Leaders Winter 2007 by mediaweb

In this issue Judge Joe Williams Setting the Agenda P6 Leadership with Style Peri Drysdale P20 Dr Pita Sharples Leadership and Mana P23

Lessons in Generosity

Tales from Living Legends

Issue 3 winter 2007

Acknowledgements We thank the following people for their generous support of Leadership New Zealand. Trustees

Tim Miles – Director, Macquarie Goodman

Jo Brosnahan – Chairman, Leadership New Zealand and Consultant

Fran O’Sullivan – Journalist

Tony Nowell – Deputy Chairman, Leadership New Zealand and CEO, ZESPRI Ltd

Jenni Raynish – Managing Director, Raynish and Partners

David McGregor – Senior Partner, Bell Gully

Rosemary Howard – Managing Director, Telstra Corporation

Lindsay Corban – Managing Director, Lindsay Corban and Associates Limited Louise Marra – Director (Auckland), Ministry of Economic Development

Staff

Mark Otten – General Manager Finance, The Warehouse

Lesley Slade – Chief Executive

Pauline Kingi – Regional Director, Te Puni Kokiri

Michelle Jurgens – Programme Leader

Peter Kerridge – Managing Director, Kerridge & Partners

Vijaya Nory – Administrator

Reg Birchfield – Group Managing Director, 3media Group Michael Barnett – CEO, Auckland Chamber of Commerce

Key Partners

Rewi Spraggon – Alumni Representative, Leadership New Zealand and Kaiwhakarite,

Accident Compensation Corporation

Supporting Partners

Waitakere City Council

The ASB Community Trust

TelstraClear

Bell Gully

JR McKenzie Trust

Advisory Trustees

New Zealand Post

3media Group

Bob Harvey – Mayor, Waitakere City Council

Raynish & Partners

Kerridge & Partners

Sir Paul Reeves – Chancellor, AUT

Simpl

Hay Group Hewlett Packard

Dr Morgan Williams – Former Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Rob Fenwick – Managing Director, Living Earth

All Leadership New Zealand contributors

Jenny Gill – CEO, The ASB Community Trust

Invited contributors and people who gave their time to be interviewed for the magazine.

John Hinchcliff – Auckland City Councillor Dr Jan White – CEO, Accident Compensation Corporation

People who have helped to further establish the Leadership New Zealand Trust and for contributing their expertise and their leadership to the Trust, the Leadership Programme, and key events. • Maori Television, Vodafone, TelstraClear, Bell Gully and Snowy Peak Restaurant for kindly hosting Leadership New Zealand events in late 2006. • The 2007 Programme Selection Panel: Jo Brosnahan, Tony Nowell, Kate Cantwell, Peter Kerridge, Theresa Le Bas, Lindsay Corban, Carrie Hobson, Morgan Williams, Peter Fenton, Elaine McCaw, Robyn Scott, Peter Townsend, Lesley Slade and Michelle Jurgens. • Katherine Turner, CFO Fonterra Brands (Tip-Top Ltd) for providing us with financial advice. • Brian Roche, David Dorrington, Craig Wallace and Hannah Polson from PricewaterhouseCoopers for providing us with accounting and financial assistance.

Vision

Disclaimer

A culture of leadership in an integrated

The opinions expressed in this publication

• Nick Hadley, 2005 Alumni for his tireless work on our website re-build.

community.

do not necessarily reflect the views of

• The team at 3media Group – Reg Birchfield, Fran Marshall, Gill Prentice, Jan-Michael David.

Leadership New Zealand, its members or

• David Levene, Peter Fenton, Sarah Trotman and Associates and Lianne Dalziel for their valuable contribution to Leadership New Zealand.

Mission

the publisher. While every effort has been

Weaving the threads of community lead-

made to ensure the accuracy of the infor-

ership into New Zealand by raising the

mation, no responsibility can be accepted

debate around leadership and to actively

by the publisher for omissions, typograph-

assist and promote the identification, nur-

ical or printer’s errors, inaccuracies, or

turing, development and celebration of

changes that may have taken place after

• Mayor Bob Harvey for MC’ing our Graduation evening.

leaders across the community.

• The team at SOCA Gallery in Newton for hosting the Graduation evening.

Values

Editorial Team

• David Williams from Baleringe Venue & Event Management for his inspired planning for our Graduation Celebration in November. • The Governor-General of New Zealand, His Excellency, the Honorable Anand Satyanand for addressing our Graduation evening.

• The team from Dawson’s Catering for providing the tables and chairs for the Graduation evening.

Courageous

Generous of spirit

Reg Birchfield, Fran Marshall, Lesley

• Oceania Ltd for providing the AV equipment for the Graduation evening.

Integrity

Celebrate diversity

Slade, Michelle Jurgens, Gill Prentice,

• Riki Bennett and Rewi Spraggon for the entertainment at the Graduation evening.

Visionary

Inclusive

Jan-Michael David, Stephanie Beagley.

• Naturally Right Ltd for contributing to the sponsorship of our Graduation evening. • Brian Corban and Ngatarawa Wines for providing wine for our Graduation.

Innovative Leaders is published by Leadership New

• Bell Gully for providing the champagne for both our Graduation and 2007 Programme Launch.

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sion of Leadership of New Zealand.

• All of our speakers who have generously shared with us their leadership stories,

Issue 3 Winter 2007

• All of our Trustees, Advisory Trustees and Funding Partners for their ongoing

Web: www.leadershipnz.co.nz

Launch. expertise, time and thoughts.

Phone: +64 9 309 3749 Email: info@leadershipnz.co.nz

• Mayor Bob Harvey and his team for their generosity in hosting the 2007 Programme

support and invaluable advice.

www.leadershipnz.co.nz

winter 2007

Lives in Leadership It is evident that when many well established leaders are interviewed, they are least comfortable talking about themselves. They are often reluctant to wear the label of ‘leader’, and their first instinct is to deflect the conversation away from themselves, and to acknowledge others first. That is servant leadership in action, and is the way that these leaders conduct their lives – committed to people first. This issue of Leaders documents conversations with – and stories about and by – leaders who, irrespective of their stages in life, continue

Contents Creating a Leadership Legacy Jo Brosnahan

Lessons in Generosity – Tales from Living Legends Jo Brosnahan

Judge Joe Williams – Setting the Agenda Chris Fogarty

to live rich lives in leadership. And there are wonderful examples of ‘lives in leadership’ in both David Levene and Jim & Ann Holdaway. “Leadership is support, you must listen genuinely to the people,” David Levene told Jo Brosnahan during their recent conversation. David’s history of personal success speaks for itself. He has a firm place in New Zealand history as an entrepreneur, intrepid businessman and philanthropist and at the age of 77 continues to play a leadership role in all that he does, but humbly says that “you cannot do anything on your own”. The intergenerational effects of Jim and Ann Holdaway’s lives in leadership are obvious. Jim’s involvement in the creation of the regional parks network in the Auckland region, and in many conservation initiatives, and Ann’s role in establishing the Pumphouse theatre and as Chair of the Red Cross are legacies “to be cherished by the generations of the future”. At the ages of 89 and 82 Jim and Ann continue to take leadership roles in their communities. At an earlier stage of their lives in leadership are the participants on the 2007 Leadership New Zealand leadership programme. We are very pleased to introduce them to you, and to bring back members of the Alumni – Rewi Spraggon and Theresa Le Bas who reflect on life after the programme. We are also pleased to introduce you to Leadership New Zealand funding partner, Ian MacRae, Managing Director of Hay Group New Zealand. Other Alumni members Alistair Kwun and Milton Henry introduce us to two fine leaders in the community Kai Luey and Carol White, both courageously committed to growing future leaders who evolve with our changing communities. We know that you will enjoy learning more about leaders in our midst who are making a difference and creating a positive future for New Zealand and New Zealanders: the stylish and pioneering Peri Drysdale, candid and inspiring Chief Judge Joe Williams, learned and provocative

Opening Retreat 2007 Cocktail Party

Having Their Say: Thoughts From the Class of 2007 10 Alumni Reflections Theresa Le Bas, Rewi Spraggon Leadership and Mana – Dr Pita Sharples Bob Harvey

Peri Drysdale: Leadership with Style

My Personal Life Journey – Kai Luey Alistair Kwun

Collegial Leadership Milton Henry

Morgan Williams on Future Journeys

What Makes a Great Leader? Ian MacRae

Programme of Activities 2007

Celebrating Diversity Lesley Slade

Morgan Williams and humble and wise Pita Sharples. The lives in leadership in this issue have inspired us – we appreciate their dedication and commitment, and we are richer for their contributions.

WINTER 2007

Lesley Slade

CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE

Creating a Leadership Legacy

Leaders magazine brings new opportunities to celebrate the great leaders who have been and who are committed to making New Zealand a better place for us and for the generations who follow. For this edition, I have had the privilege of interviewing some of our older leaders: David Levene and Jim and Ann Holdaway. I have been left with huge admiration for their vision, and for their commitment and energy to make that vision a reality.

These older leaders have humility and dignity. They have created a legacy for their children, their grandchildren and great grandchildren. I could not help but reflect on whether they were being followed by leaders with the same values and the same qualities. Are our lives now more materialistic and more self focused? Is this a ‘me’ generation, rather than a ‘we’ generation? Both men and women are working and lives are busier and it seems harder to make time to commit to the community. Ann Holdaway says that the average age of her Red Cross committee is nearly 80. Even with the very best of health, the committee does not have a great future unless there is some ur2

gent replenishment from younger members. Even the younger potential members in their 50s and 60s are often committed to child caring for their grandchildren while their children work. So, what is it that drives some to commit themselves to the community good and to others? And how can we ensure that our community organisations have the advantage of great leaders? There is no doubt that it is the values of the individual that drives community involvement. There has to be a belief and a vision that we are all part of a greater whole, and if we can leave it just a little better, our lives have been worthwhile. Our corporates are beginning to recognise the importance of being involved with their communities and are encouraging their staff to also take on new opportunities for involvement. And Boomers, with their dreams of a portfolio career, can gain knowledge and understanding through their involvement in the not-for-profit sector. For if one takes the teachings of Aristotle, it is ongoing learning and involvement that keeps one young. The Leadership NZ programme is an opportunity for a group of our mid-career leaders to be exposed to the diversity of leadership in New Zealand. As they converse over the year, they are challenged to reflect upon their own nation and the challenges it faces. They have the opportunity to experience the different aspects of New Zealand and see at first hand some of the community challenges. At the end of each year, they are committed to give back in some way. To this end, Skillsbank is a part of Leadership NZ, where the Alumni of Leadership NZ contribute to build capacity in not for profits. The Skillsbank programme has just begun, but has the potential to become an important source of expertise and skills to assist community initiatives. In the final event, leadership is a mantle. It involves both aspects of character and a deep-seated belief in creating a better future. But most of all, it involves a caring engagement with people, whether they be customers, staff, suppliers or the community at large. Leaders are leaders, whatever their role. On the wall in the vestibule of the impressive VERO building in Shortland Street in Auckland, there are some wonderful quotes from famous New Zealanders. One in particular, from Dame Whina Cooper captures it all: “It’s the mana you see. If you’ve got it, it never lets you alone You have to be thinking about the people And working for them, all the time.” Enjoy this edition of Leaders and the stories of those with the mana. Jo Brosnahan, Chairman, Leadership NZ

www.leadershipnz.co.nz

Cover Story

Lessons in Generosity Tales from Living Legends

Leadership New Zealand talks with David Levene and Jim and Ann Holdaway about their lives and the lessons learned, and as Jo Brosnahan discovers, it is their generosity of spirit that has delivered the greatest rewards.

