“Our Senior Leaders at Asahi Beverages NZ play a critical role leading our business and setting our strategic direction. We recently gathered to refine our team purpose and had the privilege of Dr Paul Wood sharing his journey and guidance. His powerful story, insights and advice resonated with us all on multiple levels – as leaders, as husbands, wives, parents and members of society, we all took away meaningful and relevant advice. Better Never Stops for all of us, in both our personal and professional lives. Thank you Paul”

David McFarlane – GM Strategy & Partnerships Asahi Beverages

“Paul’s insights into everything from shifting to more positive mindsets, dealing with challenges and coping with stress are unique, engaging, and delivered with a perfect blend of pragmatism & humour. Paul is able to adapt his message to the audience, and he has helped our people respond to the personal and work-related challenges of Covid-19 and equally has supported our network of financial advisers to develop their business and professional practices. The reaction from our team – whether experiencing Paul in person or online – has been universally positive and deeply appreciative. Everyone can benefit from Paul’s philosophies, openness, positiveness and passion for what he does.”

Blair Vernon – Chief Executive AMP

“It’s rare to experience a speaker that every single person in the audience is moved by, or inspired by, or challenged by and just downright blown away by. That happened to me and the audience I was in last night.

Dr Paul Wood you blew our minds! Even tonight, 24 hours later, I am still unpicking your insights and trying to decide which one of your nuggets I found most relevant. Thanks again Paul.”

General Manager at Whakatāne District Council – Emlyn Hatch

“Thank you so much Paul for your engaging and impactful workshop on Mental Fitness with Google’s APAC E/ABP community for our 2020 Virtual Summit. You threw so many golden nuggets our way which was perfect for the diverse group of people we were catering to. I personally was inspired to commit to expanding my mental fitness strategies beyond my two natural leanings and am starting to get better and recognising signs of getting fatigued. 

In our feedback survey your session was the most common response to, “what was your favourite part of the summit?” with attendees calling out that you gave them some excellent perspectives and tools for the environment we are currently working and living in. 

Thank you again for running this workshop with us, you were an integral part of making our summit a tremendous success and your time and efforts are greatly appreciated by the committee and by our attendees.”

Rochelle Esterman – On behalf of the 2020 Google APAC A/EABP Summit Committee

“I had previously experienced Paul’s magic as a keynote speaker; highly motivating and ‘real.’  His change facilitation and workshop management are at a whole higher level.  Paul had our group of 35 hanging off his every word and 100% engaging in thought provoking activities.  Every motivational speaker gives a ‘buzz.’  Paul is into infinity and beyond!  Days later I still have participants telling me about their old comfort zones and their new fearlessness, both professionally and personally.  If you want to effect change in the resilience, courage and mojo of your people…Paul is your man.”

Fleur Board – AWF General Manager

“What sets Dr Paul Wood apart is his genuine desire to make a difference in the lives of people. It is evident that his work is driven by a deep-rooted passion for helping others. His insights, personal anecdotes, and practical strategies resonated deeply with each participant, leaving an indelible mark on our hearts and minds.

His ability to connect with people on a personal level created an environment of trust and openness, allowing us to delve deep into our own practices and consider how they shape not only our lives, but the lives of others.

Through thought-provoking exercises and engaging discussions, Paul guided us towards a greater understanding of ourselves and the potential we have to create positive change.

The workshop not only provided us with valuable tools and techniques to enhance our mental well-being, but it also created a sense of camaraderie within our senior leadership group. We bonded over shared experiences, supported one another through vulnerable moments, and left the workshop feeling united in our commitment to personal growth and resilience.

Dr. Paul Wood, we cannot thank you enough for the incredible work you do. Your dedication to empowering individuals to embrace their mental fitness is truly inspiring. The impact you had on our global Senior Leadership Group is immeasurable, and we are grateful for the opportunity to learn from you.”

Barb Harrison – Chief People Officer, GUD Holdings

“We highly recommend Paul Wood. Paul exceeded expectations and left staff with a wonderful long-lasting sense of appreciation for themselves as they are, yet the motivation to do more and achieve more. A very real, entertaining and inspiring character. A+++”

NZMA

“Paul led a series of leadership development workshops at an important time for our organisation. He was able to introduce concepts which were valuable to the diverse audience and more importantly, a common language and shared learning pathway to ensure everyone could take something out of the experience. His adaptable style and incredible energy creates an immersive and engaging space for learning. I highly recommend engaging with Paul”

Aron Chantelau – Assurity Consulting General Manager – People & Capability

“Paul was super engaging and friendly as soon as he walked in, he has a way with people that makes you feel like an old friend seconds after meeting him.  His talk was raw, engaging and had a good dose of humour.  He engaged the audience well, and one of the attendees was lucky enough to win one of his books.  Paul dealt with some difficult topics with grace and honesty and was humble in his approach.  I left feeling inspired and have thought about his lessons many times since regarding the choices we make.”

BNZ

“Paul was a great way to finish our conference. He was energetic, interesting and made great references to what we had been talking about throughout the day.”

