ABOUT
Our History
During case discussions as an MBA student at business school, Mike frequently noticed a difference between what classmates said they would do in the situation being discussed and what he actually saw them do in similar situations outside of class.
This discrepancy, the knowing-doing gap, and finding the most effective ways to reduce it, has been the enduring focus of Mike’s career.
in-flu-ence leadership development consulting was founded by Mike to develop executives’ actual leadership effectiveness in practice.
In addition to corporate engagements over the last 25 years, Mike has also held academic appointments at a number of top tier business school MBA programs. A Clinical Professor at the Booth School of Business, Chicago in the late nineties, he has more recently taught at the University of Sydney Business School and the Australian Graduate School of Management (AGSM) at the University of New South Wales (UNSW). Mike’s courses have been the top rated by MBA students everywhere he’s been and he has won the top teaching award at each of these three business schools.
Today
in-flu-ence runs interactive leadership development programs to arm executives with the skills to lead maximally productive and engaged teams and organisations. Our practical approach demystifies leadership theory and teaches adaptable influencing skills to implement in both your professional and personal life.
Our Clients
Client organisations are predominantly Australian, European and US Fortune 500 companies.
We pride ourselves on our expertise being equally effective in the executive suite and on the management front line. Program participants have included CEOs and Managing Partners all the way through to newly minted MBAs.
Our Team
Mike Jenner is the founder of in-flu-ence leadership development consulting. Mike has an MBA from the Harvard Business School and a B.Eng in Production Engineering and Management from the University of Bath, England.
Mike has frequently been engaged as a professor of leadership. He has held academic engagements at the Booth School of Business, Chicago, the University of Sydney Business School, and the Australian Graduate School of Management at the University of New South Wales (AGSM).
Professor Jenner was the top ranked faculty member at each of these three graduate schools of business. At Sydney, all seven iterations of his Leadership Practice and Development MBA course (LP&D) were awarded Dean’s Citations for Teaching Excellence. LP&D was the top rated course out of more than 600 offered by the Sydney Business School. At Booth, he ranked #1 out of 178 faculty teaching at the Graduate School of Business, and was the 2000 Phoenix Award recipient. He was awarded the 2013 Marcus Cohen Teaching Excellence Award at AGSM. He has received the top teaching award from all three Business Schools at which he has taught.
When not coaching or teaching, Mike is either playing in a croquet tournament somewhere across the globe, or uncovering the joys of parenthood with his 16-year old daughter, and 14-year old son. At the former, he is world-ranked; at the latter he occasionally feels in need of remedial training.
Maurya’s extensive people management experience, coupled with her direct communication skills and no-nonsense style, make her a highly effective professional coach. While program participants love the fact that she’s not afraid to call a spade a spade, most of all, they respect her real-world focus and extraordinary dedication to developing their own effectiveness.
Maurya grew up in the Minnesota, gaining a Bachelor of Science from Kettering University, Michigan, before moving on to complete her Masters of Business Administration at Harvard Business School.
From 1997 til 2002 Maurya was engaged as a Senior Manager at Deloitte Consulting. In this capacity she ran a U.S. $40m public policy business, directly managing a team of 30 consultants and indirectly managing more than 10,000 clinicians.
Additionally, Maurya has held positions as Chief Operating Officer and General Manager with companies including Illinois Tool Works and General Motors – and, in doing so, has first hand experience of many of the people management challenges our client executives face.
Maurya Rieder is a Director at in-flu-ence and has been a coach within our programs since 1998.
Outside of in-flu-ence, Maurya is the Director of Sciforma Australia/New Zealand – a portfolio and project management software company.
Damien began his career with global lifestyle brand Ralph Lauren in 2001 where he worked his way through the ranks from a Retail Store Manager to Menswear Buying Manager for the Australian and New Zealand markets. In 2007 Damien joined the senior leadership team at True Alliance, one of the largest distributors of international brands for the region, where he oversaw all direct operations for Lacoste, Ben Sherman, Nautica and Kipling.
During this time Damien has gained extensive experience leading cross-functional teams from sales, marketing and operations to product design, development and production. His passion for developing, leading and empowering highly engaged and productive teams has enabled him to successfully grow businesses across a broad range of market segments within all channels of operation.
In 2017 Damien was recognised for outstanding academic achievement on completion of his Masters in Business Administration with the University of Sydney. While undertaking his MBA, Damien also worked with Mike as a coach for two of Australia's leading MBA programs. It is during this time, he discovered his passion for creating a holistic approach to developing leaders and building healthier organisations.
Outside of work and study commitments Damien likes to focus on activities that keep the mind and body healthy. Sporting interests include running, swimming, and tennis. As a certified yoga teacher, Damien is keen to further develop his yoga and meditation practice, as well as hone his Pickleball skills and learn how to speak Spanish.
Damien has worked in senior leadership roles within the fashion industry for over 15 years.
He joined in-flu-ence as a coach in 2015 before taking up the role of Program Director in 2019.