In an era where business success increasingly hinges on human potential, few leaders have mastered the delicate art of people-centered transformation quite like Anne Williams Dias. As Founder & CEO of WithAWill HR Consultancy Services LLP, Dias has pioneered an approach to organizational development that transcends traditional metrics—one that places authenticity, inclusivity, and personal growth at the heart of corporate strategy. This month’s cover story explores how her three decades of experience shaped a visionary who is transforming careers and organizations, and examines the philosophy behind her mission to empower 1,000 women professionals over the next five years.
A Career Built on Courage and Connection
Anne Williams Dias’ journey to founding WithAWill HR Consultancy Services LLP began long before the company’s official launch in April 2024. With over thirty years of experience spanning HR governance, risk management, business transformation, and executive leadership, Anne has consistently demonstrated that true organizational excellence comes from authentically engaging with the human element of business.
“Among the pivotal moments in my career, the most transformative was my tenure at SMFG India Credit and SMFG Grihashakti,” Anne reflects. “Leading strategic HR functions and process excellence initiatives across complex and rapidly scaling operations underscored a need for personalized, strategic people development solutions that could be both scalable and deeply human.”
This insight would eventually crystallize into WithAWill’s founding philosophy. For Anne, HR was never merely about policies and procedures. From her earliest professional endeavors, she viewed human resources as a vehicle for relationship-building, trust-development, and organizational transformation. This perspective eventually culminated in her role as Founder & CEO at WithAWill HR Consultancy Services LLP, where she has pioneered approaches to coaching and consulting that honor individual potential while driving sustainable organizational impact.
The AP³ Model: A Framework for Holistic Transformation
At the core of WithAWill’s methodology lies a research-backed approach that positions human-centered leadership not as an optional soft skill but as a fundamental business advantage driving measurable market success.
Anne’s approach represents a departure from traditional HR consulting models. Where others focus exclusively on metrics and market share, WithAWill has developed a framework that integrates personal growth with organizational excellence across three key business areas:
The AP³ Model:
- Augmenting People: Building leadership capacity, fostering emotional intelligence, and creating pathways for authentic engagement and growth.
- Amplifying Processes: Optimizing systems to support both efficiency and human flourishing, integrating inclusivity into everyday operations.
- Accelerating Profitability: Demonstrating that human-centered approaches directly impact bottom-line results through improved retention, innovation, and market responsiveness.
This integrated approach has yielded tangible results. Under Anne’s leadership at her previous organization, headcount grew almost 200% within a year, while retention for supervisory roles—historically facing constant shortfalls—improved significantly, exceeding budget expectations by 5%.
“My personal emphasis was on creating synergies with the leadership team and focusing on a unified P&L, ensuring the team viewed leadership as one cohesive unit with a shared goal,” Anne explains. This philosophy of unity and shared purpose now forms the foundation of her coaching practice at WithAWill.
Redefining Leadership for a New Era
For Anne, effective leadership in today’s fast-paced environment demands more than decision-making—it requires emotional intelligence, adaptability, and the courage to champion change. Her vision of the evolving leader is clear: “Leaders must now operate as connectors and enablers, fostering psychological safety while driving innovation. The hero within leadership is no longer the one with all the answers but the one who empowers others to find their own.”
This perspective on leadership has been shaped by Anne’s extensive experience in Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) work. “My work in DEIB has shaped my leadership style to be inclusive, collaborative, and deeply respectful of diverse voices,” she notes. This commitment to inclusion is evident in her coaching practices, where she creates spaces for every individual to feel seen, heard, and valued.
Anne’s approach to leadership development is further enriched by her training as a Mind & Attention practitioner. “Mindfulness fosters clarity, presence, and resilience—vital in today’s chaotic work environments,” she explains. Her coaching integrates breathwork, self-reflection prompts, and intention-setting, emphasizing the impact of “Conscious Choice,” focused on helping leaders respond thoughtfully rather than react impulsively.
Case Study: Transforming Culture Through Authentic Leadership
The effectiveness of Anne’s methodology is clearly demonstrated in a culture transformation initiative she led during her corporate career. Faced with the challenge of aligning not just leader identity but also building trust among team members during significant cultural change, Anne took a distinctly human-centered approach.
The Challenge:
- Implement major cultural transformation while maintaining team morale
- Align leadership identity with new organizational values
- Build trust during a period of significant change
The Approach:
- Hosted listening circles to gather authentic input from team members
- Facilitated the representation of the leadership team as change champions
- Redefined shared values based on collective input rather than top-down directives
The Results:
- Improved retention across the organization
- Increased trust scores in employee satisfaction surveys
- Successfully integrated new cultural values into everyday operations
This transformation showcases the tangible business impact of Anne;s human-centered leadership approach, resulting in not just improved metrics but a fundamentally stronger organizational culture.
The Journey from Corporate Leader to Entrepreneur
Transitioning from structured corporate roles to founding WithAWill presented unique challenges for Anne. “The greatest challenge was moving from managing existing frameworks to creating new, agile ones that could adapt to diverse client needs,” she reflects. “I had to become not just a coach or consultant but also a brand strategist, content creator, and business developer.”
This transition, while demanding, further enriched her understanding of resilience and adaptability—traits she emphasizes in her coaching programs. The entrepreneurial journey has allowed her to blend strategic structure with personalized insight, creating powerful frameworks for leadership coaching, inclusion strategies, and performance development.
For Anne, coaching is deeply personal. “My own success through mentorship inspired me to pay it forward,” she shares. “Witnessing untapped potential in people—brilliant minds who just needed clarity, courage, or the right question to unlock their path—motivated me.” This motivation has crystallized into a specific mission: transforming the lives of 1,000 women professionals over five years.
Personalization: The Heart of Effective Development
What distinguishes Anne’s work is her commitment to personalization—understanding that each individual and organization has unique needs, challenges, and potential. “My coaching is driven by personalization,” she explains. “For individuals, I use diagnostic assessments and narrative coaching to co-design growth journeys. For organizations, I align coaching with business objectives, leadership readiness, and cultural context.”
This personalized approach extends to how Anne identifies potential in leaders. Rather than focusing solely on traditional metrics of success, she looks for “authenticity, willingness to grow, a sense of ownership, and the courage to be vulnerable. These qualities are foundational to meaningful transformation.”
When working with organizations, Anne ensures alignment between individual development and organizational culture. “Before starting any coaching engagement, I understand the organization’s culture through dialogue and diagnostics. Then, I map individual development to culture-fit and stretch goals,” she explains. This approach ensures that coaching supports both personal evolution and cultural reinforcement, creating a virtuous cycle of growth.
Breaking Barriers to Potential
In Anne’s experience, the most significant factor hindering professionals from reaching their full potential often comes from within. “The biggest barrier is often internal—fear of failure, imposter syndrome, or unclear purpose,” she observes. Her coaching tools include reframing narratives, strengths-based development, and future-back planning to help clients shift from self-doubt to empowered action.
This approach reflects Anne’s signature balance of empathy and strategic influence. “I hold space with empathy, but I never lose sight of outcomes,” she explains. “I challenge clients respectfully, invite reflection, and then co-create strategic steps. This balance of head and heart is a signature of my coaching practice—deeply human yet results-oriented.”
The results speak for themselves. Professionals who work with Anne frequently report not just improved performance metrics but fundamental shifts in how they perceive themselves and their capabilities. By addressing internal barriers first, she creates space for external achievement to follow naturally.
Envisioning the Future of Work
As we look toward 2025 and beyond, Anne offers a compelling vision for the future of career development. “Career development will be deeply personalized, tech-augmented, and purpose-driven,” she predicts. “AI will support skills forecasting and upskilling, while human connection will remain central to coaching and growth. Flexibility, autonomy, and meaning will be the pillars of career design.”
This vision recognizes the rapid technological advancements reshaping the workplace while maintaining the essential human element that drives true engagement and fulfillment. For organizations seeking to thrive in this evolving landscape, Anne recommends several key strategies:
- Create psychological safety where experimentation is rewarded, not penalized
- Offer role agility rather than rigid career paths
- Implement growth-focused KPIs that measure development, not just performance
- Establish mentoring networks that support continuous learning
- Invest in individual purpose alignment as a key to long-term retention and performance
For individual professionals navigating this changing landscape, Anne offers equally practical advice: “Stay curious, be adaptable, and invest in self-awareness. Career evolution is no longer linear. Build your personal board of advisors, seek feedback, and don’t wait for clarity—start experimenting with action. Growth now belongs to the proactive learner.”
Embedding DEIB as a Core Value
One area where Anne’s expertise particularly shines is in helping organizations move beyond superficial diversity initiatives to truly embed DEIB (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging) practices into their leadership culture. “Organizations must go beyond policies,” she insists. “DEIB should be woven into leadership KPIs, performance reviews, and everyday conversations.”
Her approach to DEIB integration includes:
- Embedding inclusive language across all communications
- Creating equitable career paths that recognize diverse talents and backgrounds
- Implementing sponsorship programs for underrepresented talent
- Holding leaders accountable through metrics tied to inclusive behaviors
- Modeling inclusive leadership at every level: “What gets modeled, gets mirrored”
This comprehensive approach ensures that diversity becomes not just a checkbox but a genuine competitive advantage and cultural cornerstone. By integrating DEIB principles into the fabric of organizational life, Anne helps companies create environments where all talent can thrive.
The Power of Continuous Learning
Central to Anne’s philosophy is a commitment to lifelong learning. “I role-model this by investing in certifications, research, and self-reflection,” she explains. In her coaching practice, she promotes what she calls “learning ecosystems”—combining formal training, peer exchange, and real-world practice to create comprehensive development experiences.
This emphasis on continuous learning reflects Anne’s understanding that in today’s rapidly evolving business environment, the ability to adapt and grow is perhaps the most valuable skill of all. By fostering a mindset of curiosity and openness, she helps both individuals and organizations remain responsive to changing circumstances while staying true to their core values and purpose.
The Global Legacy of a Human-Centered Leader
As Founder & CEO of WithAWill HR Consultancy Services LLP, Anne Williams Dias has created a legacy that extends far beyond traditional business metrics. Her vision of human resources as a force for individual empowerment and organizational transformation represents a strategic reimagining of leadership for the 21st century.
Through her work coaching women leaders, transforming organizational cultures, and advancing a more inclusive model of business leadership, Anne embodies a new paradigm of leadership. She balances strategy with humanity, performance with purpose, and innovation with inclusivity.
In a world increasingly defined by technological disruption and constant change, Anne’s approach offers a compelling alternative: leadership as a bridge between potential and achievement, a catalyst for growth, and a vehicle for positive impact. Her story reminds us that true success isn’t measured in metrics alone, but in lives transformed and potential realized.
Taking Action: Embracing Human-Centered Leadership Today
In today’s complex business environment, human-centered leadership has become a critical competitive advantage. Organizations that fail to invest in their people face significant risks:
- Higher turnover rates in an increasingly competitive talent market
- Greater difficulty fostering innovation in rapidly changing industries
- Missed opportunities to connect with increasingly diverse stakeholders
- Unpreparedness for the collaborative challenges of tomorrow’s business landscape
The leaders of tomorrow are those who act today—who recognize human potential not as an organizational expense but as a fundamental driver of innovation, customer loyalty, employee engagement, and sustainable growth.
“My mission at WithAWill is simple yet profound: to empower people and create legacies,” says Anne. “Every coaching conversation, every strategy session, and every organizational intervention is a step toward that legacy—one built on courage, respect, and transformation.”
Ready to transform your leadership and organization through human-centered approaches? Visit WithAWill HR Consultancy Services LLP to access coaching services, organizational development resources, and transformation guides. Join the growing community of leaders creating sustainable impact through authentic, inclusive leadership.
The time for human-centered leadership is now.
