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For most of his life, Ian ‘Harv’ Harvey has farmed the lower North Island – his work ethic honed while caring for his family farm in Mangatainoka and toiling in his great-grandfather’s iconic Tui Brewery.

Yet after experiencing the devastating 2004 Manawatū floods, he decided it was time to do something different. Through his life experiences, Harv knew a thing or two about the human condition. He is the first cousin of Harvey Crewe and his family continue to live with the fall-out from the infamous Crewe murders that took place in Pukekawa in June 1970 and the subsequent Royal Commission of Inquiry in 1980 that saw Arthur Allan Thomas freed from jail and pardoned. Read more . . .

“I’ve always been surrounded by strong leaders and these experiences showed me what leadership was and was not,” says Harv. “That’s when I first became fascinated by people and what processes support them to thrive.”

Hanging up his gumboots, Harv transitioned from farming to facilitating, founding Collective Intelligence. In his new book, As It Turns Out No One’s Got Their Shit Together: Learnings from inside The Collective Intelligence journey, Harv shares his insights from almost two decades of facilitating teams of existing and emerging leaders.

“There are two big challenges leaders face – finding themselves in an echo chamber of their own creation and a lack of access to unbiased information. The Collective Intelligence process meets these head on,” says Harv. “What I’ve realised from years of working with leaders is that most people you admire are still likely to be working on, ‘getting their shit together’.”

Taking its initial inspiration from farming discussion groups, the Collective Intelligence process sees founders, entrepreneurs and senior C-Suite leaders, who do not know each other, come together to form teams of 8 – 10 people. They meet in person or online four times a year and visit each other’s businesses to provide feedback and critique.

18 years on, this leadership process has helped more than 1,000 people across Aotearoa and around the globe improve their emotional intelligence and stay curious enough to continue to reach their potential.

Now the secrets of Collective Intelligence are available to all in Harv’s new book. 

As It Turns Out No One’s Got Their Shit Together: Learnings from inside The Collective Intelligence journey, available to purchase on Amazon, to listen to on Audible and to read in all good bookstores.