David Levene: A man of the people hen visiting the Ellerslie Flower Show, you may have encountered a tall gentleman, with a sunshine yellow Rotary volunteer vest, driving a golf cart. And if you are elderly or infirm, or were just plain tired that day, he might have offered you a lift. That is David Levene, giving of his time and himself, and working with the people, as he always has. Any New Zealander over 30 knows the name Levene. It is to Levenes that we went for our paint and wallpaper, for advice when doing up our first home, and later for those low cost but trendy homewares. For more than four decades, David built Levenes from the small paint and wallpaper shop in Auckland’s Karangahape Road, begun by his father and uncle, to a business sold to Skellerup in 1994, on his 65th birthday, for $74 million. The subsequent destruction of the value in Levenes by the purchasers was a sad New Zealand corporate train wreck, but to David watching from the sidelines, the greatest sadness was the loss of his people. These were people whom he had supWINTER 2007

ported, developed and nurtured over many years – many of whom he still stays in contact with. David’s father Lewis landed in Wellington in 1921, a young migrant decorator, the son of Russian Jewish migrants who had escaped to the United Kingdom for a better life. David was raised as an only child, his only brother dying as an infant. Sybil – his mother – and Lewis were to instil the values that David still lives by: hard work, a care and love for others and a deep founded sense of social responsibility. It was as a boarder at New Plymouth Boys’ High School that David began his first foray into retailing, trading the goatskins that were the spoils of shooting expeditions for cigarettes, in turn a valuable currency. Returning recently from a reunion more than 60 years after leaving school, David reflected upon the friendships that had endured from those years. They were also the years in which self-reliance and self-esteem – two of the basic requirements of leadership – were first developed. Following school and after a brief sojourn training as a chemist, David joined his father and uncle at the paint shop in Karangahape Road. Unfortunately, his uncle was not keen on the 3

bright ideas of his young nephew, particularly his proposals to not hire HR managers, believing that his managers needed to sell directly to painting contractors. David left for Wellington, take responsibility for relationships with their own people. He to work for Berger paints and later for Tingeys. Following his got out of his office as much as he could, and got to know return, he went into partnership with his father in 1952, folthe people. “Leadership is support – you must listen genuinely lowing the death of his uncle. to the people. Most people do not listen. If someone wants a The next 40 years are legendary. David had no formal busibroom, give them a broom. Make them know that you have ness training. He had however developed a clear philosophy listened. They have to know that you are on their side.” that customer is king. He had no theory to work on. He led On selling Levenes, David could not retain the name for from the heart and did what felt right. trading and instead created Lewis Holdings, named after his Under his leadership, Levenes developed as a unique retailfather, as a vehicle for the family’s investments. He is involved ing organisation in New Zealand. There was a focus upon getin a separate large, property development company, Quadrant ting the right people into positions and then supporting them. Properties, and is involved with his son in an enormous hotBuyers developed personal relationships with a worldwide house venture. He also has his own philanthropic trust, which network of suppliers and dealers, and were given the ability to supports a huge range of charities. buy on the spot. Discounting was a feature, particularly for the David Levene’s involvement in giving of his time and money opening of new stores. There was no hierarchy of offices and all to a wide range of charitable causes evolved out of the social managers took their place at serving customers; retaining the conscience which he was given by his father. His childhood personal contact. They were led by example by David, who taught him that there were always people worse off. “It is good personally dealt with all customer complaints. to be able to help people. It can be very satisfying. The provision It is obvious that leadership of money is easy though. The Leadership is support – you must people I most admire are those is something that is instinctive to David. He talks about it as who give their heart and soul, listen genuinely to the people. the “personal relationship that and most of all their time.” one has with one’s people”. He defines the basis for successful Most of those numerous organisations that he has assisted leadership as: would say that David Levene does indeed give of his time. • Possession of an idea, a vision (he does not like the term) and Many years ago, he was approached by Woolf Fisher to meet communication of this to the people. It is important to be able with Lord Cobham; the proposal was to set up Outward to see five to 10 years ahead in a secure manner, within the Bound. Over the subsequent years, he has sent participants to right culture, while being “pretty sure about something jumpOutward Bound and watched them rise in leadership capacity ing out the other end”. To this end, David talks of security and capability. He is now the Patron of Outward Bound, and being a particular driver for him because of the struggle of his its success in developing thousands of New Zealand leaders, parents, particularly during the depression. with resilience and purpose that they would never otherwise • There has to be passion which is able to be transmitted to have had, and its position as one of the “best places to work” in others. New Zealand, must be reward for the input that he has made. • One has to be resilient; because there will inevitably be A Google search reveals that David’s giving is very exknock backs and difficult times, and there has to be the ability tensive. He has a special belief however in education: “It is to get up again. This in turn is associated with self-esteem. the basis of so much more – a better social situation, better • There has to be an ability to assess and take risks. At one time self-esteem and better purpose.” His support for education in the development of Levenes, some unfortunate decisions includes founding funding for Lesley Max’s Great Potentials had led to the potential closure of the wallpaper factory and programme MATES, the highly successful programme for stuDavid was seriously worried. The advice of a friend helped dents from lower-decile schools to be mentored by university him to sleep at night; determine the worst that can happen students. David Levene’s name can also be found associated and then work out how to deal with it. Once you know that with a foundation to provide bursaries for university students you can cope with the worst and have a plan, don’t worry, get with hardship at Massey University. He has also assisted in the on with it. funding of a number of other university programmes. • Leaders need commitment: there are plenty with vision, but Over more than 60 years, David Levene has been a great without the commitment to make it happen. New Zealand leader in commerce and in the community. And • Energy is an essential component of good leadership; a strong yet he is the first to say that this is not all about him. “You canwork ethic is essential to make things happen. not succeed in business on your own. I believe you cannot do • Leaders must want to win: or as David states “they must have anything on your own. You have to have the support and the rats in the guts”. backing of the people working with you, all driving together • It is essential for leaders to guard their integrity and to this in one direction, with everybody understanding what you are end, David Levene talks of a lifetime in business in which a trying to achieve and everybody pulling together to make it handshake was sufficient, even for major contracts. happen. It’s only with the backing and the goodwill of your • Most importantly, leaders must have respect for people. This people that you can achieve anything.” includes employees, customers, and suppliers. “They worked These are the words of a great servant leader who has had a with me, not for me.” Even with around 1000 staff, David did remarkable life in leadership. L 4

www.leadershipnz.co.nz

Cover Story

Jim and Ann Holdaway: a life of commitment, contribution and achievement Sitting in their home on Auckland’s North Shore, overlooking the carefully conserved bush beyond, Jim and Ann Holdaway talk of their leadership journey with a quiet dignity and humility. Jim talks with a passion of the loss of ecology in New Zealand: of the extraordinary rare assemblages of plants and the unusual geography which man has spent some hundreds of years destroying. It is only in the past few decades that there has been a national realisation that we have a special environment essential to the character of New Zealanders, and that we are losing it. The population at large is now actively involved in conservation; and Jim Holdaway has played a major role in turning the tide. Jim will be 90 in January 2008, but Ann is “much younger” at only 82. For more than half a

the Authority and Chair of most of its committees, including the Parks committee. His focus then turned to the coast, where for 19 years he was the working Chair and a member of the Hauraki Gulf Maritime Parks Board, promoting the conservation of the beautiful Hauraki Gulf. He committed himself also to a number of national roles, involved with conservation and coastal research. In more recent years, he has been a member and Chair of the Auckland Conservation Board. His leadership has also been hands on: he was a key driver for the restoration of Tiritiri Matangi; a founder of the Motutapu Restoration Trust – of which he is still Deputy Chair and Founding Trustee – and he has an ongoing involvement

century, they have been community leaders, and most particularly, leaders in conserving the natural heritage of Auckland. Their lives are a story of commitment, contribution and achievement; for New Zealand and particularly for Auckland. They are leaders grounded in their community and in the land. The journey began for Jim and Ann in the Second World War, where Jim served for four years with the RNZAF as a bomber pilot finishing the war highly decorated, with a DFC and Bar – awards given for “gallantry during active operations against the enemy”. The young New Zealand pilot was being hosted with other pilots by Ann’s mother in England at the end of the war. The attraction was such (they talk of being opposites) that the two married, and following a brief stint as a pilot with BOAC, Jim returned to New Zealand with his bride. The young couple purchased 50 acres of run-down land, including an abandoned fruit orchard, at Glenfield. Leasing another 50 acres, they grew whatever they could to establish themselves. The land purchase was to be fortuitous, as very soon after, the Auckland Harbour Bridge was constructed and the area began developing. As young residents in a small community, they became involved: Jim as a councillor of the Northcote Borough Council, and later Mayor, and Ann as a part of the local church community. This was to be the beginning of more than half a century of commitment to conservation and to the community. Jim was subsequently a member of the Auckland Regional Planning Authority, where he was involved in the promotion of the acquisition of regional parks around Auckland. Ultimately, this vision would lead to the protection and conservation of over 40,000 hectares of prime coastal and forest land that make up the unique Auckland regional parks network. He was later a founding member of the Auckland Regional Authority (the ARA). At various times, he was Deputy Chair of

with the Hauturu (Little Barrier) Supporters Trust. So what was it that led to such a huge commitment to the community and the multitude of unpaid roles? Jim says that the war experience gave him an incentive to be involved with New Zealand. He has always had an intense interest in public affairs, “which are after all a large part of how our lives are run”. But most particularly, he speaks with a passion of the very special country that we live in. He is particularly pleased that the tide has turned, and the community has come to realise that this geography is both rare and essential to the character of New Zealanders, and that we are losing it. Nearly every island in the Hauraki Gulf now has a preservation society, with active planting and use. “To see that happening so generally and so successfully is rewarding. Two decades ago, there was not a great deal of enthusiasm or understanding of conservation. That has changed.” Ann, who has supported Jim’s public roles, has also played a major part in establishing the Pumphouse theatre on Auckland’s North Shore and has been the Chair of the Red Cross on and off for 22 years. She says her involvement in the community was an inheritance from her mother: “It is genetic.” Jim reflects upon his life, and says that the involvement in the creation of the regional parks network and the conservation initiatives on the islands are the greatest achievement. The esteem with which Jim and Ann Holdaway are held within the Auckland community is indicated by their presence at the many functions to celebrate the advancement of conservation in Auckland. Jim still speaks to conservation groups and they host various volunteer groups in their home. This gracious couple have provided more than 60 years of leadership in conservation in Auckland and have created a legacy that will be cherished by the generations of the future.

