THC - Ben Williams
🌿 The Human CV: Ben Williams - Sustainability Nerd, Human-Centered Challenger, SDGs 8 & 12
Ben Williams is not your typical PhD student.
He’s been a soldier, a strategist, and a sustainability researcher. Now, he is a sharp-witted critic of surface-level change. His mind loves psychology, leadership, and lived organisational chaos - so that he can ask: “Why are we still doing it that way?”
Ben's generation grew up watching corporations say all the right things while doing all the wrong ones. Where others turn off, Ben turns toward the challenge. Whether he’s researching market-shaping theory or carving pāua shell pendants, he moves with the kind of clarity that comes from discomfort turned into purpose.
Where others see rules, Ben sees choices.
Where others see business as usual, Ben sees systems to be changed.
🧭 Sustainable Development Goals
#8 - Decent Work & Economic Growth #12 - Responsible Consumption & Production
📚 What He Actually Does
PhD researcher exploring market-shaping for sustainability in the construction sector
Consultant on change leadership, neurodiversity, and AI readiness in organisations
Public speaker and facilitator across environmental psychology, systemic change, and Gen Z insights
Jewellery maker, Russian fudge enthusiast, part-time philosopher
🤓 His lens:
Organisational change as ecosystem shaping
Sustainability as systemic, not superficial
Real leadership is about people - not rules, protocols, or spreadsheets
He’s curious about how laws and incentives reward unsustainable behaviour - and how that could change.
Quote to remember: “The rules don’t reward you for doing the right thing. They reward you for doing the profitable thing. That has to change.”
💬 What He Believes
Decent work is meaningful work - not just tolerable work
Kindness beats politeness every time
We already judge - what matters is judging with care and context
To change anything at scale, you need systems thinking, not just individual will
🧩 Personal Quirks & Side Projects
Makes pāua shell jewellery: “A broken shell becomes a beautiful pendant - sounds like leadership to me.”
Sends homemade Russian fudge to friends and family around the country
Researches while consulting. Works while playing. Believes the personal is political.
🌍 What He Sees in His Generation
Deep cynicism, born from marketing BS and performative “progress”
A hunger for meaning and transparency
A refusal to trust companies that don’t earn it
A rejection of outdated rules - especially when they don’t make sense
📣 Who Ben Is Calling In
Organisations ready to get real about sustainability - not just stick labels on it
Teams curious about the psychology of AI adoption and ethical tech use
Leaders and educators navigating neurodiversity in the workplace
Builders of meaningful systems - from policy to people practices
Email benjamin.williams@pg.canterbury.ac.nz
LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/benjamin-williams-286896207/
📍 See more Human CVs at thehumancv.com