Apricot Acumen

Reawakening Wisdom for Leaders and Teams

At Apricot Acumen, we leverage over 25 years of consulting expertise to address a pressing challenge in today's corporate landscape: the diminishing role of wisdom in organizations. In an era saturated with data and information, the timeless art of wisdom—once the cornerstone of effective leadership and decision-making—has faded from prominence. We are dedicated to restoring its value and impact.
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Apricot Team have worked with over 100 Australian businesses, for more than 25 years.

Our Mission

Reintroducing Wisdom into the Corporate World

At Apricot Acumen, we are committed to reversing this trend. We believe that integrating wisdom into organizational practices is essential for fostering effective leadership, enhancing decision-crafting, and achieving sustainable success through answereablity. Our services are designed to cultivate wisdom across three pivotal areas:

  • Executive Coaching: Investing in leaders to make wise, informed decisions that align with both organizational goals and personal values.

  • Team Maturing: Building cohesive teams deep-seated in trust, adept at wise decision-crafting, and unified in answerability.

  • Board Reviews: Enhancing governance by ensuring boards provide strategic oversight and wise counsel, holding management accountable while guiding the organization toward its mission.

By partnering with Apricot Acumen, your organization can rediscover the transformative power of wisdom, navigating the complexities of the modern business world with insight and integrity.

Why Wisdom Matters in Leadership

Wisdom in leadership goes beyond data, knowledge, skills, or experience. It involves discernment, ethical judgment, and the ability to navigate complexity with clarity and integrity. At Apricot Acumen, we help executive leaders, teams, and boards cultivate wisdom to make better decisions, foster collaboration, and generate durable impact.
Our Process

How Apricot Acumen Helps Leaders, Teams and Boards

Leaders and teams face complex decisions every day. Wisdom ensures choices are not just reactive or short-term but justifiable, ethical, and advantageous in the long run. Apricot Acumen works with leaders to get them to think about decision making, hone their decision-crafting processes, ensuring clarity in action and answerability.

In a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) world, wise leaders embrace multiple perspectives, remain calm in uncertainty, and guide their teams with poise. Apricot Acumen provides frameworks to help leaders provide clarity and navigate complexity with wisdom.

True leadership is not just about success but about doing what is right. Wisdom integrates moral integrity with practical decision-crafting, building trust and credibility. Apricot Acumen helps leaders, teams and boards develop ethical leadership principles suited for today’s challenges.

Strong teams require wise leadership in communication, conflict resolution, and emotional intelligence. Wisdom fosters psychological safety, strengthens relationships, and enhances team dynamics. Apricot Acumen teaches leaders the art of listening—because communication is not just about what is said, but what is heard.

Wise leaders think beyond immediate pressures and build cultures, systems, and values that endure. Apricot Acumen helps leaders develop long-term strategies, recognizing that organizational culture is the most powerful influence on success.

Wisdom allows leaders to be both confident and humble, knowing when to act decisively and when to seek counsel. True humility is not weakness; it is a sober judgment of one’s strengths and limitations. Apricot Acumen helps leaders develop this balance, fostering both personal and organisational growth.

Our Approach

At Apricot Acumen, we believe wisdom is cultivated through intentional practice. 
We work with executive leaders, teams, and boards through:
  • Executive Coaching
  • Team Maturing Workshops
  • Board Advisory Services
By partnering with Apricot Acumen, leaders gain the tools to lead with wisdom, navigate complexity, and create meaningful impact.
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Testimonials

What Our Clients Say

Client Testimonial

Perspective and wisdom are a powerful combination, and Derek brings both in a way that is truly transformative. When I first met Derek, his ability to offer an external perspective—one honed through a lifetime of building meaningful and impactful relationships with business leaders in both corporate and not for profit institutions—was profound.

I’ve found it’s easy to become too close to a problem, overanalyse it, or even misdiagnose it entirely. Derek’s approach, grounded in humility and genuine care, has helped me and those in our business step back, see challenges more clearly, and find common ground to move forward. He has a rare ability to draw out the best in people while quieting the noise that often clouds decision-making.

The impact Derek has had—both on me personally and on our business—cannot be overstated. His wisdom, guidance, and encouragement to trust myself have been invaluable, and I owe him a great deal of gratitude.

Multiworks - Alex Crosby (Managing Director)
Client Testimonial

Over the past 25 years, I have had the privilege of working closely with Derek. He is a person of utmost integrity, possessing an intuitive understanding of people that is rare and remarkable. His counsel is imbued with wisdom, and I have always found his advice to be grounded in areas where he has genuine knowledge and expertise. While I may not have always agreed with his perspectives, I have always respected that they reflect his sincere beliefs. Derek consistently encouraged me to trust my own judgment, empowering me to make decisions with confidence.

Mark Elliott, Non Executive Director and Former CEO
Client Testimonial

Over the past 15 years, I have had the privilege of working closely with Derek Linsell. He has provided unwavering support and encouragement as I have navigated various professional roles and personal experiences. Through our relationship, I have developed a heightened awareness of what good leadership looks like and cultivated trust in my decision-making processes. This journey has led to significant improvements in my career trajectory, reflecting the profound impact of his commitment to me with his wisdom and thoughtful action.

Adam Watson, CEO and Managing Director. APA
Client Testimonial

Derek listens deeply and adeptly draws on his crystallised wisdom as a trusted thinking partner, having his timely counsel available really helped empower me find the courage needed to completely reinvent my career and create a purpose-filled life. Through my work with Derek and his encouragement to do my inner-work I’ve discovered remarkable new depths of personal strength and creativity.

Alexander Hayes Griffen
Client Testimonial

Having benefitted from Derek’s insight in helping establish a very productive relationship amongst the senior executive at one organisation, I was pleased to bring him to help at my next two. Derek has a disarmingly simple style that senior executives warm to. He balances this with great insight into how people work and how they can work well in teams. As CEO his reports to me were invaluable in removing barriers to productivity that would never be apparent through the using structural analysis or metrics. He brings great experience to his wise understanding of people.

Emeritus Professor Mike Calford – formerly university Provost and research institute CEO
Client Testimonial

I highly recommend Derek as a trusted advisor and mentor. His wisdom and insight have been invaluable in helping me navigate complex decisions in my professional life. He has taken a genuine interest in me and my family, offering support that goes beyond mere professional guidance. His deep understanding of my career aspirations has enabled him to provide thoughtful and strategic advice, always with my best interests at heart. Above all, Derek is someone I trust implicitly—an insightful sounding board who has helped me think through challenges with clarity and confidence.

Angus Leitch. COO. Veris
Client Testimonial

I have known and worked with Derek for 10 years as a trusted advisor and mentor. His wisdom and insight extends beyond just me as an individual—he has a deep understanding of the organization I have worked for and the people around me. His ability to see the bigger picture while also appreciating the nuances of my personal and professional journey is truly unique. He takes a holistic approach, offering guidance that is both strategic and deeply personal. What sets Derek apart is his genuine interest in me, not just as a professional but as a whole person. His thoughtful support and perspective have been invaluable in helping me navigate challenges and grow with clarity and confidence.

Leigh Petschel. CFO. Port of Melbourne
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Ready to lead with wisdom?

Contact us today to explore how Apricot Acumen can support your leadership journey.
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