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Judge Joe Williams Setting the Agenda Judge Joe Williams was sworn in as Chief Judge of the Maori Land Court in December 1999, and in 2004 he also assumed the position of Chairperson of the Waitangi Tribunal (he had been acting Chairperson since 2000). He was the first Maori lecturer in law at Victoria University in Wellington and he established the first unit specialising in Maori issues at a major law firm. He remains determined to ensure that Maori value systems are recognised within the judicial system. Chris Fogarty, Business Development Director, Bell Gully talks to him. Looking at your CV one of the things that is very apparent is that you have been in leadership roles from a very young age. In many traditional societies leadership is equated with age and experience. Does good leadership really tie in with age and experience? I’m a great believer in the wisdom of age and I think that western society rushes people into leadership roles, often too early. Or it doesn’t give them an opportunity to test themselves in safe environments before being thrust into roles where there is no safety net. This is unlike Maori society which tends to give its younger leaders an opportunity to trip up and be caught before being placed in a position where a trip up means damage. And so I’m a great believer in leadership coming with age and in respect for elders. That is not to say that young people should not take up leadership roles – more that it be a staged process so that when they do come to take on major leadership roles with communities they have had plenty of practice at it. Can you explain a bit more about how the “safety net” in Maori society works in practice? Two comments: the first is that Maori communities are traditionally brutal with their leaders – much more brutal than western society. And Maori communities today and in the past are highly democratic. Most particularly on the Marae – in speaking roles, in calling roles for women, in leadership in the feeding of guests, leadership in the greeting of guests, leadership in song, leadership in dance. All are ways in which 6

younger people are able to test their metal in the presence of their elders who in their wisdom can catch them before they make big mistakes that can embarrass the tribe. So the Marae operations are great testing grounds for young leaders. It’s part of the reason the Maori community produces an inordinately large number of quality singers and quality speakers. There is a traditional infrastructure of leadership testing and leadership accountability to communities that generally is not present in the wider pakeha community. Not any more anyway, it used to be there, but it’s long since fragmented into a more nuclear style of life which means that leadership is a much more formalised game connected to the communities that are being led. In 20 to 30 years Maori could be 40% of the population. Do you feel – now that we are operating in a global economy – that they are well equipped to meet those challenges and that we have a Maori workforce that will meet those challenges? I think Maori and Pacific Islanders together will, within a generation, be 40% of the workforce. To say that Maori are under qualified and poorly educated, unwell, incarcerated, unemployed, while true, doesn’t tell the whole picture. We have got to remember that the largest private farming operation in this country is Maori. The largest private forestry operation in the country is Maori. The largest fishing company in the country is 50% Maori owned. The largest inshore fishing company is 100% Maori owned. So Maori are everywhere in the economy www.leadershipnz.co.nz

interview

now by a degree of vertical integration, particularly in the primary products but also in the arts and in sport as well. So the Maori issue of my generation anyway is Maori gaps – Maori deficiencies which must be closed, and this is unlikely to be the Maori picture of the 2020s, 2030s and 2040s. All of us – Maori, Pakeha, Pacific Island and Asian New Zealanders – are going to have to get used to a different paradigm in which Maori economic activity and Maori political activity will be part of the very core of our economy and our politics. What is the single greatest challenge for Maori leadership at the moment or in the next 20 years? There are many. I think the biggest driver of change in the Maori community is going to be the shift in demographics. The challenge for Maori leadership will be to capture the energy the increase in Maori population and identity is going to generate and turn that to good end for the good of the entire country. That’s not just the challenge for Maori leadership it is ultimately a challenge for the entire country. As Maori economic development accelerates, do you expect to have – as was the case with fisheries – tribes who are coming to loggerheads over economic interests and development? I don’t think that is our experience at all. The [fisheries] allocations most certainly produced a good deal of friction but once the assets are acquired and allocated the fishery leaders will tell you about the high level of cooperation among tribal WINTER 2007

entities who have found that the economic benefits are greater than in competition. Aotearoa Fisheries is a great example of that. So once the allocation process is completed – and we are a good way through that – the paradigm seems to be consistently one of cooperation in order to achieve critical mass. You have talked about the Judge’s role of being a bridge builder and reaching consensus. Do you think the terms consensus and leadership are an oxymoron? Aren’t people really looking for clear decisive decisions even if they are unpopular decisions? Well, I guess life is complicated by the fact that sometimes leadership requires consensus and sometimes it requires direction – and the trick with all the best leaders is to know when one or the other is required. Maori traditions believe strongly in consensus and there are a lot of proverbs around the idea that the chief’s role is to achieve consensus. But the Maori community puts up with direction only while it is successful. So the brilliant leaders are the ones who know when to lead – because you are right even if your people don’t necessarily agree with you – and when to follow. Do you find that a challenge in your own role? The role of the Judge is less free flowing than that of a true leader. We work within law and principles and come to views we think are right. Sometimes there are leadership roles in that, but it is much harder to be a true leader. To be a true leader of 7

a community or a people or a country is where you have to set the agenda to give it effect. In many ways the agenda for the Judge is already set by pre‑existing laws or principles. So I am thankful that my job is a bit easier than the real leader’s job. Do you think there needs to be leadership in addressing Treaty grievances and assurance that the Treaty settlement process does not drag on? That’s a difficult question. Because you have to see our Treaty settlement in context. It really started in the 1990s and has been going for 15 years now and I think we have made quite a bit of progress over that time. I think it’s extended something like $650 million in settlements which people have signed up to. Look at examples of the same process going on overseas. An example is the British Colombia treaty settlement process where I guess $3 billion has been spent over the same period, but there have been no settlements. I think we forget as New Zealanders how successful this process has been. This is a coming-of-age process. This is a way of renovating the fabric of the country by underscoring its legitimacy through making good on wrongs that have occurred during the period of colonisation. It is difficult dealing with communities – that have over 150 years been largely neglected and in some cases actually actively undermined – having to rebuild themselves just so that they can say yes to settlement. If there is a danger at all it is that it will happen too fast, and in doing so plant problems which will come up in a generation’s time when people feel that the settlements weren’t agreed to properly. I think the pace we are running at now is about at fast as we will ever want to go. And most particularly it is about 10 times faster than this process has been done anywhere else in the world. That reflects the intimacy of New Zealand, the fact that Maori leaders and pakeha or mainstream New Zealand leaders know each other and talk to each other and can engage in discussion and debate in the same ball park. Not all countries in the world, even in the western world, can do that. Would you like to have seen the process completed in your time? I don’t think in my time or not is the right measure. I want the process completed in good time – not too fast and not too slow, the Goldilocks standard I think people call it. I would think that historical settlements will be done before I pass on. And if we are doing things well that should happen. Has the generation of Maori leaders in their 30s and 40s been far more aggressive and more vocal in their demands than those that came before them – and has that often made the older generation of Maori leaders uncomfortable? I think each older generation purses its lips and rolls it eyes at the generation that follows. The difference in the ’80s and ’90s 8

when my generation was coming through was in our number. In the 1880s there were 45,000 Maoris – from I guess the 1820s the Maori population fell by 70% through disease and war. It took until the 1980s to build that back up to 10% of the population. Once we had reached that size, the brashness of the younger generation became visible. And that was the difference. There were just more of us and we had reached a critical mass where we started to command the attention of our elders and of mainstream New Zealand politics, bureaucracy, culture and so forth. That was the thing that was different. So what about the generation that’s coming through on your coat-tails? What characteristics do you see that they might bring through in their own leadership style? Several things. One is there are even more of them. We are 15% of the national population, 21% of the school population and 28% to 29% of newborns a couple of years ago. So that’s changing things. And I think the focus of my generation on the losses of the past, which seem to me to be absolutely inevitable and necessary to get through this, is being replaced quite quickly by a focus on development and growth – and so the political entrepreneurs of my generation have become economic entrepreneurs in the next generation. Personally I think that is a very good sign. What would you want your legacy to be in terms of the justice system? In terms of the overall justice system? I think the key to success of any legal system is not just respect for the rule of law but that the law is responsive to community realities. I would like to see the law in this part of the South Pacific more reflective of our community make-up – and I don’t just mean Maori – all in our communities. I would like to see a country and therefore a legal system able to celebrate diversity rather than feel troubled by it. I don’t think we are there yet. And if a family member or someone you knew wanted to take a real leadership position in Maoridom and said “I want to be a leader and I think the law is the best way to do that – I’m going to go to law school”. What would your advice be? (laughing) Don’t! Over the years I have developed a deep respect and probably love for the law and its rigours. But I’ve also come to realise that law is part of a much larger picture and there are many areas where people can contribute other than in law. And in some ways, people with particular talents may make better contributions whether it’s in economic development or research, in IT and so on and so forth. While, for myself I respect and love law, the future is such an unbounded thing. I would tell anyone proposing to do that, they should think carefully before jumping into the constraints and rigours of law. L www.leadershipnz.co.nz

2007 launch

2007 Leadership Programme Launch

he 2007 Leadership Programme Launch cocktail function was held on the evening of Friday 16 February. Mayor Bob Harvey kindly hosted the event at the new Waitakere City Council Chambers, and honoured us again by addressing the current year participants, alumni and the wider Leadership New Zealand community. We would like to thank Mayor Bob and his team for their generosity, as well as Bell Gully for contributing the champagne for the event. 2

1 1 Cheryl Holloway, Neville Pulman (Alumni), Frances Tweedy (Capability Group) and Carole Hughes (Alumni). 2 Tara Pradhan and Minnie Baragwanath (2007 participants). 3 David Levene (David Levene Charitable Trust) and Jo Brosnahan (Chair Leadership New Zealand). 4 Mark Crosbie, Jodi Mitchell (2007 participants) and Bennett Medary (Simpl Group). 5 Chris Brosnahan (CB Richard Ellis) and Rewi Spraggon (Alumni). 6 Brian Corban (Corban Consulting) & Lindsay Corban (Lindsay Corban Consulting Limited). 7 Vanesa Sherer (Mayorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s PA) & Mayor Bob Harvey (Waitakere City). 8 2007 Participants. 3

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Having Their Say Thoughts from the class of 2007 Andrew Aitken My role at Vero Insurance New Zealand is to lead a team of dedicated people who sell general insurance to New Zealand businesses and people. Vero Insurance, until March 2007 part of the Promina Group (since merged with Suncorp), is the second largest general insurer in New Zealand. An acknowledged industry leader, at Vero we embrace business excellence, utilising the NZ Business Excellence Foundation and the Baldrige Criteria to drive business performance and improvement. Vero has been judged Insurer of the Year by NZ Insurance Brokers for three of the past four years, Top Performing Business in the Promina Group for two of the past three years, Australasian General

Insurer of the Year for 2006 and rated third in the 2006 NZ Best Places to Work Survey (large workplaces). Vero was also a NZ Business Excellence Foundation ‘Silver’ award winner for 2004.

Matt Anderson As Branch Manager of ACC’s Henderson branch in Auckland, I lead the team responsible for coordinating rehabilitation for people who have suffered injuries that have significantly impacted on their ability to work, earn, and function at home and in their communities. I am fortunate to work with a team of talented and committed people who share ACC’s desire to help people get back on their feet following injury.

Zealand programme. For me the programme presents a unique opportunity to hear from a diverse range of leaders, and to question them about how they have approached their leadership roles, how they have overcome major challenges, and what has spurred them to ‘step up to the plate’ as leaders. It is also a unique opportunity to network and learn from a very diverse and talented group of emerging leaders (the course participants) who face a wide range of leadership challenges in their own organisations. My key learning goals for this year are to significantly expand my understanding of the major issues facing New Zealand, to grow my confidence and capability as a leader, and to get a clearer sense of my personal leadership style, strengths, opportunities and direction.

I feel privileged to participate in the 2007 Leadership New

Mark Baker PAK SAVE, New World and Four Square exist to feed New Zealand. I take great pride in working with the owner-operators that make these brands real. As a wholly New Zealand company, we operate in most communities across our country. The team I am part of look after all aspects of ensuring New Zealanders have the very best experience they can every time they shop at one of our stores. It is a simple but complex role. We experience every issue facing New Zealand on a daily basis – family issues, cultural issues, 10

By participating in the 2007 Leadership New Zealand programme I am looking to develop a broader understanding of the issues facing New Zealand and our people. Having been in the insurance industry for almost 30 years, it is an exciting prospect to learn more about a wider range of topics. The challenge of broadening my knowledge of New Zealand, the issues and opportunities facing our country while meeting and working with a wide range of course participants and business leaders, as well as growing my understanding and knowledge of the discipline of leadership present a great way to move forward.

macroeconomic issues – and we take our role in being involved seriously. I want to learn to listen more, to question more and to apply these skills to helping people within my sphere of influence have the hard discussions we need to have. The challenges will be tough, as I have a lot to learn about diversity and how to integrate perspectives from different cultural or ethnic norms. My wife Bridget and I have recently started our family. It is important that I have a more complete view of the world that is “New Zealand” to provide the best start to our children that is possible. My experience so far with the people and the programme indicate I am well on the journey. www.leadershipnz.co.nz

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Minnie Baragwanath I am the Strategic Disability Advisor with Auckland City Council. My role is to help Auckland to create a city where the 20% of its disabled citizens feel that they belong and where they can take part in the community and contribute to its vitality. During the nearly six years that I have been in this role I have worked with virtually every part of the organisation. A lot of my work has focused on removing physical barriers in the built environment, trying to improve access to information, improving access to community facilities and services such as libraries and community centres.

