About

How CQ started

As a Director in his early 30s, our Founder, Ian Harvey, began to wonder how the wellbeing and development of our leaders and future leaders could be better and more meaningfully supported.

One answer, he believed, was in powerful, unbiased feedback from competent people. Harv threw out the traditional 'leadership development' rule book and set up a non-competitive business group with a wide variety of business leaders across many industries. They challenged Harv, and each other. They unearthed both issues and opportunities for growth. Their diverse perspectives and mutual trust created an environment to deeply learn from each other.

The work of this group seeded an idea that eventually came to fruition more than two decades later, when Harv launched Collective Intelligence as a social enterprise in 2008. Since then, the ecosystem has grown to include international members across more than 70 industries, with dozens of teams and members ranging from 21 to 75 years old.
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Our Vision

To grow the collective intelligence of the nation.

A diverse human ecosystem that takes inspiration from mother nature to grow grounded people, more emotionally intelligent leaders and more future-focused and resourceful communities.

We believe there’s a better way

We share this belief with our members and our clients. It’s our anchor, and it guides our decision making within Collective Intelligence.

It is also what drives our passion for partnering with individuals and organisations to help them achieve their dreams and purpose.We don’t always know what the better way is, but we know that together we can figure it out.
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Meet Nathan Bramwell

2024 Collective Intelligence Scholarship Recipient

Nathan Bramwell is all about youth empowerment and enriching local communities, especially the Rainbow/LGBTI+ populations. It has been awesome to support his personal journey as he spends so much of his time supporting everyone else. Who supports the supporters? We do that at Collective Intelligence with a great deal of aroha!

See Nathan's Story here

Whakarongo mai - listen in!

Stuff that Matters Now - Our podcast

Each month founder Ian 'Harv' Harvey roams across Aotearoa-NZ chatting to the change-makers that make up the Collective Intelligence people-ecosystem. Sitting down together in living rooms, boardrooms and workplaces, Harv's interviews with these epic humans are raw, real and uncut - as they explore the stuff that REALLY matters now.

Podcast production supported by the great team at Te Awanga Estate.
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Check it out here

Harv's new book

As it Turns Out - No One's Got Their Sh*t Together: Learnings from inside the Collective Intelligence journey

In reading this book, you'll be inspired to start your own journey with Harv through his earthy, sometimes humorous, sometimes sad, but always true and engaging stories, of his own journey of 'getting his sh*t together'. And he's still not there!
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Get the book here

Our Base Team

Ian ‘Harv’ Harvey

Founder

Harv kicked off Collective Intelligence in 2008 as everything from the chief bottle washer to the sole facilitator. A serial entrepreneur with direct experience in industries as varied as fashion and Regenerative Agriculture, Harv is super curious about people. He has a love for reading and sculpting with wood, and a passion for pruning trees. He has dabbled in drinking beer and wine for many years. He has 3 (sort-of) grown up kids and 3 grandchildren. He and his wife, Kate, have three cats and two horses, all adopted.

Lara Blackmore

‍Chief Executive

Lara’s superpower is a deeply curious nature and ability to bring disparate ideas together and create something new. Which is great because that’s what she loves to do most. A career generalist with a passion for creating environments where people can be the best versions of themselves, where they can grow and derive meaning from their work. A diverse experience across a range of industries including research and development, manufacturing, agriculture, health, military, aviation and tertiary education, with professional skills in operational management, project and change management, and people and culture. Lara lives in rural Manawatū with her family and an assortment of various animals.

Jodie Jones

Member administratOR

Jodie joined the CQ base team in 2024 as Member Administrator, primarily assisting with the day-to-day organisation of all things member related and able to help the team with a range of other tasks as and when needed. With a background including payroll, HR and recruitment - Jodie believes there is often a better way and enjoys making connections with the wider CQ community.

Facilitators

Adam Cooper

Adam has been facilitating and coaching for 15 years. He has a reputation for creatively blending methods to support connection, insight and meaning. Adam geeks out on things like embodiment, consciousness, and rewilding. He likes to hang out in spaces where ancient wisdom meets modern science and loves a good yarn about human performance and the revolution of work. A background in corporate strategy and management has set him up well to relate with leaders across different settings. He’s studied internationally in Dialogue, has a Masters in Entrepreneurship and is a certified coach. As Director of Creative Leadership, he’s at his best getting alongside people as they find new ways to respond to complexity. Adam lives in Wellington with his wife and three teenage daughters who - when they're not playing sports - occasionally join him on his fishing and boating adventures.

Jon Lasenby

Jon has come to corporate facilitation and executive coaching through outdoor education and adventure-based development. He always has a solid foundation of theory or research to his work, and presents this in a very practical way that connects easily to real life. Jon focuses on the people in a business to drive improvements in performance, believing that individuals with great self awareness make good leaders and team members, and that high levels of emotional intelligence will be the key to thriving in the increasingly technology-driven world of work.

Dallis Parker

Dallis has worked as a Facilitator in New Zealand, Australia, Hong Kong, and Antarctica. Her areas of expertise include behavioural change, leadership development, team management and goal setting. Her background also includes systems analysis training, developing training materials for national and international use and leadership training. This wide-ranging experience means that Dallis has the understanding and the skills to enable creative and effective dialogue to shape vision, strategy and outstanding operation.

SARAH TOCKER

Sarah is a leadership specialist, business coach and facilitator. Her areas of expertise include behavioural change, authentic leadership, communication, conflict management and strategic leadership development. She works with a wide variety of people, both individually and across organisations. As a Collective Intelligence facilitator, Sarah has a very direct style and she likes getting to the nub of the issue in the most efficient way.

Want to get to know her better? Sarah features on Episode 47 of our podcast series ‘Stuff that Matters Now’.

Andrew Melville

Andrew works with courageous leaders to engage and empower the collective intelligences of our worlds, the diverse, divergent and unique people we work, live and recreate with. He facilitates and coaches using The Weave Model, evoking metaphors and stories to bring vision, purpose and strategy to life.
Want to get to know her better? Sarah features on Episode 47 of our podcast series ‘Stuff that Matters Now’.

Martin Vere-Jones

Martin is a senior business consultant, leader, and coach with experience across private and public sectors, including international leadership and social work education within a tikanga Māori framework. Specialising in organisational development, he integrates customer voices into leadership, strategy, and culture while coaching teams to implement and evaluate impactful changes. A relationship-based leader, he values trust, collaboration, and fostering growth. His expertise spans strategic planning, programme design, compliance, and instructional design for diverse learning modes.