Let’s create better futures together.

The Good Cartel exists to create meaningful human connections in service of futures we can all be excited about.

Sarah is standing against a brick wall that is painted white. She is wearing a colourful patterned turtleneck top and clear framed glasses. She is smiling and her head is slightly tilted to the left.

Meet the human behind The Good Cartel…

Sarah Patterson (she/her) is an award-winning strategic designer and engagement expert on a mission to prove that change isn't about strategy: it's about relationships.

With over 20 years’ experience spanning government policy, architecture and design, she founded The Good Cartel Consulting to help create futures we can all be excited about. Through her practice, Sarah has facilitated high-stakes collaborations tackling climate resilience, clean energy transition and social cohesion.

An accredited Partnership Broker and guest lecturer, she mentors emerging leaders through programs like UNLEASH. Her research into systems change and relationships uncovers powerful blueprints for change hiding in the most unexpected places.

What does a “good” cartel do?

  • A person with brown hair points to a white wall with orange and yellow coloured post-it notes on it.

    Facilitates impactful relationships to drive change

  • Several people sitting in lined up chairs with notepads displayed on their laps. The image is cropped so that only the torso down to just below the knees is visible.

    Creates spaces for humans to connect in meaningful ways

  • A desk with a podcast microphone in the foreground. A notepad, laptop, pink mug and picture frame are in the background.

    Seeks inspiration from unexpected places

“People today will mostly focus on the points of connection, the nodes of interest like stars in the sky. But the real understanding comes in the spaces in-between, in the relational forces that connect and move the points.”

— Tyson Yunkaporta, Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save The World