I took up the opportunity to be a part of the Leadership New Zealand programme because as someone who is partially blind myself, I was very aware that there are not enough disabled leaders and even fewer disabled women leaders. I believe that through this programme I will make contact with other passionate people who will help me to understand some of the really major issues facing New Zealand. I hope that as my understanding grows, that I will also be able to play a part in solving some of these issues and in creating the great New Zealand of the future.

Cheryl Bowie I am a self-employed business consultant working on projects ranging from business performance reviews, core process analysis and mapping and business and service improvement initiatives. My consulting work allows me to work in a wide range of industries spanning both private and public sectors. I enjoy the variety of work that consulting provides me and being a mother of two young children, I value the flexibility that comes with being self-employed.

I am very excited to be joining the Leadership New Zealand programme. Having relaunched my career in the past 18 months after being a full-time Mum, I see this as an opportunity to extend myself both personally and professionally. I have been interested in pursuing post-graduate studies and see this programme as the perfect balance with my current family commitments. I am hoping this course will help direct me professionally, further develop my professional networks and establish new friendships. Most of all I am looking forward to broadening my mind, being challenged by others and learning more about our society and history. I know this is going to be an amazing journey!

Sally Bramley I love telling people I work for ACC as a Branch Manager in Wellington. In this role I am responsible for ensuring that available resources are effectively and efficiently utilised to provide maximum delivery of ACC services to our customers and ensuring New Zealanders have confidence in ACC. My role is varied and on any given day I may be required to develop, manage and maintain effective working relationships with employers and providers. I manage the business planning and budget process, including strategic and operational business plans, reviewing the branch objectives to ensure alignment with the business plans, driving the organisation’s vision, continually identifying opportunities to improve and encouraging others to do the same.

I am truly passionate about leadership, especially so within New Zealand. I consider the Leadership New Zealand programme will provide me with an opportunity to both meet and learn from some of New Zealand’s most exciting and outstanding leaders. I am looking forward to being dragged from my comfort zone and being challenged by other programme participants and speakers alike. I will also take my learning experiences from the programme and apply them to both my professional and personal lives.

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Jeanette Burns As Prison Manager for Public Prisons, Northern Region, I am responsible for the overall management of Auckland Regional Women’s Corrections Facility (ARWCF), which has capacity for 286 women prisoners; the largest women’s prison in the Southern Hemisphere. ARWCF opened in May 2006, one of four new style prisons which have prisoner self responsibility at the heart of their operating philosophy. Contributing to the rehabilitation and reintegration of prisoners back into the community is the responsibility of all prison staff but, in addition to this, my primary responsibility is the care and safety of the community, staff, prisoners and visitors.

Through my participation in the Leadership New Zealand programme, I hope to share my experiences gained at a senior management level, within a number of both public and private organisations, with the other participants and similarly learn from their experiences. I hope to be exposed to leaders who will challenge my thinking and open my mind to other ways of doing things to achieve the end result. I hope also to gain additional skills that I can use and share within my current role and take with me into any future roles.

Richard Copeland I work for Tait Electronics, a Christchurch company that has been providing innovative radio communications solutions to customers around the world for over 35 years. This private company is committed to the development of its people and I feel really proud to be supported by Tait on this programme. My role is Human Resources Manager to the manufacturing and R&D functions (approximately 250 FTE staff in each function) and it is quite varied!

I see this year as an opportunity for me to learn to identify and articulate vision and to learn how great leaders realise a vision through others. I want to get a better understanding of the challenges of leadership and to observe a range of responses to meet those challenges. Finally I expect to finish the year with a better appreciation of my own strengths, realised and unrealised, that I can apply at work and also in the wider community in which I live.

Robyn Cormack I’m the Marketing and Communications Manager for the Retirement Commission – the Crown entity helping New Zealanders prepare financially for retirement. My role is less about ‘retirement’, and is more about engaging Kiwis of all ages in learning about money. Our education programme has sorted.org.nz at its core. Ultimately it helps people get their finances sorted so they can achieve their life goals.

It’s a privilege to be a part of Leadership New Zealand and to have this unique opportunity to increase my knowledge and learn from the insights and behaviours of such a talented network of New Zealanders. This finely crafted course will help me to develop, state, and live out my personal vision, and to create my own leadership pathway. The experience so far suggests I’ll be facilitating and contributing to mind-shifting conversations that create understanding and shared vision. It’ll also mean welcoming chances to push my boundaries!

www.leadershipnz.co.nz

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Mark Crosbie I am a partner in Bell Gully, one of the top national commercial law firms. Our vision is to be New Zealand’s best law firm. My role as leader of the firm’s Commercial Property team has been to achieve this vision in our area, with our clients and with our staff. I believe we have achieved it with the team a leader in the property industry, with top clients and client relationships, and an Johnnie Freeland Ko Taupiri te maunga Ko Maungapohatu te Maunga Ko Waikato te awa Ko Tauranga te awa Ko Ngati Mahuta te iwi Ko Tuhoe te iwi I work for Te Rauhitanga Taiao – Auckland Regional Council as the Pae Arahi or Maori Relations Manager. I am part of a dynamic team whose responsibility is to provide Council with strategic and tactical leadership, Maori policy and planning advice, facilitating and managing relationships with Iwi, Hapu, Whanau and Maori, identifying

enviable depth of experience and with really committed and talented staff. My learning goals for the year from the Leadership New Zealand programme are to distil from the speakers and the readings to which the course exposes us, the understandings, challenges and distinctions of leadership, and the skills required to lead and to inspire and support others to do so. My experience of the programme to date has exceeded my expectations and inspired me to think far wider and bigger than I initially thought myself capable. opportunities to contribute to Maori outcomes; and building organisation capacity and capability to effectively respond to Maori. We play a unique role that affords us the privilege and challenge of working within a cross-cultural context while serving Council, Maori communities, the wider public and our colleagues. Through my participation in the Leadership New Zealand programme I aim to live into the ethos of Ko tou rourou, Ko taku rourou, Ka ora ai tatou which effectively means with your contribution and my contribution we all will be sustained. I look forward to the richness and diversity of what’s on offer in regard to participants, invited speakers and the shared journey.

Rod Gibson As the Operations Manager for Shell NZ Retail I am responsible for managing and leading a team to support and coordinate the operation of the retail business platform in New Zealand comprising some 250 sites. We do this by ensuring that the governance is in place and adhered to, to support the business platform and by continually focusing on improving processes and policy to improve the management of the network.

What am I hoping to gain from Leadership New Zealand? Primarily I aspire to improve my knowledge and understanding of New Zealand economic, social and environmental challenges and opportunities to allow me to be a more effective leader and better understand the implications of my actions, both in my professional and personal life. Secondarily I want to meet and network with successful New Zealand leaders to learn from their personal experiences in leadership. Already in the programme I have found my paradigms being both challenged and altered through discussions with the outstanding speakers and participants in the programme.

Greg Glover I am based in the Waikato west of Hamilton. My wife Gerry and I operate a 980 cow dairy farm and employ four full-time staff. We have a vision of running an intensive dairy business whilst maintaining a high level of environmental integrity. We do this by being proactive in adopting new farming systems and implementing practices that mitigate our impact on the environment such as riparian planting

along waterways and the use of nitrogen inhibitors to help prevent nitrogen runoff. We also have a passion for our staff and their development personally and career wise.

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For me, a focus is the rural urban relationship and how the rural sector can effectively communicate its needs. This is important so that both have a greater understanding of each other’s requirements. For New Zealand to be a world leader in food production and look after our natural capital we must develop sustainable solutions so that we can all succeed. 13

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Jo Kelly-Moore I am an Anglican Priest and am the Vicar of St Aidan’s Anglican Church in Remuera. St Aidan’s is a busy, active church and community centre and so, as part of a team of staff, my job offers many and varied responsibilities. First and foremost I have the privilege of journeying with individuals and families in all the joys and challenges of life, from birth to death. In addition, I have management responsibility for planning and development, finances and the supervising of a staff team. It is also essential to know how to change light bulbs and unblock

drains! Prior to ordination I practised law for six years in New Zealand and London.

Caroline Knight As Group Manager, Customer Help I am responsible for managing TelstraClear’s technical helpdesk. My role is extremely interesting and varied with every day offering a different set of challenges. I am very privileged to work with a talented and dedicated team of technical experts with 140 team members in total including nine very competent managers. The team is responsible for managing and resolving all technical enquiries from TelstraClear customers – we resolve approximately 55,000 telephone enquiries per month. TelstraClear is committed

to providing leading-edge communications solutions to New Zealand homes and businesses and the Customer Help team plays a key role in the delivery and support of those solutions.

Wendy McGuinness Currently I am managing a project, titled ‘2058’. It’s a two year project of Sustainable Future (www.sustainablefuture.info) which is an independent think tank. I am a Chartered Accountant and consider my heart as being in the public sector and my mind in the private sector – which as you can imagine, can result in some interesting dilemmas. I have always had my own business, McGuinness and Associates, which is a risk management consultancy firm based in Wellington.

Over the past few years, I have noticed a significant increase in private sector risks being driven by external forces – such as climate change (the Stern Review). In late 2006, I decided to put more effort into the management of public risks. This commitment, combined with my knowledge and belief that we need a new way of operating, cumulated in Project 2058. Up until this point I would have considered myself a backroom analyst, but to ensure Project 2058 is a success, I need to move into the front room. To do this would require additional expertise, particularly leadership skills and a better understanding of issues facing our country. Leadership New Zealand was the perfect choice to achieve these goals.

Karyn McLeod I am privileged to be working for the ASB Community Trust – a Philanthropic Trust that grants approximately $45 million annually to the Auckland / Northland communities. In this role I am often witness to many exciting initiatives that aim to make our communities better places for everyone to live. I work with a fantastic team of grants advisors that are keen to work with community groups so that they achieve the best outcomes, and their professionalism ensures that the ASB Community Trust is also effective with its funding.

I have a sense that my brain and my heart are both in for serious ‘wake-up’ explosions this year. Having been involved in the philanthropic sector for 15 years I know that I need to broaden my knowledge across so many other sectors. In terms of the work that I do I know that building on this knowledge will make me a more proactive person in my workplace and increase my confidence to “think outside the square” more. I have a sense that I am going to get to know some fantastic people on this programme and that I am going to witness some amazing personal journeys. These stories I hope will encourage me to challenge my own perceptions on life and give me the courage to ‘jump of the cliff ’ every now and then.

I am thrilled to be on the Leadership New Zealand programme and my learning goals include growing my leadership skills in order to lead the community service organisation for which I work into its next stage of growth and development; secondly to consider how we, the Church, can better network with other organisations in order to work together for a sustainable Aotearoa-New Zealand; and last, but not least, to be challenged and inspired as a citizen of this country, and the world, by the gift of all we hear and discuss this year!