Fire and Emergency

“Paul has been the most effective facilitator I have ever experienced – real, raw, and gentle! Paul can read a room, push people’s buttons, challenge mindsets and recognise the value of every individual – naturally growing individuals within the capacity of their reality.”

Annie McDowell – Oranga Tamariki

“Really inspirational. The most credible and authentic speaker I have perhaps ever heard.”

AUT

“Paul was fantastic, friendly, funny and had an amazing story which he told from his heart. It was really motivating and he was the highlight of our conference. Thank you.”

Auckland Council

“Paul arrived early and was full of energy. The presentation was engaging, inspirational and informative; one of the best keynote speakers I have seen. I highly recommend Paul. 93% of delegates rated his presentation excellent or very good.”

Conferenz

“Yesterday I had the privilege of attending a webinar facilitated by Dr Paul Wood and organised by the Canterbury Employers Chamber of Commerce, in particular to address post lockdown challenges for people involved in the Covid19 situation.  Paul’s delivery was very professional, real, and human, especially as many of us move into the sometimes challenging world of Zoom and video conferencing.  I have attended many webinars like this, as well as workshops over the years, and for me this was one of the more significant learning experiences I’ve had for a very long time.  Despite the limitations of Zoom/webinars Paul easily made the connections and had me fully engaged from the outset.  The depth of his knowledge and ability to translate it into practical, everyday language meant I came away with many new insights and tools that I can use immediately.  It will help me to significantly improve personally and to contribute even more to the betterment of others.  A very memorable experience, and I could not write fast enough.  Thank you Paul.”

Theo (Ted) Feldbrugge – Director of Total Training

“Paul was brilliant, he had clearly researched us and listened to our story and desired results from his talk and tied in what he said beautifully with our message. Paul was personable and stayed and chatted with our guest who all wanted to talk to him. His talked was totally engaging but also had some comic relief and an overall key message that came through loud and clear.”

Pathway Charitable Group

“We engaged with Paul after a friend shared the impact that he had had at a large corporate training day. We weren’t sure if Paul would want to work with the staff of a primary school, but Paul took up the challenge to work with an age and ethnically diverse group of educators eagerly! Our staff are used to professional development based around various educational foci, however Paul was able to quickly capture everyone’s attention and engage us all throughout our session. The clarity and concise nature that Paul was able to deliver complex and powerful messages to our staff was admirable, everyone in attendance from caretaker to teacher aide to new entrant teacher continues to share key messages that they took away from our time with Paul.
Thanks Paul, we are looking forward to hopefully work with you again soon!”

Chris Theobald – Principal

“Paul has a very confronting yet interesting story to tell, and while not everyone will be able to identify with his specific journey, all should be able to use to it reflect and give perspective to one’s own life challenges. The strongest theme however was that no matter how much strife you get yourself into, there is a silver lining if you are prepared to make positive change and challenge yourself. A lesson here for everyone!”

PF Olsen

“I consider the coaching workshops that Dr.Paul ran for out team at Vodafone NZ one of the most inspiring and memorable highlights in my working career. Such an amazing speaker, coach and facilitator – i would highly recommend him to any organisation or client that is wanting to up-skill its leaders , i always look forward to watching short videos posted by Paul on LinkedIn , they never fail to get me through a tough day!”

Amira Moaz – Vodafone Scrum Master

“What an interesting story! Really positive person, that clearly came through in his speech and a lot of our team members wanted to engage with him before he left, which was great (he took the time to chat with them all). He’s very animated and that made for an engaging speech!”

Silver Fern Farms

“The presentation was as stunning as usual and Paul was extremely well received. The line that quickly formed as attendees queued to receive a copy of Paul’s signed Book, the thanks conveyed, and of course the photos clearly showed that his presentation and personal presence was, as I expected it to be, the pinnacle of the Conference. The delegates will leave with warm memories and having learnt some very important lessons.”

Law Alliance NZ – Founder Allan J Gallagher

“We recently engaged Paul to speak at our franchise conference and the feed back from the vast majority is that Paul is one of the best speakers we’ve ever had. He weaves his personal story through a series of coping strategies that apply to business and life. His story is fundamentally about resilience, the inspiration and support of others and then change and human potential.

We almost didn’t hire Paul because some of us “pigeon holed” him as a criminal, or a intellectual and this would have a been a real shame. His story is complex and he doesn’t shy away from that, but his message is almost universal. He delivers his message in a gritty, energetic way that simply draws the audience in and leaves them uplifted, reflective and motivated. This definitely works with a business audience and it hits themes such as change, human potential, growth and resilience.

I would strongly recommend him for any business audience.”

Juralco Aluminium/HomePlus – Rob Mellor

“Our Senior Leaders at Asahi Beverages NZ play a critical role leading our business and setting our strategic direction. We recently gathered to refine our team purpose and had the privilege of Dr Paul Wood sharing his journey and guidance. His powerful story, insights and advice resonated with us all on multiple levels – as leaders, as husbands, wives, parents and members of society, we all took away meaningful and relevant advice. Better Never Stops for all of us, in both our personal and professional lives. Thank you Paul”

David McFarlane – GM Strategy & Partnerships Asahi Beverages