About Awen

Translated from Welsh and Celtic mythology, Awen - pronounced “AH -WHEN” - means flowing spirit and inspiration. Awen is a timeless symbol of creativity, imagination, and balance. It’s considered a source of inspiration, to guide and create harmony. Awen Design & Consulting honors the power of inspiration and wellbeing to optimize human potential.

Hello, I’m Max Avruch.

I'm a Learning Design & Innovation leader with a over 11+ years of experience architecting leadership, coaching and innovation programs for hyper-growth technology startups as well as established organizations. As a human optimization expert, my expertise includes positive psychology, adult learning theories, design thinking, health and wellness coaching and leadership development. As a Certified Positive Psychology and Wellbeing Coach, I coach leaders and clients on how to integrate meaningful, positive change into their lives.

I established Awen Design & Consulting with a mission to reignite inspiration and foster human-centered, positive, and meaningful experiences at scale for organizations and leaders. I am a firm advocate of leaning into user experience to develop high impact programs for employees and customers.

My driving question is: How might we foster inspiration to make a positive impact? To spark imagination, deeper connections? Having witnessed burnout, illness, stress, and toxic dysfunction in work environments, I sought to disrupt the status quo and reimagine work for the better. My vision involves advocating for what makes most human and aligning businesses around the collective power of inspired, healthy and happy communities.

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  • There are many definitions out there that organizations use to define employee experience (EX) design. I like to incorporate this definition:

    Employee Experience Design (EXD) is an intentional, human-centered process of mapping out an end-to-end journey that weaves all of the touch points an employee has over their time at an organization, ensuring its engaging, effective, memorable, and impactful.

  • Depending on the project - and appetite - I meld wellbeing offerings that work best for the organization/leaders/teams. Wellbeing is a broad umbrella and can mean different things to clients. I partner with clients to educate them on the multi-faceted components of wellbeing and discuss the best ways to bring it to life. My goal is to expand my clients’ view of wellbeing and integrate it as a key driver to enhance the total experience and outcomes.

  • For most of my design services, I charge an hourly fee. Every project is different and I work with clients to size it accordingly.