The Leadership New Zealand programme is a fantastic opportunity for me to challenge myself. My key goals for this year are to broaden my knowledge of the major issues facing New Zealand now and in the future and to challenge my thinking in relation to leadership paradigms and myths. I am looking forward to building strong networks with other Leadership programme participants and contributing to the development of potential leaders within TelstraClear and the wider community.

www.leadershipnz.co.nz

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Jodi Mitchell As General Manager of Simpl’s Global Services practice my responsibility is to lead, manage and grow our delivery capability and optimise the performance of this team. Simpl is a New Zealand owned ICT company servicing New Zealand and offshore markets. Our role is to assist organisations to leverage technology in order to enhance their businesses. My team includes capability groups specialising in strategic consulting, project management, software development, business process optimisation, systems integration and ongoing support services. We look after clients from a wide range of sectors, including much

of the public sector. Before taking on this role in March 2007, I managed the software development group for eight years, working predominantly in the health sector at both ministry and district levels.

Greg Orchard I work for Housing New Zealand Corporation, a Crown agency that works with others to ensure that all New Zealanders have access to affordable, sustainable, good quality housing appropriate to their needs. As General Manager Asset Services, I lead a team responsible for the effective stewardship of the Corporation’s rental housing portfolio. This includes developing and delivering on strategies for the management of the portfolio and its alignment to current and future housing need. As a manager, my role is to ensure my

team are aligned with others in the achievement of the Corporation’s strategic objectives and to create an environment where they can succeed.

Graeme Olding I am a Senior Associate in the Auckland tax team of law firm Bell Gully (although at least once a week you will find me working in Wellington). Bell Gully is one of the leading law firms in New Zealand. My role is to provide tax advice to a range of the firm’s clients on deals as diverse as disputes over the tax

status of serviced residential apartments to advising on deals where I need to borrow a bigger calculator to handle the numbers.

Roslyn Pere I am employed by Air New Zealand as Product and Service Manager for the International Airline. My role involves selecting product for in-flight use – basically anything a passenger touches – and project managing through to delivery of the product and service standards onboard the flight. The overall goal is to drive ongoing operational implementation of product and service improvements to ensure consistent, outstanding customer service delivery across all touch points of the customer journey within the strategic direction of Air New Zealand.

The 2007 Leadership New Zealand programme is a fantastic opportunity to stretch myself in a number of ways. First and foremost is the ability to learn from others and in turn use those findings to better myself as a leader and help others around me. Key learnings will include the ability to keep an open mind, considering the wider issues facing New Zealand and understanding where I can make a difference – whether that be making individual and family commitments or working within a group. The ability to gain insight from a number of exceptional New Zealand leaders from various spheres throughout the country in such a unique environment has already exceeded my expectations.

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I am looking forward to Leadership New Zealand broadening my awareness and appreciation of the beauty, diversity and reality of life that is New Zealand – industries, cultures, communities. There is something empowering in being able to share my own thoughts, experience and wisdom with others who are prepared to do the same. My goal is to find ways in which I can participate in the future leadership of New Zealand. I want to be part of the new community that is Leadership New Zealand.

I am already experiencing the value of having a diverse range of participants on the programme and the insights that this will bring to the debate, discussion, and my growth during this year. This year is a fantastic opportunity to be exposed to and learn from a significant number of New Zealand’s leaders; with these leaders providing differing perspectives on the big issues and challenges facing New Zealand. My thinking is being challenged and I will be applying my learning directly back into my professional and private life.

Through participating in the 2007 Leadership New Zealand programme I hope to grow my knowledge of the issues facing New Zealand in the 21st century. I expect this will come not only from listening and questioning the speakers but also by listening to (and maybe even occasionally challenging) the views of my fellow participants.

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Anthony Joseph Moli ‘JR’ Pereira It is a privilege to work for the Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs in the Auckland office in my role as a Regional Advisor for the Auckland region. The role involves working closely with other central government agencies, regional and local government bodies to facilitate, and advise on policy formulation and planning that impacts on the livelihood of

Pacific peoples in this country and in particular this region.

Tara Pradhan My role as Creative Industries Manager in the Economic Development Group at Auckland City Council is a stimulating and varied one. I am involved with strategy and policy development, planning, research, project management and event management. My focus is growing the creative sector and also working on a wide range of economic development initiatives locally, regionally and nationally. Supporting the creative sector involves focusing on key industries such as screen production and design. I work extensively with stakeholders

across the city, including being a member of the Film Auckland board.   My participation in the 2007 Leadership New Zealand programme will enable me to deepen my understanding of issues affecting New Zealand and learn more about how these can be addressed. I am excited about working with a group of talented people who inspire and challenge each other. I appreciate the opportunity to network with a wide range of New Zealand leaders who want to make a difference in New Zealand. I want to apply my learnings to the work we do at Auckland City Council with our community and business sector, and to enhance my leadership skills and role.

Michael Price I lead the mail processing business for New Zealand Post. The processing operation comprises of approximately 2000 employees who are based throughout the country at our six metropolitan automated processing facilities, or at the International Mail Centre. Our purpose is to manage the national sorting of mail, and the supply chain from the point the mail enters our networks through to the Posties getting all the mail for the customers they deliver to. My role is to ensure

the processing operation is as efficient as possible and delivers a consistent service experience on a daily basis.

Ngaroimata Reid I am the Project Manager for Te Korowai Manaaki – Great Start Waitakere, which is a collaboration project aimed at the primary prevention of violence to children under five in Waitakere City. Launched in 2003, Te Korowai Manaaki is the leading project within Waitakere City’s Wellbeing Collaboration Strategy. It is based on the Maori Indigenous Model – Te Korowai – a cloak of care and protection, and led by four leadership working groups – Hono I te Ora Maori Caucus, Ataata o le Taeao Pasifika Caucus, Te Korowai Manaaki Strategic Working Group and the Te Korowai Manaaki Project Leaders Group.

As Project Manager my role is to attract programme funding, develop and implement strategy, manage and coordinate the four leadership groups, oversee the development and implementation of each leadership group’s projects, develop and broker strategic relationships and promote the Te Korowai Manaaki model and programme.

I am hoping that the Leadership New Zealand programme will assist me in fine tuning a pathway of strengthening leadership within the Pacific community in Aotearoa, from a grass-roots level towards understanding the New Zealand society and key national issues. This is pivotal for the Pacific Island society to contribute, participate and be involved socially, economically and environmentally with a global outlook. The Pacific people have a rich culture that can contribute positively to New Zealand society.

Being a participant of Leadership New Zealand for me is about building a deeper understanding of key economic, cultural, social and environmental issues facing New Zealand. The learnings and insights I expect to gain from this programme will help me to continue to grow as a leader, and enable me to make a bigger contribution to New Zealand in the future. This programme has already caused me to think differently, assisted in my personal development, and will enable me to be a more informed and balanced future leader.

I am honoured to have been invited to participate in Leadership New Zealand 2007. I am looking forward to hearing from some fabulous people and making some extraordinary friendships. I intend to use this year to further promote and raise the profile of our Te Korowai Manaaki model and work in Family Violence Prevention both nationally and internationally as well as prepare to begin my PhD studies in 2008. www.leadershipnz.co.nz

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James Smallwood Having spent my career to date in the agri-business sector I am aware of the importance of this sector to the New Zealand economy and the resources that we, as New Zealanders, call our own. Within this sector, with its large numbers of independent business people, there is always a need for sound leadership to ensure that the sector can maintain its position within the country and afford the nation the first world standard of living it currently enjoys.

I am very privileged to be involved in the 2007 Leadership New Zealand course and look forward to gaining insights from New Zealand’s leaders and an enhanced understanding of the issues that currently face our country and that will undoubtedly impact upon our future. I also look forward to gaining a greater understanding of what it means to be a New Zealander from my peers on this year’s course.

Jennie Vickers I run JV Initiatives, a business that evaluates innovation, making inspiration a reality. The common thread is making a difference by being different, this means employing a unique approach – userfriendly technology. I get involved in activities as diverse as Business Development Director for GuideTools, which includes corporate representation of the multi-award winning, webbased learning delivery and assessment system, Aegility; training and coaching in connected thinking; providing legal consultancy services to the electricity industry and development of innovative product and service business concepts.

I’m energised by the thought of the impact Leadership New Zealand will have on me this year. I sense that interaction with so many of our industry decision makers/thought leaders will motivate and inspire me to push myself even further. My goals for the year are to learn about me, developing a new self awareness to achieve my personal best; and to become part of a network of equally driven believers in Leadership New Zealand, committed to the common goal of making New Zealand the best of the best.

Serena Walker I work as Practice Manager for a small executive search consultancy, Kerridge & Partners. My contribution to the business is the overall management of the office and support staff. I am fortunate enough to be involved in a holistic view of the business through strategic planning, forecasting and business excellence and I also enjoy a day-to-day involvement in the operations of the business. I am surrounded by some stunningly talented individuals and together we make a great team. WINTER 2007

One of the first realisations I had when beginning the programme was that this was going to be a great journey of self discovery. Beyond this I am passionate to learn from the 27 talented, articulate and intelligent people I am sharing this journey with. I am looking forward to developing an understanding of the part I can play in taking leadership to the next level in New Zealand and following the completion of the programme getting involved in community projects for the betterment of all New Zealanders.

Alumni – Reflections

he opportunity over 11 months in 2006 to step beyond the four walls of a legal practice, with all the client demands and long hours that are an undeniable and inescapable part of modern law firm life, and to explore the world outside was in every sense of the word a privilege. It was a privilege to spend a year discussing, analysing and contemplating issues which define us both individually and as a society as a whole with such an inspiring group of passionate people – both my fellow journeymen in the class of 2006 and the amazing array of leaders who shared their time, professional expertise and��  personal experiences with such generosity and trust. The range of topics explored each month was frequently challenging and outside the comfort zone for a number of us, but a joint leap of faith with our guest speakers often propelled the entire group into unexpectedly exciting territory. We were honoured to share profoundly moving moments with some of our most public leaders and to contemplate and learn from their sometimes painful experiences in both public and private life. These were rare and precious insights.  It is marvellous now to have the inspiration and confidence to develop my own leadership style with the help and reassurance of what I have learned and the experiences that I have shared over the past year. To have experienced such personal and professional growth is a rare and valuable gift, and one which deserves and demands to be shared with others. I am fortunate to work with lawyers, clients and consultants from a wide range of professional disciplines who share my passion for the environment. I know from the feedback I have received from these people that what I have experienced through the Leadership New Zealand programme is making a real difference in our day-today commitment to manage sustainably our environment and to ensure we leave something meaningful to pass on to future generations of New Zealanders. I will be privileged to have the opportunity to make a meaningful contribution to the people around me and to our society at large. I think this is an aspiration which all Leadership New Zealand alumni share and feel very passionate about – the chance to give something back, to make a difference, and to contribute to a better future for everyone.

am honoured to have been a part of the inaugural Leadership New Zealand Programme in 2005. At the time, I had no idea that it would result in Leadership New Zealand becoming my new extended whanau, which continues to grow in size. I had even less of an idea that this programme would become more important to me each year and become such an influential part of my life. As I reflect on my year of learning, and I often do – I am inspired all over again. My key learnings from the programme are still fresh and relevant. I learned much from the diverse cross section of leaders who spoke to us, and I find myself reading and re-reading my notes whenever I am in a new situation or seeking solutions to challenging issues. I have a whole library of insights and information and I find something new every time I open the pages. The topics we studied and leaders we heard from covered so many issues that I am never lost for guidance. What continues to inspire me most are the personal reflections that each of the leaders was generous enough to share with us – they are the gems, they are the real lessons of leadership and their words stay close to me and they still stretch my thinking. The programme has influenced me in other ways too. It has helped me to focus my time and energy on the right things. I have become better at recognising the things that I do, that make a positive difference and I have the passion to grow and develop these aspects. Since 2006, members of the 2005 programme have become part of an active Alumni group, which will continue to grow as each year passes. As part of the Alumni group we have set up Skillsbank. Some exciting projects have got off the ground in the last year. I was fortunate to be the first member of the Alumni to sit on the Leadership New Zealand Board of Trustees, and it is an honour to give back to this organisation – to invest in Leadership New Zealand so that we can create more opportunities for learning and connecting leaders from throughout New Zealand. I am passionate about working towards achieving rea l Kotahitanga (unity). This is an aspect that excites me. I feel that it is a real privilege to be involved in Leadership New Zealand, as it has opened my eyes to the possibilities and opportunities that surround us. It has connected me with people who have challenged me, and supported me, but most of all it has introduced me to the power of knowledge and the importance of true leadership.

