Connected Leadership: Wisdom for Women Who Lead | Aotearoa NZ Book Launch
Join us online or in-person
‘An empowering read for women who reject playing by outdated rules. Smart, practical, and motivational.’
– Rt Hon Helen Clark, Former Prime Minister of New Zealand
You are warmly invited to join the Connected Leadership Community for the launch of Sue Watson’s new book, Connected Leadership: Wisdom for Women Who Lead.
This special afternoon brings together women across our community for a thoughtful and celebratory event with Sue, including a book reading, author conversation, book signings and sales, and shared afternoon tea.
At the heart of Sue’s new book is a message deeply aligned with the work of Connected Leadership: that leadership is not meant to be done alone. It is shaped through wisdom, courage, connection, reflection, and the lived experience of women who lead in many different ways.
Join us as Sue shares the thinking, stories, and leadership wisdom behind the book, and reflects on what it means to lead with purpose, perspective, and connection in this moment.
What to expect
A reading from Connected Leadership: Wisdom for Women Who Lead
Sue sharing her author reflections and leadership wisdom
Book sales and signing
Afternoon tea with the Connected Leadership Community
Time to connect with other women leaders, founders, and friends of the community
About the book
For the women who are still here, still leading, still struggling through the web of gendered inequalities.
You did everything right – but the view from the top is bleak. You worked harder. Prepared more. Committed deeper. So why is your confidence and influence eroding?
Leadership is costing women their health, their voice, and their sense of purpose. After forty years of research, leadership experience, and coaching some of the top women leaders in New Zealand, Dr Sue Watson offers a solution. A way to lead without placating to workplace politics or gendered expectations.
Connected Leadership is a grounded, practical look at how women leaders can understand power, purpose, and influence beyond the systems designed to keep them out.
This is not about resilience or ‘fixing’ yourself.
Connected Leadership is about becoming more connected in every way. To your purpose, to your community, and to the impact you want to create.
A note from Connected Leadership
This launch is more than a book event. It is a moment to gather as a community and celebrate the wisdom, work, and contribution of Sue Watson.
Sue has created Connected Leadership as a place for women to be seen, supported, challenged, and connected. This book extends that work — offering wisdom for women who lead, and for those becoming the leaders they are here to be.
We would love you to join us.
Event Details:
📅 Monday 17 August 2026
🕒 3.00pm – 5.00pm
📍 The Formery - The Loft, Level 2, 87 Albert St, Auckland
📍Available online
🎟️ $25+BF
📖The book will be for sale and signing on the day, along with copies of Sue's first book Finding Cynthia Winters.
You can pre-order a copy of Connected Leadership: Wisdom for Women Who Lead here.
Host
Sue Watson, Connected Leadership
Sue Watson’s work has impacted hundreds of women through her writing, speaking, coaching, and teaching. She has held four Chief Executive roles, and has served as a professional director on a number of boards in Aotearoa New Zealand. Sue is the Founder and CEO of Connected Leadership, an organisation bringing together women leaders and entrepreneurs into a community of support and connection. She has spent 25 years in the leadership world. After completing her doctorate in Educational Sociology at the University of Victoria Wellington, she was on faculty at the University of Pennsylvania and consulted for the OECD and the World Bank. A resident of Waiheke Island in Aotearoa New Zealand, Sue is an active member at Piritahi Marae and shares her home with women of many cultures and ages. Connected Leadership is Sue’s second book, following on from her personal memoir Finding Cynthia Winters. After its initial release, Finding Cynthia Winters was adapted into a one-woman theatre play by Renee Lyons, starring Sue herself, that premiered in New Zealand in 2026.
Tickets for good, not greed Humanitix dedicates 100% of profits from booking fees to charity
