About Zoe
Zoe Dryden is a business advisor, leadership coach and facilitator with a unique business and personal development perspective.
Zoe has spent more than 25 years successfully owning and running her own companies spanning industries as vast as Port and Logistics, Sports, Tourism and Education.
A Seasoned Business Advisor and Leadership Coach
Zoe Dryden is a business advisor, leadership coach and facilitator with a unique business and personal development perspective. Zoe has spent more than 25 years successfully owning and running her own companies spanning industries as vast as Port and Logistics, Sports, Tourism and Education. She has simultaneously been learning, training and self-applying the work of personal leadership and growth.
Originally with an academic background and a post-graduate degree in business, Zoe was a lecturer in Strategy overseeing the Masters in Management programme at Victoria University, before becoming a management consultant.
Quickly, Zoe’s pragmatic style saw her found her first business at age 20 – International Rugby Academy of New Zealand – before going on to co-own Specialised Container Services Group – a consortium of businesses in the logistics sector with a combined turnover of $12 million that grew to $35 million while Zoe was in the role of Managing Director.
Unlocking Your Potential: Tailored Solutions for Business Growth, Personal & Professional Development
Zoe’s superpower lies in understanding exactly where a business, project or person is at and where they want to be, and then identifying the actions and learnings needed to make that happen in a grounded and practical way.
Zoe’s unique skills lie in her combination of commercial acumen and personal development. This gives her the ability to engage at all levels of an organisation and appreciate the systemic influences at play.
Zoe elicits respect from her clients for her own personal journey, her commercial achievements, and the extensive tool kit she offers. With experience spanning the breadth of business from running operations to sitting on governance boards, Zoe can appreciate the elements of all levels of an organisation and help identify what is needed to move forward.
With Zoe’s depth of tools and experience most of her programmes are customised to suit, and often delivered spontaneously in response to the needs uncovered – she goes “live”.
With her practical background in blue-collar industries and personal business achievements, she can deliver an inspiring personal story and a straight-shooting style that is respected from governance level to the shop floor.
As seen and heard on:
mindfood
NBR
NZ Herald
Scoop
Stuff
Leaders Digest
RNZ
IOD
Training & Tools
Public Speaking
Zoe is an accomplished speaker, often employed for her impact as a woman in business, or as an inspirational business speaker for her work in Nepal. Zoe facilitates leadership speaking events and group workshops, for clients like The Icehouse – presenting Leadership in Action and behaviour training and tools. While she has well-designed and researched frameworks, Zoe’s skill in these events is her relatability, intuition and extensive knowledge that enable her to be present and adaptive with an audience – responding in the moment to the needs of attendees and always providing relevant and practical steps.
Advisory and Partnership Support
Zoe works in a guidance role as a business partner to owners, CEOs or Managing Directors during times of change or growth. On a fixed-term basis, she can step in as an external viewpoint, connecting with employees to fast-forward their growth, running team-based strategy work to engage departments in the bigger picture direction, and working alongside senior leaders to provide personal guidance as they navigate change. Zoe also provides guidance at board level – helping organisations identify where cultural change is needed to achieve their goals, and where bold moves are required during times of trouble-shooting or transformation.
Opportunities for this engagement are limited and subject to availability.
Associates, Collaborations and Endorsed Relationships
Zoe works in collaboration with many experts to achieve her results and will support organisations to build their own network of specialist support where this is needed. Her list of partnerships is extensive, but regular collaboration and organisational endorsements exist with:
- Icehouse; training programmes and networking for small and medium-sized business owners.
- Suzi McAlpine; Executive Leadership Coach and author of The Leaders Digest. Expert and speaker on topics related to burnout and resilience, especially its systemic organisational contributors.
- John Toomey; guest speaker on personal wellness and human resilience.
- Saul Ireland; Director at Zauled, who provide customised training solutions for workplace and personal organisation.
- Avatar International; workshops for personal growth and inner leadership work.
Awards and Recognition
- Stevie Awards Best International New Business category for Women in Business: Zoe Dryden for Second Base Ltd
- New Zealand Tourism Qualmark Gold Awards: Zoe Dryden and Jack Kelly for Abel Tasman Kayaks
- Chartered Director, recognised by Institute of Directors: Zoe Dryden
- IOD Emerging Director Award for Nelson/Tasman region: Zoe Dryden
- Top Diverse Board-Ready Director (2021), recognised by Superdiversity Institute: Zoe Dryden
- BCA Management Honours (First class) from Victoria University of Wellington: Zoe Dryden