Theresa Le Bas is a Senior Associate at Bell Gully Auckland, and was a participant in the Class of 2006. She is an active member of the Alumni.

Rewi Spraggon is Leadership New Zealand Alumni, Trustee and Kaiwhakarite at Waitakere City Council.

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Dr Pita Sharples leadership and mana By Bob Harvey

ong before Pita Sharples was a household name in Aotearoa New Zealand, the people of west Auckland knew him as a driving force around the founding of Hoani Waititi marae and the development of Kohanga Reo or the Learning Nest. He has been a leader, a mentor and a teacher and he has worn the cloak of leadership with humility and wisdom. I first met Pita face to face when I was bringing together the events surrounding the 1990 Commonwealth Games. Around this major event swirled all kinds of rumour and innuendo of Maori hell bent on disrupting the games and causing mayhem. It was my job to ask Pita if he would bring together an opening ceremony which could possibly stop and stun the world. Well, he did – and we became lifelong friends. Like many Maori, Pita Sharples has known a life of complexity and difficulty. His wisdom has been hard earned and his life has not been easy. He had an early violent upbringing which he openly and honestly discusses because of his dedication and his absolute commitment to lift the role of Maori to new heights. He is unashamedly optimistic and in many ways I think this is one of the hallmarks of a leader – someone able to come through adversity, despair and rejection. Pita and I were born in the same year and our paths were very different. He grew up in a rural area on the East Coast in the small settlement of Takapau. His father was a shearer and Pakeha, and his mother Ngati Kahungunu. He was schooled at Te Aute College and then came west to live in Te Atatu North in the 1960s. Here is a leader who has given his life to his community. The list of his achievements is endless. He has participated in Marae and Maori Councils, assisted in the founding and establishment of both Hoani Waititi marae and the Te Whanau O Waipareira trust, not to mention his work in the early days in the race relations office with the great Harry Dansey, the second race relations conciliator. When I caught up with Pita to discuss leadership he told me it was something that anyone could do if they so desired. But, he said, you will have failures. His thinking is that if you don’t succeed “for god’s sake try again”. Leadership is also about integrity, courage and problem solving. Pita has always seemed to me to be clear minded on issues – whether in his new role as a Member of Parliament, discussing the foreshore and seabed issues, or after urging by his elders WINTER 2007

to make a political stand and become one of the co-leaders of the Maori political party. Part of this man’s ability to be a focused leader is the quietness and pervading calm of his manner, as well as his clarity of thought and honesty. He is not afraid to be forthright. I asked Pita if his leadership had taken a toll on his personal life and at what cost was leadership delivered. As always, openly and honestly, he replied the going is tough. In the past year many of his friends have died and he’s also had to spend a great deal of his

He has been a leader, a mentor and a teacher and he has worn the cloak of leadership with humility and wisdom. time away from his home and whanau on the political road, selling the issues of the Maori Party. He is generous in his respect for his colleagues – which is rare in Parliament; he clearly likes his co-leader Tariana Turia and is in fulsome praise of Hone Harawira. Pita and I know the sands of time for us are running out and it’s time to start passing on the leadership torch. Pita says leadership sets you free. It gives you a sense of belief in doing something that matters. And you have to like people. It’s believing in something, and indeed in yourself, he adds, to make a big difference and to look back on your life and simply acknowledge the thought “I did that”. And it doesn’t come easily and yes, it does have a cost. Leadership like everything in life has its limitations. Maori have a different perspective than Pakeha – their leaders are selected and given a role which they can never step back from. Pita exudes mana, he is always immersed in Tikanga Maori and he is always prepared to find new ways of delivering it to the young – whether it be in cultural performance, the art of weaponry, or in oratory. Dr Pita Sharples is a man of extraordinary and heart-felt charm who has aged comfortably, changing roles, growing in status and confidence. He is one of New Zealand’s most respected politicians and Maori figures. Pita leaves you with a sense of wellbeing and comfort. He strengthens you with his leadership and mana. Tihei Mauri Ora. Bob Harvey is Mayor of Waitakere City, an Advisory Trustee of Leadership New Zealand and addressed the 2007 Programme Participants in February this year. 19

Peri Drysdale on Leadership with Style

eri Drysdale’s world of high fashion design is as globally competitive as it gets. Not content with a tough marketing challenge, she’s also committed to environmentally sustainable and socially responsible leadership. She talks to Leadership New Zealand about her role as CEO and founder of Snowy Peak and Untouched World and her leadership philosophies.

As a successful business leader, what are the six most critical issues that you confront in order to operate successfully in New Zealand and internationally? Where the business is at now, 90 percent of my job is about people and strategy – both here and internationally. This involves recruiting astonishing people and associates, assimilating them into the business family and culture, supporting and developing them to grow and stretch and be the best they can be so that together we achieve more than the sum of their individual outputs. Entwined with this is the need to communicate the vision and goals of the business and ensure that strategies, funding and business agility are in place to achieve our goals. Then I get out of the way – which is sometimes the hardest bit! This all takes place in a creative high energy environment where fiery creative spirits are treasured, as are the structured systems people who provide the platform from which the creativity takes flight. Do you think the issues that confront you are universal to business or unique to what you are doing? They will be universal to all business but not of the same priority to all business. Reflect on how much those issues have changed/ are different from when you first started exporting. The business has been through a number of evolutions... from a home-based one-person cottage industry with contracted out-workers, to having a strong senior team with advisors, and now while I am majority shareholder I function as a CEO reporting to a board. In the early days critical issues were getting yarn suppliers to take us seriously; finding and developing offshore markets for our long and deep off-season; finding ways to keep up with demand; financing the business growth; and managing the swings in the NZD and its impacts on a business that initially sold almost exclusively directly or indirectly in foreign currency. From day one – and the first person hired – ‘people’ have been the most critical part to have right. My work/life balance has also changed over the years, from family being first priority – being primary caregiver to very small children and second-

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interview

ary income earner, to now having ‘leave’ (given to me by me) to invest as much time in the business as the business is asking for, to optimise its potential. This timing is upside down to many who often do the work life balance thing after giving all to their business/career early on. In terms of your own process of identifying potential leaders – what do you look for? For graduates without any work experience there are often clues – have they been class monitor, head prefect, captain of the team, leader of the student union? We look for a mix of humility and a rock solid inner self-confidence. For people who have embarked on their career already we grill their past employers like they’ve never been grilled before! We want to know everything about that person and will often have extended reference checking sessions with four or more referees with different work relationships with the candidate. Overall, we look for a close cultural and values fit – this is the most important. If it is a senior appointment – we try and grow from within but can’t always – we extend the interface with the company so the people this person will be leading and their senior team colleagues can assess the fit, and equally importantly, the incoming person gets to understand what the culture is. The more senior the role, the more critical to the organisation that there is a culture fit. What are the essential leadership qualities in the world in which you operate? We have quite a long list! Energy is number one. Next comes being comfortable in one’s own skin – which in turn facilitates honesty, openness, integrity, optimism and humanity. Then follows being able to surround themselves with better people than they are; obsession with design; caring about people – their growth and success; giving praise; building selfconfidence; exuding enthusiasm; making sure people live and breathe the vision; having the courage to make unpopular decisions and gut calls – and more! Are they innate – or can they be learned? I think there has to be something there in the first place, then leadership skills can be acquired and built on over a lifetime. How do you foster them? A mix of high quality personal training, external leadership training and on-the-job mentoring. Do you believe that there are unique New Zealand differentiators/products/qualities that you can take to the world? New Zealand needs to work fast and hard to retain the huge opportunity that it has – to have a country brand that represents internationally the best there is in environmental, social and cultural sustainability. This is a precious opportunity fast running away on us that has the potential to add the greatest value and margin to all of our exports. Made in New Zealand, WINTER 2007

made of New Zealand and made by/designed by New Zealand is the greatest opportunity we have to rise to the top of the OECD in a mix of GDP and GDH measures. The types of products and services are endless, but do not include commodities. Anything that has a design innovation quotient that cleverly leverages the values of New Zealand, is of a high value to weight ratio, and has a transparently and certified exemplar earth footprint will facilitate it to be purchased as a product or brand of preference by increasingly conscious consumers around the world. To what extent have you have leveraged off the clean green New Zealand brand internationally? When we started exporting New Zealand didn’t have a brand. As recently as the last decade, on the whole, internationally people struggled to think where New Zealand was on the globe. At the beginning of any meeting we had to first explain about New Zealand. Untouched World is a New Zealand lifestyle brand built around the spirit of New Zealand. That spirit arises from who we are as a people and the lifestyle we lead. Our lifestyle is one of the richest in the world, where we have ready access to art, culture, and outdoor recreation. Our imagery, often photographed minutes from our offices, is to die for and is part of the mix. Key for us is our design, our amazing fabrics and our quality, all underpinned by our sustainability values. What leadership is required to hold this place on the world stage? While there is a real opportunity out there for New Zealand to brand as a leader in the area of national sustainability policy and practice, there is a matching risk to most of our exports should our performance be deemed inadequate by the world media. We are right on the cusp. We must, as a nation, act. We have, as a nation, to be prepared to look at the big picture, make some major infrastructure investment, and put in policy that will drive change in practice. What personal leadership philosophy underpins your attitude toward the people who work for you – how important to you are the people you lead and how do you express that in your particular leadership style? I have probably covered this to a degree above. Without people we have no company. With great people working to capacity towards a shared vision we have a fantastic company. We have developed many different ways to get closer and closer to our goal of facilitating each person to develop to their full potential. We believe people can only reach their full potential when they know they are appreciated and their values are aligned with the work they are involved in. We celebrate small and large success, we celebrate extraordinary contribution wherever in the company it is put in. We take the time to make sure we are aligned with “what is my role and how am I are doing”, where do they want to be/what do they want to be doing in five years’ time and how we can help them get there. 21

asian leaders

My Personal Life Journey Kai Luey By Alistair Kwun

was born in Westport and brought up in Wellington / Lower Hutt. My parents migrated from the Guangzhou area of China in the early 1900s and since we were unwanted aliens they operated a family fruit shop business at various locations. Because of this situation, we were actively discouraged from fraternising with our Kiwi school mates and spent all our spare time after school, on weekends and during school holidays helping in the family shop. Most of the time our family were the only Chinese at the local school and as a youth I often felt isolated and at times hated my Chinese origins. I graduated from the University of Canterbury with a Bachelor of Engineering (Electrical) degree with First Class Honours in 1965. Thereafter I spent over 30 years as an engineer and manager in the electricity supply industry with the NZ Electricity Department and various multinational public companies both in New Zealand and overseas. For the last 17 years of my corporate employment, I was general manager and managing director of companies within the Morgan Dulmison Group based in Australia, New Zealand and Thailand and a director for the group’s operations in India and Malaysia. 22

During my working career in New Zealand, I found that progression in both public and private sectors was very difficult and frustrating for a person of Chinese ethnicity. I felt I needed to prove to management that my performance, abilities and enthusiasm were far superior to those of my contemporaries to even get the promotions that I gained. Hence, I emigrated with my wife and two children to Sydney at the age of 38 to advance my career opportunities. There I was appointed general manager of a large company within four years. Thereafter my executive management career thrived in the international environment until the inevitable corporate takeover of the group in 1999. In terms of my community work, I was heavily involved in Chinese sports for many years. Since my return from overseas employment I have become a leader in Chinese community affairs in Auckland and also on a national basis – including Poll Tax settlement issues and becoming National President of the NZ Chinese Association. For this community work I was awarded the Queen’s Service Medal (QSM) in the 2005 New Year Honours list. My advice to my two children – who are both university graduates – and to all other Chinese youths, is to be proud of your Chinese heritage and to value education, moral values and family traditions. With the trend towards global economies and the emergence of China as a major world power, the opportunities for your true worth to be developed and recognised have never been better.

There have been many labels for the New Zealand born Chinese of my generation from “Ching Chong Chinaman” during my schooldays, to “Model Minority” during my working career, and then to the “Old Generation” as we try to lead the debate on our identity and the role of Chinese New Zealanders in the 21st century. This is a major theme of the New Zealand Chinese Association’s upcoming “Bananas NZ Going Global” International Conference on 18-19 August in Auckland. (Please refer to www.goingbananas.org.nz for more details.)

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A LIFE IN LEADERSHIP

Collegial Leadership Milton Henry, a teacher at Selwyn College, writes about how student leadership at Selwyn is a reflection of the philosophy of Principal Carol White. As a result of her vision, students are empowered and rise to the challenge of collegial leadership.

n her opening address to staff at the beginning of the year, our Principal Carol White, who had just been honoured in the New Year Honours list for her lifetime achievements in education, asked us to think back on what we had done over the holidays. She got us thinking about the many experiences we’d had – places we had been, people we had been with, conversations we had had. She reminded us that it was this collective experience that we would directly or indirectly pass on to the students this year. Leadership and learning at Selwyn College are distinctive. They are highlighted by a desire for equity. Carol White and John Kenny, with the staff and the Board of Trustees, established a coprincipalship in 1992. It is a model that emphasises collegiality and trust, the importance of history, and a strong concern for social justice. Power is shared, and education is constructed rather than instructed.

L-R: Kimberley Munemo (Zimbabwe), Pang Wood (Thailand) and Shukraih Safdari (Afghanistan) are all part of the YWCA New Migrant Mentoring Programme, which Selwyn College subscribes to.

Success at any school is not always easily measured, but at Selwyn meaurement includes academic results, self confidence and an awareness of others. Young people’s life experiences are the sum of their experience in every context of their lives – school, family and other involvements. Selwyn acknowledges this, and so, like a family, everyone has a unique and important place. Selwyn College is a decile five school serving a number of different communities, where the groundwork is done in ordinary, everyday interactions. We have students from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, and I see leadership from students when they interact confidently with their own individual styles. Opportunities for leadership are as varied as our student group, and range from the traditional student executive to new migrant mentoring provided by the YWCA. We have students who lead sports teams, mediation teams, school shows, and culture groups. At the start of each year our Year 13 students are invited to attend a leadership camp at the Edmund Hillary Outdoor WINTER 2007

Pursuits Centre where they follow a “situational self leadership” model. A group of 30 students are taken through a range of activities designed to recognise the talent of the group. Skills are noted and decisions finalised as to who the student leaders will be. Students gain a lot personally, but also return united with the intention to do things at school. Our two student presidents in 2006 were impressive, particularly in their ability and willingness to speak honestly. Kris Ross, the Head Girl, came to national attention in the Human Rights Speech Competition in which she spoke of the importance of the Treaty of Waitangi. Head Boy Robin Campbell attended a Global Youth Leaders conference in Washington mid year and on his return said that it was his experience at Selwyn College, where young people constantly experience a multi-cultural reality, that enabled him to mix with the other participants so readily. Our students increasingly need this global perspective. A growing feature of New Zealand secondary schools is the diversity of students. The YWCA programme, which pairs successful women with girls who have potential, is helping our new migrant girls develop their leadership potential. They have regular mentoring sessions, where these girls have their horizons widened. They are expected to go on camps, attend workshops and may have home visits. This is a year-long programme and the one-on-one mentoring has already proven beneficial. Some of these girls have spent their recent holidays attending a school-based soccer camp. For the first time they are being coached in a sport they have long wanted to participate in. This programme exemplifies how leadership builds capability within a specific group. Recently I met one of my former students who remembers me well. I remember her as a capable student. She is now in her third year at university studying English and Philosophy. I asked her about her plans and her time at school. She talked of doing Honours, a Masters degree, and of her plans to lecture at tertiary level. She told me how it was the opportunity to do a Stage One university paper while still at school that made her want to continue to study. The school had recognised her academic potential and along with other students she was encouraged to extend beyond school, knowing that she could do it. Leadership does not set limits. The longer I teach, the more sense I have of what a future New Zealand may look like. I look forward to Kosovan architects, Burmese early childhood workers and Russian athletes. I see that our leaders will be New Zealanders beyond what we have known. Carol White has encouraged this vision at Selwyn; this is the experience of the staff, student leaders and all our students. Milton Henry is a teacher at Selwyn College and part of the Leadership New Zealand Alumni. 23

Morgan Williams on: Future Journeys

e are all on a journey – a journey through life within personal relationships, in complex, often turbulent but hopefully vibrant communities and all on a planet which is increasingly showing the stresses of our wants and needs. I have just spent 10 very rewarding years on a journey as New Zealand’s Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment. It’s a unique role within New Zealand, and rare world wide. It provided me with the opportunity to work with many talented people within the PCE and throughout Aotearoa, people who have helped shape my understanding of the major challenges we all face maintaining or improving lifestyles in seemingly bountiful lands. I would like to share some of these insights particularly in terms of the leadership needs required to mesh the three major realms of our society: social/cultural, economic and environmental (sustaining our natural capital). But let me begin with a story. It comes from a book, Blessed Unrest by Paul Hawken, published in May 2007. The origins of the story are in the concept, introduced in 1965 by economist Kenneth Boulding, that the earth can be thought of as a spaceship and rather than being limitless could be considered a “tiny sphere, closed, limited, crowded, and hurtling through space to unknown destinations”. Over the past decade, as a training exercise with corporate managers, Hawken has asked them how they would design a spaceship to support life in situations where the managers “could not see the practicality or necessity of transforming their corporate practices to ecological ones”. One example of this exercise is particularly insightful. Hawken was working with 60 chemical engineers from an agrochemicals company. He divided them into four teams and gave them the task of designing a space ship/station that could leave earth and return in 100 years with its crew alive, healthy and happy. The spaceship could be as large as necessary, could receive light from the sun – but there were no escape hatches. The teams had two hours after which they presented their designs and voted on the one they would all prefer to leave earth on. In reality the teams had to design a sustainable world. They had to create ecosystems that could provide food, medicines, and fibres plus maintain an atmosphere and absorb wastes for a century. They had to design a society, a culture, lines of authority and all the messy details of creating and maintaining a society. All the proposals produced by the four teams were excellent but one stood out and got the majority of votes. This team did some very different things. They did not take DVDs and lots of current electronic goods on board for entertainment, but in24

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REFLECTIONS

stead decided that a significant proportion of the ‘crew’ should be artists, musicians, actors and storytellers because to survive for a century they needed to create a culture – the stabilising ‘glue’ of our societies. They also, of course, took on board all the ingredients needed to create and maintain stable ecosystems with a particular focus on the seeds, bacteria, fungi, soils, plants we call weeds, insects and small animals that contribute to complex, resilient ecosystems. Notably they did not take any of the companies’ herbicides or other products considering them too toxic for use in their small ecosystem – a five-kilometre diameter space station. The team also discussed equity issues in the context of how to share scarce resources such as fruits and medicines. They decided they needed a very different model to that used to structure salaries in their company; one in which 20% of staff received 80% of total remuneration. What the winning team did was construct a very diverse ecosystem based on robust ecological science principles underpinned by a socially just and equitable society. The real power of the spaceship metaphor is that it teaches us to think about systems and thus complex interrelationships. It forces us to think longer term and to be very focused on the interrelationships between our social aspirations, our economic (distribution of resources) models and the ecological systems on which we are ultimately dependent. However in the past 10 years as PCE it has become increasingly evident that we really struggle, as a nation, to think and act for the longer term or work well across the boundaries between the spheres of our society. Is it a matter of leadership and if so in what dimensions? Yes it is a leadership issue but not in the sense of how we are dealing with particular issues – such as climate change or family violence – but in terms of how to foster a much more systems orientated approach to all our social, economic and environmental sustainability efforts. There are a number of approaches to what is a tough task. The first is for all of us, where possible, to champion and support those that have the capacity and passion to sponsor discussion and dialogue on the need for and ways of applying a systems approach. The second is to highlight examples of where it is happening: within a community possibly supported by philanthropic investment; in a company which is investing in people and systems for the long term; in local government where a real effort is being made to think, plan and act in a systems orientated way. The third is to maintain scrutiny on the investment made, from public and private purses, on education and learning for sustainability. This is in terms of what is taught, in pedagogical terms as well as content, by our formal education systems WINTER 2007

as well as the development of tools that can empower us all to live within ecological limits while maintaining our desired qualities of life. The fourth is to argue relentlessly for meaningful measures of our quality of life; measures that can add up the ‘goods’ and deduct the ‘bads’. These are urgently needed to complement those, such as GDP, that dominate as our measures of progress. Such economic measures were never intended to be an indicator of social well-being but they still dominate despite the fact most of us are focused on a complex matrix of things that keep us happy. Using systems approaches this matrix can now be measured and used to guide our ‘spaceship’ Aotearoa.

We need leadership to expose our lack of willingness to take a systems approach, to work across the social, economic and environmental boundaries in our society. Finally, we need leadership to expose our lack of willingness to take a systems approach, to work across the social, economic and environmental boundaries in our society. Examples are widespread. One is our apparent lack of will to improve our vehicle fleet efficiency by limiting the age of imported vehicles and introducing meaningful emission and fuel efficiency standards. This reluctance appears to be because of the perceived impacts it would have on our lower income families. This is a classic case of short-term thinking and lack of a systems approach in a broader social and resource efficiency realm. The improvement of vehicle standards will ultimately bring greater benefit to all New Zealand families than the short-term advantage of access to low efficiency, high emissions, but lowcost, vehicles. Of course much better public transport systems, particularly in our urban centres, thus reduced reliance on our cars would be of even greater benefit to us all! So my leadership thoughts, after 10 years as PCE, are dominated by how to advance thought leadership. How to champion and support all the great Kiwis who are embracing the spaceship metaphor. These are the people that will be key contributors to building understanding on what it means to be ‘more sustainable’ and what we have to do to get firmly onto that developmental pathway. And much of the ‘doing’ is about what we all need to know and what measures of success our political leaders should focus on. Morgan Williams is the former Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, an Advisory Trustee of Leadership New Zealand and addressed the 2007 Programme Participants in March this year. 25

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INSPIRED US

who inspires you? Nominate an Outstanding Leader for The Blake Medal or The Sir Peter Blake Emerging Leader Award visit

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What Makes a Great Leader?

