Craig Calder

True leaders are those who hunt challenges despite fears and limitations.

Profile

Craig Calder is a problem-solving expert who transforms task-focused teams into bold, innovative problem-solvers. He simplifies the psychology and neuroscience that impacts initiative, creativity and collaboration and combines this with insights from world-class problem solvers to provide practical, actionable strategies that create high-performing problem-solving teams that give organisations a competitive edge.

Craig is an engaging and passionate speaker who skilfully weaves leading academic research, storytelling and extensive practical experience into relatable and actionable insights.

Craig is the founder of ThinkClear Group, a Sydney based leadership development, research and consulting practice.

He is the author of Problem Hunter, a roadmap for leaders and teams to become the most valuable people in any organisation.

In addition, he is a professional artist, who creates bold abstract paintings and sculptures for commercial and residential collectors. His works have been shown in The Other Art Fair in Sydney and are in offices and homes across Australia.

Craig’s journey from junior accountant and management consultant to entrepreneur, author, and artist taught him a simple truth: the greatest personal and business growth comes from hunting down problems that scare you—and developing the courage and capabilities to solve them.

To become what he calls a Problem Hunter.

He has 25 years management consulting, corporate executive and entrepreneurial experience working with over 150 local and global organisations.

He’s been featured on Ticker TV, podcasts and on radio and his thoughts and opinions published in leadership magazines in Australia and globally.

Craig holds a business degree from RMIT University in Melbourne, is a Chartered Accountant, and former EY consulting partner. He has a global outlook, having lived and worked in Toronto, London, and in his adopted hometown of Sydney.

An avid snow skier, Craig is also a board director of a commercial lodge in Thredbo and a proud father of two teenage children.

Craig will inspire leaders to break through hidden barriers and unlock the problem-solving potential within their teams to accelerate innovation, inspire engagement, improve productivity and achieve lasting results.

Expertise

Talking Points

Problem Hunters: The most valuable people in any organisation

The most valuable and engaged employees don’t just do their jobs—they hunt for meaningful problems and solve them. The most effective leaders don’t just manage—they build teams that feel safe enough to take risks and innovate.

When these two forces combine, research shows, they create organisations that don’t just succeed—they become unstoppable.

Yet, most teams never reach this level. Hidden barriers kill initiative, stifle creativity, and prevent employees from taking ownership of how to make their work (and the business) better.

Leaders expect employees to show initiative, while employees expect leaders to make it safe to take initiative. This Initiative Paradox is the invisible barrier that holds most teams back from becoming high-performing.

This keynote breaks down why this barrier forms and how to remove it by embedding problem-solving into a team’s culture—so making things better becomes second nature. Building a Problem Hunting culture fuels innovation, growth, and productivity at levels your competitors can’t match. It also accelerates careers and boosts engagement of people who adopt this approach to their work.

Who is this for:
Business leaders, executives, entrepreneurs, small business owners, anyone faced with change and transformation.

Key Takeaways:
- Discover how a problem-solving culture delivers 6x better results – by accelerating innovation, growth, and productivity faster than organisations that lack it.
- Learn the real reasons holding employees back from showing initiative – It’s the #1 factor leaders value and influences promotion decisions and career acceleration, but hidden barriers prevent it from taking hold in a culture.
- Understand how problems create the jobs people want the most – what people want is to grow and develop and feel safe doing it. Learn the ratio of challenge to familiar that creates the perfect tension to boost engagement and performance.
- Learn to how to sidestep the culture killing behaviour no one talks about – Turd Observing – What it is, how to spot it, and how to banish it from your team for good.
- Be positioned to shift a team from defensive and disengaged to proactive and thriving – by following the four steps to creating a Problem Hunting Culture.