Fiona Ridley

Fiona Ridley has spent her career on both sides of the leadership equation — inside organisations as a senior People & Culture executive, and at the front of the room as one of the world’s top-rated leadership and communication trainers. That combination is rare, and it is the heart of what makes her work different.

THE SPARK

Fiona began her training career with Dale Carnegie, where she earned her place among the top 1% of trainers worldwide. It lit something that never went out: a conviction that real leadership development isn’t a “course” you sit through — it’s a spark that changes how people see themselves, and how they lead others.

Over the decades that followed, she carried that conviction inside some of New Zealand and Australia’s most demanding organisations. At Masterpet she built an entire People & Culture function from the ground up, developing an employer brand that won national awards and helping carry the business from a family-owned company through to a listed enterprise. As General Manager People & Culture at NZ King Salmon, she led the people side of a major restructure and lifted production engagement from 55% to 87% — proof that culture can hold, and even grow, through the hardest kind of change. At Farrah Breads, she reduced staff turnover from 55% to 18%.

THE DIFFERENCE — BOTH CHAIRS

Most leadership trainers have either deep facilitation skill or genuine executive experience. Fiona has both. She has sat in the executive chair, owned the hard decisions and lived with the consequences — and she has stood at the front of the room, helping hundreds of leaders find their own way through. When she works with your people, she isn’t theorising. She has been where they are.

APPROACH

Fiona’s style is warm, direct and deeply human. She combines intellectual rigour with real emotional intelligence, helping leaders understand themselves and the impact they have on the people they lead. Her belief is simple:

Change happens to people when it needs to happen through people.

Lasting change is never simply imposed — it is built, owned and carried by the people living it. That principle runs through every programme Fiona designs and every room she leads.

CREDENTIALS

• Top 1% Dale Carnegie trainer, worldwide
• Certified Process Communication Model (PCM) practitioner — one of New Zealand’s few
• Certified practitioner, The Emotional Culture Deck (Leadership Programme & Culture Crafting)
• Certified practitioner, Workplace Rituals Deck
• Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) practitioner
• 25+ years’ senior People & Culture leadership across New Zealand and Australia

THE HUMAN SIDE

Away from the boardroom, Fiona is a working artist and has performed lead roles on stage — a background that shows up in everything she does, from the presence she brings to a room to the creativity behind Ember’s art-based facilitation. She believes the best leaders, like the best performers, never stop learning their craft.

CALL TO ACTION

Whether you’re investing in your leaders, reshaping your culture, or simply want to explore what’s possible, Fiona would love to hear from you.  Start the conversation.