Cameron Cross | Strategic Catalyst
The Origin Story
For a long time, I believed my purpose was to fight for change.
I observed broken systems and felt an intense, innate need to rectify them. This passion propelled me to collaborate internationally with peak organisations and people ‘fighting for change’. Yet it proved to be an exhausting existence.
I’ve since learned that my true work lies not in combating the obsolete, but in helping organisation leaders have more profound actions and goals. I’ve learned that this kind of transformative work is not born from conflict; the most profound arises from a quiet moment of coherence, followed by the consistent embodiment and anchoring of the new reality.
I guide leaders to these pivotal moments of coherence. Then, we design a strategic shift in them and the organisation’s environment to support the new reality.
More simply, I am a Strategic Catalyst for leaders and organisation boards facing challenges in their workplace environments, preventing a more profound level of success.
Learning to See
Coherence and Incoherence
My work is built on a lifelong study of integrated systems, which began with two parallel apprenticeships: For years, I designed and installed complex electrical and communication networks. This taught me about the laws governing these systems, building the physical infrastructure from the ground up, fault-finding, and responding to change. Concurrently, and unconventionally, I had a seven-year apprenticeship with an indigenous Australian who saw in me something I did not yet understand. He reminded me to appreciate patterns and behaviours that connect in nature, our bodies, families, communities and organisations.
This dual perspective from the age of 19—understanding both the visible physical structures and the invisible currents was formalised through a Master’s degree in Social Ecology; a 20+year international career in community and economic development and sustainable innovation; and a commitment to inner development. I earned industry certifications, was mentored by world-class professionals and my foundations were tested and honed in the most demanding environments imaginable: with NGOs, cities, federal government, the United Nations, indigenous peoples, and in the high-stakes world of three startup companies.
My most critical training came not from an institution, not from Google or AI. It came from the fire of lived experience, my ultimate collapse, and a complete rebuilding of my life. It was here that patterns became theory, practice embodied into wisdom, and reflection inspired an art form.
Through this entire journey—from networks to nature, from the UN to a personal rebirth—my Coherence Framework was forged. I learned to map ‘noise’ that hinders more profound success, and shift the hidden dynamics that create it.
The work of a Strategic Catalyst:
My approach is straightforward and customised as we go. It is built on a single, powerful premise: most organisational problems are the predictable result of an incoherent system. The solution is not another static plan, but a fundamental redesign of specific components of the system itself.
Through my Coherence Framework, I work with leaders and their teams to make the invisible visible. We diagnose the hidden dynamics, map the systemic challenges, and identify the highest-leverage points that enable the conditions for brilliance to emerge.
The result? We shift the organisation from a rigid, machine-like state to an adaptive, creative, living system at a lower operational cost. We trade systemic friction (noise) for effective action and a static plan for a Living Strategy.
This is where what seemed impossible becomes possible. Environments that once drained power now activate it at a lower cost, so you can get on with your most important work.
What if there was an easier, less costly, and creative way
to get what you REALLY want?
Your journey begins with a single call. In that time, we will make the forces at play visible, providing a clear map of your current reality. For some, this clarity is the catalyst they need to move forward. For others, it is the first step in a powerful, multi-phase transformation.
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I’m an Australian based in Porto Alegre in Brazil’s south, and work with clients globally.
If you are at a crossroads and believe that a moment of clarity and courage is what you need to move forward, I invite you to begin the conversation.