Build and share your clear strategic thinking and get change underway

It’s a trust and attention jungle out there. More than ever we need strategic reasoning that is well-informed and connected.

I’m Mark Baxter. I help find an authentic change description and a consensus for your stakeholders to see, understand and own.

Better understanding means better conversations.
Dialogue leads to action and,
GOOD CHANGE BEGINS, FASTER.

“Mark has the capability to distill complex concepts into a communicative journey that is compelling and engaging for the audience.

The value he brings is his depth of experience in producing communication pieces that get the message across in a way that the audience can understand and engage with. His work is game changing.”

Marketing lead, government software partner

“Mark brings two very different sequential elements.

First, taking stakeholder perspectives, objectives, aspirations and constraints into a single place.

An opportunity then becomes a reality, the chance to discuss, reprioritise, agree, modify improve and enhance; the acceleration of the original ideas, with agility.

The end result - transparency and agreement. Nothing sweeter than that.”

NZ CEO, multinational IT services vendor

“Mark’s understanding of the substantive elements of the concepts you are trying to get across and articulating them in simple words and pictures is incredibly compelling and receives consistently outstanding feedback.”

Leadership team, major NZ telco

NOW WE UNDERSTAND

The single best way to mitigate change risk is by getting everyone on the same page at the outset

The process of initiating new thinking can frustrate stakeholders and cost precious time and resource.

I work with leadership and change teams to explain change, so everyone better understands the choices ahead and conversations generate early action.

FIRST, how do we bring everyone together?

At the outset of change, it’s not uncommon that everyone understands what’s ahead in broad terms, but being the complicated humans we are, we understand in our own way. To be expected, we’re individuals. So I work with you to uncover what we have in common; our shared challenges, outcomes, roles, and the pathways that will work. A collaborative exercise toward a clear consensus.

OUTCOME: Understanding and alignment.

THEN, how do we take our thinking forward?

Seeing is believing - we look to frame our discovered collective narrative into one clear place, a point of focus for all the important dialogue ahead, a trusted foundation we can own and develop collectively.

OUTCOME: Conversations that get things moving.

A human-centred, strategic big picture helps build trust and alignment

  • Makes future change conversations meaningful, saving time and money

  • Uncovers the connections across shared thinking, driving team consistency and cohesion

  • Ensures clarity around roles and responsibilities, allowing participation and contribution

  • Captures the critical foundation agreement for for growing a wider understanding

The human-led narrative advantage will always prevail,

and now we have a new tool

As we look to anchor the authentic human voice in our complex change narrative, we need to be asking: how can AI work with me, not for me?

People excel at big picture thinking and will always make the central decisions along a change pathway, bringing a nuanced understanding of change requirements and strategic futures, integrating multiple perspectives and competing possibilities into ideas. Collaborative, high-value problem solving remains our people superpower.

AI can uncover patterns and unlock insights across datasets, proposing options, and modelling scenarios. We can use it well to shape, craft and tailor narrative structure, to research and refine emerging concepts, to help test and experiment, and to even suggest visual structure.

AI is a narrative tool capable of bringing significant efficiency gains. The trick is knowing how to apply our enduring human narrative edge, our critical thinking and connection superpowers, with this astute accomplice.

My clients

I’ve built an uncommon skillset in complex public sector, IT, telco, energy, finance, manufacturing, pharmaceutical, defence and NGO change engagements across Asia Pacific and the USA.

The bottom line: it’s about understanding the raw human elements that build good strategic information and how to work together to build explanations that make sense, to yourselves and others.

My recent AP clients include:

Auckland University

NZ Bank

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

Capital & Coast DHB

Cynefin

Datacom

Department of Internal Affairs

Department Of Conservation

Engineering NZ

Fronde

IBM New Zealand

Inland Revenue Department

Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Intergen

Land Information New Zealand

Microsoft New Zealand

Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment

Ministry of Defence

Ministry of Education

Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade

Ministry of Health

Ministry of Justice

Ministry of Primary Industries

New Zealand Defence Force

New Zealand Trade & Enterprise

New Zealand Transport Agency

New Zealand Post

Optimation

Oxygen Business Solutions

Public Service Commission

Quotable Value

Spark New Zealand

Sport New Zealand

Te Puni Kokiri

Tertiary Education Commission

Transpower

Tuhana Group

Taumata Arowai

University of Auckland

UXC Red Rock Consulting

Wellington City Council

A word on work examples and confidentiality

The strategic communications I build with clients are more often than not confidential, explaining specific strategic choices to targeted stakeholder audiences.

I can’t put them online, but I can share selected examples with you in person.