About Purpose in Practice

I bridge the gap between strategic thinking and practical implementation for purpose-driven organisations.

I'm not bringing you a template from five previous clients. Instead, I craft a sense-making process with you, creating customised approaches that respect your purpose, culture and context.

ABOUT PAUL BOWERS

Seasoned leader, clear thinker, certified coach, practical implementer

I’m passionate about the intersections of strategy, governance, culture and leadership. I love being a thinking partner co-creating new ideas, and I excel at building the cultures and systems that lead to success.

I spent 20 years creating museum experiences on science, social history and art, and leading teams through complex public value projects. I then ran a national sustainability organisation as CEO and acted as Interim COO for a Cemetery Trust. I’ve been consulting to purposeful organisations ever since. My full career CV is on LinkedIn.

  • First Class Honours degree in chemistry and a Masters in science communication

  • Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors’ Company Directors course

  • IECL Level 1 Certification in Organisational Coaching - Verify

  • Chair of Governance Committee and Non-Exec Director of the Abbotsford Convent Foundation.

VALUES

  • Create no dependency: leave clients stronger.

  • Craft, not theory. (Practice that’s useful beats practice that’s peer-reviewed.)

  • Kindness above all else. No-one’s thriving unless everyone’s thriving.

  • Always was, always will be, Aboriginal land.

CORE STRENGTHS

  • Practical strategist: Thinker and synthesiser, balancing creativity with practicality

  • Fresh perspectives: Reframing challenges to reveal new solutions and opportunities

  • Masterful facilitation: Creating environments that balance safety and productive tension

  • Cross-sector experience translator: Bridging NFP/purpose-driven and commercial realities

  • Coaching mindset and skill: Believing in potential, reducing the interference that blocks people and teams from thriving

MY APPROACH

I believe strategy becomes real only through conversations and actions. My work focuses on creating the safe spaces needed for honest dialogue, coupled with the practical tools that transform aspirations into achievable plans.

“Paul facilitated a Board and Executive Strategic Planning workshop for NMHPA. We are a relatively new organisation and his insights gained from former leadership positions, including that of CEO, were invaluable to our organisation and to the success of the workshop. Paul invested time in understanding our organisation including mission, values and staff feedback on their experience working with NMHPA. Paul's style is collaborative, thoughtful and results driven.  He is genuinely interested in making a difference to the organisations he works with and is generous in sharing his experience and reflections. The road map, tailored to NMHPA priority areas, continues to guide the organisation forward.” 

Denise Heinjus OAM
Chair of the Board of Directors, Nursing Midwifery Health Program Australia (NMHPA)

CLIENT TESTIMONIALS

“I engaged Paul to work with me on developing Operational Plans and some fit for purpose reporting frameworks linked to these for both me and my Board. I gave Paul a brief with some non-negotiable requirements I wanted to include from my perspective and also asked him to work closely with my Leadership Team to ensure the format and content would be purposeful for them, detailed and comprehensive enough to be easy to follow, whilst at the same time not being cumbersome to keep up to do date and report on. Paul absolutely exceeded all of my expectations and made a very complex task appear easy to undertake. Paul delivered above and beyond on every aspect of the brief and was exceptional at engaging and getting buy in from every stakeholder each step of the way. It is evident that Paul is very purpose driven in his work and has a very high standard of quality, and was also exceptionally skilled at listening to our specific needs and working out a tailored approach that works best for our organisation as opposed to a one size fits all approach. The feedback from myself and my team was unanimous; Paul was a delight to work with, and we could not be happier with the calibre of the end product.” 

CEO
Multicultural Aged Care Provider

“Our organisation was formed as a result of a merger with a like partner bringing together a large and very complex array of community and educational services. Paul was engaged to provide a development program for the new organisation’s Executive Leadership Team to equip the team to lead the transformation process and capitalise on the benefits of the merger. Paul’s insightful, forthright and human approach was well matched to our needs as a values-driven, people focused, organisation. His guidance and challenge were highly valued, tangibly equipping the ELT to effectively transform two organisations and cultures into one, plus more. I would highly recommend Paul’s approach, which we found exemplary in developing a high performing team in a complex environment.” 

CEO
Large community and educational services provider, regional Victoria.

OUR STEPS TO SUCCESS

Strategy as sense-making

Step 1.

Listen with compassion

Meeting you where you are, not where you "should" be

Step 2.

Innovate together

Facilitating spaces where all voices contribute

Step 3.

Take decisions

Create certainty, communicate with clarity

Step 4.

Build capability

Crafting tools and growing leaders to navigate both current reality and future horizons

Step 5.

Support

Providing guidance through implementation with patience and adaptability