About

So hello, and welcome. My aim is to give you a snapshot of how I might work with you to enjoy (not endure) your life, your work, your relationships. I love it when I hear clients call me ENGAGING or POSITIVE and INSPIRING – I’ve always been ‘the helper’ even since Brownies and Girl Guides – I’m so grateful I’ve been able to help organizations develop strategies, demystify and un-complicate even the most complex dilemmas. I’m a lifelong learner and it seems that frameworks and models come naturally so I can support bringing corporate imperatives to life, and enable teams to understand what is expected of them, like building skills/capabilities to achieve results. At the end of the day, I really believe we all want to work at something that makes a contribution – and of course, to have fun doing it! That’s where the live life like it’s your vacation comes in. Life is too important and way too short to muck around – so let’s get the party started!

I started the party as Managing Director at Pangaea Consulting back in 2004. I’ve loved engaging and working with people from all walks of life – a privileged position for which I am blessed. Working with people, encouraging the collective wisdom of an individual or group to surface, always leads to a magnificent outcome. I love helping others STRATEGIZE and create clarity of purpose and vision, set direction and pathways, develop implementation planning and aligning the people and leadership. CHANGE MANAGEMENT is essential to build flexibility and agility for the momentum needed to change people, projects, engage meaningfully and evolve a culture, grow capabilities and align action to your desired goals.

Many of you might not know, about ten years ago I decided to focus on my love life, which ended in an online dating disaster (read I Love You, Send Money) and a few years of ‘run and hide’ in Canada. I came back, dusted off my knees and went from scammed to success by a desire to help others not fall prey to what I did. I founded Love Assist Associates to help genuine love seekers be smarter safer daters, and find authentic love connections. At Love Assist the goal is to help 1 million hearts by 2025 – so far so good! Who’d of thought a romance scam would turn me into an author! Several books later, and the relationship lessons morphed into The UBU Practice and the professional business sphere nicely: The REAL me @ Work. Afterall, strong relationships and personal awareness are the keys to success in all areas of your life. After that, starting Learning for Living Academy to offer REAL learning for REAL people living REAL lives just made sense so I could continue to work in service for others around the globe effectively and efficiently. 

I’m really enjoying doing more LIVE events and connecting across the globe with webinars and coaching. I presented my PhD thesis to a local architecture and development company to aid with understanding unconscious bias in planning and place management. As professionals it is so important to understand the complexities of cross-cultural meaning ascribed to land and interfaces in our diverse world. The pandemic and atrocities in Christchurch and attack in Auckland remind us all of how important it is to speak about humanity in an ‘us’ not ‘them’ context. Now more than ever, we are one. The desire to connect people, places and ideas (the geographer in me through and through) continues in my life. I’ve also been broadening my focus from organizations to individuals. It is hugely rewarding to watch how aligning individuals with their values and beliefs helps clarify their ‘authentic’ goals and eases commitment to act to achieve them. So rewarding. I love it!

What’s keeping me busy right now? Writing and coaching. And my wonderful family (including the lovely Rick, my Kiwi husband)! As Don Miguel Ruiz sets out in the four agreements, “Be impeccable with your word.” Words have the power to hurt and to heal. I will remember these sage moments as I spend more time on my writing projects.

I constantly share tips and tools for authentic living and loving (you might find some gems on the YouTube channel or something useful in the “Get Real” podcasts. Sign up for the community newsletter so you never miss a thing. BTW, the Explore.Discover.Grow. workshops are nearly ready – experiences with pampering, workshops, wine – who said learning shouldn’t be luxurious and fun!

Best be off – Rick and I are meeting some old friends (they’re not old, they’ve just know each other a while). Despite lockdown living, we are so blessed to live in the creative capital.

Thanks for stopping by, and speak soon!

With love, 

Jordan (Dr JMA) xx