aiden choles

I'm many things. I fulfill many different roles. I partake in a variety of stories. Some of the most significant stories that define who I am are as a facilitator, writer, conversation agent, business owner, theologian, husband, father-to-be, brother, son and a friend.

In practice, I'm married to Sam. I live in Boksburg, South Africa. I run a business with Sonja called The Narrative Lab, and I'm most interested in the conversations people share with each other, and the stories people have to tell about their experiences in this life.

There are two common experiences people have when interacting with me: I'm always interested in the deeper aspects of life, and I have an unequivocal belief that something could always be better and more helpful than it already is. 

I'm a psychologist and therapist by training. A facilitator by necessity, and a writer to fulfill my mild exhibitionist tendencies. 

I'm deeply interested in how we make sense of this world in the context of a loving God, a faithful community and a world of pain.

Brief Bio for Corporate Gigs



Aiden specializes in the use of Business Narrative as a diagnostic and intervention tool.  He holds a Bachelors degree in psychology and a Masters degree in Narrative.  Aiden also enjoys being a facilitator and writer. He is an expert in the role and purpose of narrative and storytelling in organisations. By harnessing the power of conversations, Aiden seeks to help leaders to discover, connect and leverage the value that their people bring to organisations.

Aiden has traversed industries and established careers in Secondary Education, Human Resources and Change Management.

Detailed bio for Corporate Gigs

With his background in organisational development, narrative, human resources, psychology and education, Aiden is an insightful organisational development consultant, strategist, facilitator and writer based in Johannesburg. He is also an expert in the role and purpose of narrative and storytelling in organisations. By harnessing the power of conversations, Aiden seeks to help leaders to discover, connect and leverage the value that their people bring to organisations.



Passionate about organisational health, Aiden specializes in the use of narrative to understand culture. He specializes in the use of Business Narrative as a diagnostic and intervention tool.  Aiden has traversed industries and established careers in Secondary Education, Human Resources and Change Management.



Aiden has a Bachelors degree in psychology and a Masters degree in Narrative.  His project experience includes Culture Audits, Team Effectiveness, Human Resource Management and Mine Safety. Aiden has worked for, amongst others, Anglo American, Rand Merchant Bank, Old Mutual, Nedbank, BoE Private Clients, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte, Harmony, Goldfields and Vodacom.

Aiden is especially focused on how people make sense of their worlds through narrative and how organisations can explore, capture, map and utilise their organisational narrative in facilitating change. Aiden is an accredited Cognitive Edge practitioner (a network of practitioners who specialise in using narrative techniques to make sense of complex problems). Aiden is passionate about helping companies make sense of their complex problems through drawing insights from the cognitive sciences and knowledge of complex adaptive systems. His practitioner profile is available at http://www.cognitive-edge.com/directoryrecord.php?ID=3103 .

Aiden is an astute writer who has been published in a number of South Africa’s leading business journals. He also has his own weblog where one can find his daily musings and reflections on the worlds of organisational development and narrative (http://narrativelab.co.za).



Aiden spends much of his time running his narrative consultancy, The Narrative Lab (http://narrativelab.co.za) where he helps companies make sense of their complex problems using narrative techniques.