Dr Jenny Smith
Co-founder of knowledge-weave®
Throughout my work, research and life, I have been fascinated with how as humans we think, learn, collaborate, build understanding, make meaning and find purpose in our lives. I’ve worked in different sectors, including banking and retail, before a career change and retraining in education as a teacher, teacher-trainer and researcher.
I am a certified coach and systems leadership trainer, working with new and aspiring leaders, so they can ease into their new roles, with purpose, clarity and impact.
I am co-founder of knowledge-weave™. I am passionate about supporting leaders to develop the high-level thinking skills and meaningful actions needed to lead in our fast-changing workplaces. My approach builds on over twenty-years’ experience and expertise in research, coaching, train-the-trainer, systems thinking, and leadership.
I have designed and delivered training programmes with organisations including the Institute for Leadership and Management and the University of Cambridge. I am UK-based but also have an international portfolio of work, supporting clients with the design, implementation and evaluation of new initiatives, leadership and team development.
My work is research-informed, drawing on ideas from the systems thinking, appreciative-inquiry and powerful knowledge literature, including my own PhD research, developing new ways to build self awareness, creative problem solving, effective collaboration and creating empowered teams.
Ari Taqi
Co-founder of knowledge-weave®
Ever since I was a young boy technology has always fascinated me. My father loves telling the story of how I first picked up a computer mouse aged 4. Rather than be scared of how machines were going to replace us, I was always more interested in how we could use technology to make our lives easier. Sometimes this was writing a few lines of code to help with more mundane tasks, or viewing ideas and the world around me as different systems with their own sets of rules.
My first career was in teaching, becoming both Head of History and Head of Year in a secondary school. Every student is different and their passion for learning and desire to grow is an ever-changing ruleset. My enjoyment of combining the complexity of history and the individual puzzle of each student fuelled my desire to be a classroom teacher. Aside from teaching the subject I love, I realised that the same understanding of thinking skills linked directly to leadership, management and mentoring. I became involved in professional development and being a mentor and coach to both students and teachers. Little did I know at the time I was incorporating systems thinking and creating systems maps in my head!
Post pandemic, I switched career to focus more on leadership, management and mentoring. I used online courses and Prince2 methodology to retrain for a role as a project manager, working with Jenny. I continue to use my experience of collaborative working and guidance on systems thinking and systems leadership from Jenny, to cultivate positive relationships with clients and associates and the timely completion of multiple projects.
In my spare time I try to keep a balance between fitness and spending time playing video games. Bedtime these days is not complete without a good audiobook to help restore the balance.