Ryan Meachen (Ngāti Te Wehi, Ngāti Huia ki Poroutawhao) is a scholar-practitioner working at the intersection of organisational psychology, positive psychology, career coaching, and leadership development. He is an Assistant Lecturer in the School of Psychological Sciences at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington. His PhD in Organisational Behaviour developed Ideal-Self-Actualization—a novel construct and measure that reconceptualises self-actualization as the pursuit of one's ideal self—tested across a three-wave, six-month longitudinal study of employed adults. In 2024–2025 he was a Fulbright Scholar and Associate Research Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School's Leadership and Happiness Laboratory under Professor Arthur Brooks. In 2026 he appeared on the Oprah Podcast, discussing his Harvard research with Arthur Brooks and joining Brooks in conversation about meaning in life. Alongside his academic work, Ryan is a certified positive psychology coach trained under Robert Biswas-Diener and Christian van Nieuwerburgh, and a Senior Consultant at Continuum Consulting Group in Wellington, where his practice focuses on leadership development, professional coaching, and organisational wellbeing across the public and private sectors. He holds an MBA from Victoria University of Wellington, a BSc in Geography and Public Policy, and Te Ronakitanga ki te Reo Kairangi from Te Wānanga o Aotearoa. His work is focused on building a psychology of human potential that is scientifically rigorous and practically useful.