For years, I had a front-row seat to leadership in one of the toughest industries. As a lawyer and commercial leadership roles in the building and construction sector, I worked alongside brilliant, driven, and technically skilled leaders. Yet, I saw a recurring pattern: these same leaders, who could manage complex projects worth hundreds of millions of dollars, often struggled to manage the human dynamics of their teams, of conflicts and having challenging conversations.

I saw projects derailed not by technical failures, but by communication breakdowns. I saw talented people leave not because of the work, but because of a culture of fear, blame, or misunderstanding. And I saw leaders who genuinely wanted to support their teams, but whose actions under pressure had the opposite effect.

This disconnect became my obsession. I called it the Intention-Impact Gap.

I realised that traditional leadership training was missing the most critical piece. It was teaching leaders what to do, but it wasn’t giving them the tools to manage their own internal state when stress, deadlines, and difficult personalities came into play. It wasn’t addressing the unconscious behavioural patterns that were truly driving their impact.

Driven by this realisation, I transitioned and immersed myself in the world of behavioural science, emotional intelligence, and mindfulness. I became a Certified Emotional Intelligence Facilitator and a Certified Mindfulness Practitioner, (and currently completing a course on Neuroscience and Neurodiversity) and seeking a practical, no-nonsense way to help leaders bridge this gap.

Shiftcode™ was born from this journey. It is the culmination of my real-world corporate experience and my deep study of human behaviour. It is the simple, powerful system I wish I had access to during my years in leadership – a practical “behavioural GPS” designed for the pressures of the modern workplace.