SPEAKER BIOS

The Bush Philosopher on Leadership

Most leaders don’t need more information. They need clarity.

Alexandra Joy — known as AJ — is a leadership and culture profiler, keynote speaker, and founder of Beside Leaders Global and Boardroom in the Bush. With more than 25 years of executive, consulting, and advisory experience, AJ works beside leaders, boards, and organisations navigating complexity, burnout, and cultural breakdown.

AJ believes leadership is a living ecosystem — not an org chart. When that ecosystem is stressed by fear, overdrive, or disconnection, culture suffers and performance follows. Her work helps leaders see what is really happening beneath engagement scores, restructures, and change initiatives — and then respond with clarity, coherence, and humanity.

Over her career, AJ has coached and trained more than 25,000 leaders and worked across government, health, infrastructure, energy, mining, and large-scale organisations with thousands of staff and complex stakeholder systems. Her credibility is grounded not in theory, but in decades inside high-pressure environments where decisions have real consequences.

In a world focused on AI, speed, and constant optimisation, AJ reminds leaders that culture is now the true competitive advantage. In an era where employees have choice, the depth of human connection and the quality of lived experience inside an organisation determines whether people simply comply — or genuinely commit.

Known for a rare, almost intuitive ability to read a room, AJ blends organisational psychology, systems thinking, neuroscience, Indigenous-informed wisdom, and nature-based learning to create presentations that are both deeply insightful and unexpectedly fun. Her sessions combine storytelling, reflection, and practical frameworks leaders can immediately apply.

AJ’s Steward Eldership approach reframes leadership from control to custodianship — inviting leaders to become gardeners, not gatekeepers; stewards, not supervisors. The result is cultures that reconnect people to purpose, community, and legacy — while delivering sustainable performance and profit.

She is a Founder of Thrive Stars diagnostic measuring organisational prosperity as well as a Founding Board Member of Yakuway Indigenous Corporation, working in genuine allyship with Indigenous leaders and Elders to ensure wisdom is shared with respect, integrity, and boundaries.

In nature, nothing thrives alone. Everything is connected. And every leader is a custodian of their ecosystem. AJ is know for bringing that connection to life.