Leadership feels compressed in ways people don’t always see. Too much demand. Too much complexity. Lots of risk. Not enough space to think.
A lot of leaders I meet are struggling with carrying the pressure on their own.
Support is slow.
Coaching takes time.
Consultants need budget and scope.
Mentors can be hard to find.
Pressure arrives faster than support.
That’s where Aronga sits.
A real conversation. At the moment it’s needed.
So you can move.
What Aronga means
Aronga is a kupu Māori meaning focus, direction, and purpose
It’s how you orient yourself to the moment you’re in.
For me, Aronga is about helping leaders see clearly and choose the next step they can stand behind.
Where this comes from
This wasn’t a business idea first.
Aronga grew out of the support gaps I felt myself.
From watching capable leaders slow down, not because they didn’t know enough, but because everything was sitting with them.
From recognising the gap between pressure and support.
So I built the thing I needed
In the moment decision support. No long runway. No performance.
Simply, enough clarity to move again.
What anchors the work
I work from from tika, pono, and aroha.
Do what’s right. Stay true. Treat people with dignity and respect.
When I was Group CE of Skills Active Aotearoa, those values became the way I led.
They were what I leaned on when things were tense, uncertain, imperfect.
They still anchor everything I do.
Why it stays human
As a leader I realised good connection doesn’t have to be face-to-face but it does need to be human.
We grew up building trust through letters, late-night messages, long phone calls, and voice notes.
Distance never stopped depth.
Like many people, I also used AI as a sounding board because it was fast and easy.
But I still needed a human in the room.
Someone who understood context, pressure, and nuance.
Someone who knew what it feels like to carry responsibility.
So that’s what Aronga stepped in as.
A human partner to support decision making. When you need it. In the format that works for you.
Movement
Some clarity arrives sitting still. A lot of it doesn’t.
I’ve had conversations from cars, kitchen benches, tramping tracks.
When the body moves, the thinking shifts.
Aronga grew out of those moments.
Clarity doesn’t always arrive fully formed. Sometimes it shows up mid-stride.
The deeper roots
I’ve spent nearly 15 years working in capability development, grounded in bioethics and health law, inside complex systems.
What I’ve seen is that strategy isn’t a destination.
It’s the trail left by the choices you make as you move from who you are, through uncertainty, toward who you’re becoming.
My work is helping leaders strip things back to what matters next. And supporting them to act when conditions aren’t clean, so those choices are sound.
Decision pressure. Priorities that don’t line up. Too much information. Not enough space.
This is the capability leaders use everyday.
Where I stand
My family is from Germany.
I was raised in Auckland, built my career in Wellington, and found my love of tramping in the Tararua Ranges and the Tauherenikau River.
We now live in Oxford, rural North Canterbury, with our two boys.
I carry the same questions other leaders do.
How do we lead when certainty isn’t available?
How do we stay anchored without getting stuck?
Leadership starts with identity.
When we know who we are, we lead with clarity.
When clarity lifts our people feel it too.
That’s the work I show up for.
That’s Aronga.
📍Based in New Zealand. Supporting leaders wherever the pressure shows up.