CULTURE

CULTURE

THAT

THAT

PERFORMS

PERFORMS

I’m Samantha Gadd. Founder, speaker, EX Designer, and passionate about creating better workplaces. Here, I share ideas I believe in, lessons I’m learning, and ways we can work together.

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I’ve always believed there’s a better way to do work

Over the past decade, I’ve founded and grown purpose-led ventures — most notably Humankind, New Zealand’s leading people and performance consultancy. Alongside Humankind, I created Excellent, the home of EX Design School. None of this has been done alone — I’ve been fortunate to work alongside extraordinary teams who share the same belief: when people thrive, business does too.

Here, I share the ideas shaping the future of work, from leadership and employee experience to the deeper human questions of how we grow, lead, and build culture.

Trusted by Leading Brands

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Sam achieved a huge shift in confidence—lifting our team from 11% to 79% in applying a design-led, outcomes-over-outputs mindset.
Melanie Rosenwasser, Chief People Officer at Dropbox
Sam is truly dynamic. She’s an amazing human and a phenomenal operator!
Connor Archbold, CEO at Tracksuit
Sam is a world-class expert in redesigning how organizations and leaders think about employee experience.
Brian Elliott, CEO at Work Forward, Forbes' Future of Work 50

WORKing together

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Consulting

Through Humankind, New Zealand’s leading people and performance consultancy, our team partners with ambitious organisations to design cultures that deliver results. Our focus is building high-performing teams, resilient leadership, and people-first systems to unlock growth. Over the past 13 years, Humankind has helped 1,000+ organisations transform how they attract, retain, and enable talent — proving that when people thrive, businesses perform. Learn More.

Speaking

I share what I’ve learned to equip leaders with the mindset, confidence, and tools to create human-centred organisations where every voice matters and people thrive. Invite me to speak at your event or  explore my keynote topics.

Learning

In 2020, I founded Excellent, the home of EX Design School — the world’s first Employee Experience Design certification. This programme equips teams with practical frameworks and strategies to design exceptional employee experiences that drive business success. Learn More.

Inspiration

The EX Manifesto outlines the core values and principles of Employee Experience (EX) and EX Design, advocating for work environments that prioritise unlocking talent and adopting an employee-first approach. Add your signature alongside others from more than 30 countries.

Reading

My new book, co-authored with Mark Levy (ex-Airbnb) and Dean Carter (ex-Patagonia), is a timely and practical guide for leaders who want to recruit, engage, and retain the people most able to deliver outstanding results. Coming in January 2026. Pre-order on Amazon.

Let’s Design
Better Workplaces

I write on EX, leadership, reinvention & building human-centred companies.

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