or most people, becoming an effective leader is hard, daunting work. And for most, it takes much more than learning the latest theories or management skills; it is about transforming ourselves. Top leaders must embark on an inner journey of self-growth to achieve outstanding results for themselves and their organisation. Yet leaders seldom have a road map for their own performance and growth, one that enables them to act with greater personal engagement, deeper commitment to the success of others, and readiness to contribute to the broader goals of the organisation. Organisations should be prepared to support this rite of passage if they truly want to commit to developing leaders. However, we find many organisations have lost or forsaken the initiation process for their top leaders – there is often no road map to chart the journey to key leadership roles. Organisations often thrust managers into senior leadership with the expectation that they will figure it out for themselves, not recognising the significant thinking and emotional shifts that are required for top leaders. The rituals, guideposts and rites of passage that serve as a road map for the often difficult transitions to senior leadership roles, are gone. Rites of passage signal that it is time to change our thinking, relationships and behaviour, as we take on new roles in the community. Without clear points of passage, the distinction between child and adult, follower and leader, becomes vague, often resulting in feelings of alienation, cynicism and rebellion. Organisations too often end up with leaders who continue to act out of self-interest, and think and feel like individual contributors. At Hay Group we have more than 35 years of specialised research into leadership and the leadership journey. We understand what the best leaders do. We understand the rituals, guideposts and rites of passage that serve as a road map for the transition to great leadership in organisations. We also understand what organisations need to do to support individuals and leaders embarking on this inner journey of self-growth. Hay Group New Zealand is on a mission to share this research, knowledge and expertise with organisations and people throughout New Zealand to help them grow as leaders. This is one of the principal reasons for us funding and aligning ourselves with Leadership New Zealand because we see they are on the same mission, helping leaders on their leadership journey. One part of our working session with this year’s Leadership New Zealand participants was to share with them the results of our research into “What Makes a Great Leader?” In the interests of sharing this research with a wider Leadership New Zealand audience we reproduce our results here. Throughout 2007 we will be publishing the results of further Hay Group research into leadership and top team effectiveness. WINTER 2007

What Makes a Great Leader? Findings from Hay Group research and experience They are commercially astute in maximising sources of funding revenue and profit. They develop concrete measures of success in a complex environment. They have strong organisational capability. They develop, implement and manage a high performance culture. They value the Board. They maximise the value and input of the wide range of talents and experiences of Board members by soliciting ideas. However, they are also prepared to challenge the Board about direction and strategy. They build and manage relationships and teams. They build strong and long lasting relationships for the sake of the business. They build and manage a highly effective leadership team to assist them deliver the organisation’s strategic agenda. They collaborate. They have a strong sense of being part of a broader social fabric; an integral part of the society in which they live. They are authentic, genuine and have humility about their role and themselves in relation to their customers, stakeholders and employees. They are passionate. They have a strong sense of ‘why we are here’ which underpins all actions. They have a personal vision which is translated into a compelling story about the reason and purpose of the organisation. They have positive regard for all stakeholders, be they Board members, employees or customers. They are inspirational. They generate and communicate a powerful and compelling vision for the organisation. They develop others and provide career tracks for talent and leaders in their organisation. They are emotionally intelligent and self aware. They manage their emotional responses to engage others. They create and manage clarity in their organisation. The ‘what,’ ‘why’ and contribution of jobs are clearly defined and managed. They use the right leadership styles at the right time to create a strong and positive work climate. They create a leadership model and language for their organisation. They define the talent and leadership that is required for their organisation and they win the war for talent and leaders.

We will make the results available to programme participants and the wider Leadership New Zealand community as they become available. Ian MacRae is Managing Director of Hay Group New Zealand and a Leadership New Zealand Funding Partner. He addressed the 2007 Programme Participants in February this year. 27

Leadership p New Zealand 2007 Leadership Programme Opening Retreat

Friday 16 – Sunday 18 February

Speakers: Dr John Hinchcliff – Auckland City Councillor,

Location: Waitakere Estate, Auckland

Jenny Gill – Chief Executive, The ASB Community Trusts,

Focus:

Exploring Leadership

Simativa Perese – Barrister, Chair, National Pacific Radio Trust

Content:

The different faces of leadership; Leadership and

Major, Campbell Roberts – Director, Social Services, Social

the community; Characteristics of leadership.

Policy & Parliamentary Unit, Salvation Army, Diane Robertson

Speakers: Francis Tweedy – Managing Director, Capabil-

– Auckland City Missioner, Auckland City Mission, Dr John

ity Group, Ian MacRae – Managing Director, Hay Group New

Hinchcliff – Auckland City Councillor, Carole Beaumont –

Zealand, Tony Nowell – Chief Executive Officer, ZESPRI Ltd,

Secretary, New Zealand Council of Trade Unions

Pat Snedden – Author, Chairman, Snedden Publishing Ltd, Bob Harvey – Mayor, Waitakere City Council

Session Five

Thursday 21 – Friday 22 June

Location: Ministry of Social Development, Wellington

Session Two

Thursday 15 – Friday 16 March

Focus:

The Government and issues of 21st Century

Location: Villa Maria Estate, Auckland

Governance

Focus:

Rural & Urban New Zealand

Content:

Changing role of the state; Global trends of

Content:

The shape of rural New Zealand in the future;

government; Participation in decision-making;

Export market challenges; Economic and social

The role of the citizen.

issues; Rural/urban relationships; Tensions and

sustainable practice in the wine, kiwifruit, dairy, meat

and wool industries.

Mid-Year Retreat

Friday 20 – Sunday 22 July

Location: Northridge Country Lodge, Auckland

Speakers: George Fistonich – Managing Director, Villa

Focus:

Our People II

Maria Estate, Dr Morgan Williams – Former Parliamentary

Content:

Law and order; Our children; Education;

Commissioner for the Environment, John Buck – Executive

Health; The aging population; Religion; Sport.

Chairman, Te Mata Estate, Philip Gregan – Chief Executive, New Zealand Wine Growers, David McGregor – Senior Partner, Bell Gully, Mike Petersen – Eastern North Island Director & Deputy Chairman, Meat & Wool New Zealand, Bob Cook – Kiwifruit Orchardist,Allan Sutherland – Director, ZESPRI Ltd, Jenni Vernon – Chairman, Environment Waikato, Jim van der Poel – Chairman Dexcel, Director Fonterra

Session Three

Thursday 26 – Friday 27 April

Location: Makaurau Marae, Auckland Focus:

Our People 1

Content:

Ethnicity; Changing populations; Cross or

bi-cultural New Zealand; Realities of the melting

pot; Human rights.

Speakers: Sir Paul Reeves – Chancellor, AUT, Jenni Broom – National Manager Client Services, RMS Refugee Resettlement, Gary Poole – Chief Executive, Refugees As Survivors New Zealand, Qemajl Murati – Immigration Manager, Department of Labour, Judge Joe Williams – Chief Judge Maori Land Court, Chairman Waitangi Tribunal, Pauline Kingi – Regional Director, Te Puni Kokiri, Dr Manying Ip – Associate Professor, School of Asian Studies, The University of Auckland, Sam Sefuiva – Principal Advisor Race Relations, Human Rights Commission

Session Four

Thursday 24 – Friday 25 May

Location: Foodstuffs, Auckland Focus:

A Civil Society

Content:

Elements of a civil society; Poverty; Employment;

Trade Unions; Human rights; Disability, Ethics.

Session Seven

Thursday 16 – Friday 17 August

Location: Auckland Focus:

The Media

Content:

Our national identity; The media and maori; Cultural

issues and the media; How does the media support

meaningful debate?

Session Eight

Thursday 20 – Friday 21 September

Location: Christchurch Focus:

Our Future I

Content:

Information age, Science & Technology,

Entrepreneurism, Export markets; The arts.

Session Nine

Thursday 18 – Friday 19 October

Location: Wellington Focus:

Our Future II

Content:

Economic; Environmental; Social responsibility;

Innovation; Businesss Success.

Closing Retreat Thursday 15 – Saturday 17 November Location: Waitakere Estate, Auckland Focus:

New Zealand on the World Stage

Content:

Our history; Our place in the world.

Graduation

Saturday 17 November

Location: Auckland

www.leadershipnz.co.nz

chief executive’s message

Celebrating Diversity By Lesley Slade

onversation about diversity is often strained by feelings of uncertainty and while New Zealanders are largely an egalitarian people, diversity still poses a challenge to our ability to let go of long held perceptions. We are, however, running out of time to accommodate intransigence, and leadership is required to move this dialogue forward. The recent Census figures have put a timely spotlight on the changing face of New Zealand: the Maori and Pacific Island population is youthful – the New Zealand European population is not; 17.5% of the population speaks two or more languages; Auckland is the most ethnically diverse region with 23% of the population born overseas, and Asians are the fastest growing ethnic group. Although, as Raybon Kan noted in his column in the Sunday Star Times on 22 April, “it’s easy to be fastest growing, all you need is hardly any members to begin with and then add not many”. Wit aside, his message is clear and New Zealand has a challenge to make diversity work for us all. Not to manage diversity, or merely to legislate in order to protect diversity from its numerous forms of discrimination – but to reach a level of maturity that sees us accepting and embracing the richness of difference. In his address to the people of Niue in April of this year, the Governor General of New Zealand, the Honourable Anand Satyanand, talked about the importance of relationships, the necessity to recognise when change may be needed and of the need to hold true to the core values that define a people. Five years ago, in his role as Ombudsman, he wrote a paper, published on ‘Anew NZ’, which said “There is now a challenge in making our diversity work for us – in a way that all people feel that New Zealand is their own. This calls, in my view, for some kind of national conversation in the course of which those matters that all New Zealanders regard as important should be put forward and considered.” In the past five years we have not invested enough time in making space for a national conversation on diversity. And we are not alone in struggling to make sense of such challenges. The Berkana Institute, founded by Margaret Wheatley, states that “There is a critical need to tell the stories of those who are bringing forth new ways of living and learning… it is difficult for us to see a new paradigm, even when it’s right under our noses. If people even notice pioneering efforts, they are most likely to see these as inspiring and temporary deviations from the norm. It takes time for people to see them for what they are: examples of what’s possible.” In 2006 Leadership New Zealand partnered with the Sir Peter Blake Trust, Excelerator and NZIM to initiate New Zealand Leadership Week, and in this, our second year, we are looking forward to celebrating, and learning from those leaders whose passion, pioneering efforts and positive energy redefines what is possible.

WINTER 2007

Leadership Week is a national event, which starts on 28 July with the announcement of the Sir Peter Blake Awards at a dinner in Wellington and ends on Friday 3 August with the Leadership New Zealand dinner in Auckland (keep watching our website www.leadershipnz.co.nz for more details of how and when to purchase tickets). In 2006, many organisations hosted events where audiences conversed with leaders on a diverse range of topics, exploring ideas and exchanging views. The Leadership New Zealand event, hosted by Bell Gully and chaired by Sir Paul Reeves saw New Zealand leaders John Allen, Peri Drysdale, Manying Ip and Rod Oram discuss their visions for New Zealand with a standing-room only audience. This year an increased number of organisations are already registering to host events, and the programme will be as diverse as the participating organisations. It will be a week of leadership in reflection and action and offers people the time to listen, discuss, converse and understand with leaders who are making the time for conversation. This initiative is important for different reasons. First it is a result of a partnership between organisations that are committed to growing leadership throughout New Zealand, each organisation in its unique way. And second, it is a rare opportunity to be part of a conversation with leaders who continue to push boundaries. The Berkana Institute again: “The art of hosting conversation is a practice for all who aspire to learn and find new ways of working with others to create innovative and comprehensive solutions – it generates connection and releases wisdom.” It is always a privilege to enjoy dialogue and conversation with interesting people – and there is nothing more compelling than listening to the stories of others. The sharing of personal experiences and reflections of lessons learned from humble people who are still on their own journeys of discovery are living proof of the indomitable human spirit. In 1990, in his State farewell speech as Governor General, Sir Paul Reeves said “Unity is a process of healthy questioning, supporting, challenging and accepting each other. These are things we don’t do very well.” We know the effects of leadership are intergenerational, and 17 years after this speech we have a new Governor General talking about exactly the same issue. We urgently need leaders with vision to progress this national conversation and to invest in a future that celebrates the many identities that make up Aotearoa New Zealand and that shows the rest of the world what is possible. Lesley Slade is Chief Executive of Leadership New Zealand.

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