance