Small habits, big shifts
Johanna Beresford | Behavioural Strategist, Leadership Expert
Johanna is a behavioural strategist, leadership expert and a CEO of FabricShift, a consultancy that transforms culture through habit-based behaviour change. Unlike traditional learning programmes that stop at awareness, our work goes deeper, helping people turn values into action and culture into measurable outcomes.
Johanna is the creator of HabiTrack™, a digital platform designed to embed behaviour change at scale, for everyone from executives to front-line employees.
Through FabricShift, her ultimate goal is to help global organisations shift culture from the ground up, one habit at a time.
Her Story
Johanna Beresford founded FabricShift (formerly In Diverse Company) in 2019 with a strong belief that there was a better way to create and measure cultures, ones that drive business performance, innovation and productivity.
After years leading global HR strategies, including as Group HR Director at Oxford University Press, Johanna saw firsthand how traditional efforts to create inclusive cultures often failed to deliver lasting change. She recognised that culture doesn’t shift through awareness alone, it changes through action, habit, and leadership that reflects the diversity of the world we live in.
Driven by a deep belief in the power of habits to fuel business performance and innovation, Johanna brought together behavioural psychology, data science, and systems thinking to launch a new kind of consultancy. FabricShift was born from her conviction that culture change and leadership aren’t one-time interventions but a mindset, embedded in the everyday behaviours of individuals and teams.
Her global experience, working across China, the USA, South America, Africa, and the Middle East, shaped her understanding of workplace cultures and leadership styles. This global perspective has become a cornerstone of her approach to culture transformation, helping leaders make better decisions by embracing the power of different voices.
Johanna is a passionate CEO and an empathetic leader who is committed to supporting flexible working for all. She advocates helping people return to the workplace after periods of absence, whether due to becoming a parent, physical or mental illness, or taking a career break.
Her areas of expertise include Strategic HR, Employee relations, Talent attraction and management, Leadership Development, Organisational behaviour, and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
Notably, she has led the design and delivery of leadership programmes. She has coached multiple leaders from all across the world at Bata, Merapar, EVORA Global and Southwark and Camden Councils. She was involved in the delivery of our flagship Inclusive Leadership Programme to Bata, Boots, and Phillip Morris International.
Johanna’s mission remains clear: to shift mindsets and help businesses build healthy environments where culture is not just a word, but a strategic advantage for long-lasting results.
Philosophy
“I help people build inclusive, productive cultures - one habit at a time.”
Culture isn’t created in strategy decks but shaped in everyday moments. Johanna believes that real change comes from consistent, intentional behaviour, not big declarations. Her work focuses on helping individuals and teams practise the values they want to see, one micro-habit at a time.
Future Vision
“What you repeat, you become. What we repeat, we become.”
Whether it’s a team dynamic or a national culture, repetition is the engine of identity. Johanna’s work invites leaders to look beyond one-off training and think about the rituals, systems, and behaviours they reinforce daily, because that’s where real transformation happens.
Media
Johanna is a coveted speaker and contributor to global conferences, events and publications, including Inclusion Matters, HRD Summit, Future of HR, and Annual D&I conference. She has also written pieces for news outlets worldwide from India to the UK and USA such as HR Magazine, Real Business, HRD Connect, Raconteur, Huffington Post, The Independent as well as Forbes India and The India Express. She is a sought-after speaker on inclusive leadership, AI and workplace culture, and behaviour change at scale.
Recently, she was shortlisted for “Technology Entrepreneur of the Year” by the Great British Entrepreneur Awards.
Behaviour change isn’t a workshop, it’s a way of living.
Too often, training is treated as a one-off event, a tick-box exercise that raises awareness but doesn’t shift behaviour. At FabricShift, we believe real impact comes from embedding new routines into everyday life, not just inspiring change, but sustaining it.
From onboarding to leadership, from meetings to metrics, we help organisations build habits that last.
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Under Johanna’s leadership, FabricShift’s team help organisations around the world unlock trapped value by turning bold intentions into consistent action. Whether we’re designing culture diagnostics, embedding micro-habits, or coaching leadership teams, we bring science, empathy, and clarity to every challenge we tackle.