In Leaders Getting Coffee episode 52, our guest is one of the original partners of advertising agency Colenso and the founder of the Dressmart Outlet stores and man’s brand, Rodd & Gunn, Gary Gwynne.

Gary enjoyed the freedom of life as an only child in pre-sixties Otago. That freedom created a mindset that believed anything was possible and authority was to be avoided.

Fresh out of Otago Boys High School and with an Otago University bachelor’s degree in his toolkit, a young Gwynne headed for the up-and-coming business of advertising, with a goffer’s job organised through the contacts of his father, who was a radio announcer at the time.

Three short years at the so-called “university of marketing”, Nestle, followed. But it wasn’t long before he was asked to return to ad- land, with a company named Colenso. There he stayed for sixteen years, becoming a partner and ultimately joint Managing Director alongside the legendary Roger McDonnell.

But he left all that and mid-career, became an entrepreneur. 

During the Leaders Getting Coffee podcast with Bruce Cotterill, we hear of his aspirations and adventures into a wide range of businesses including Men’s apparel, land subdivision and commercial property development.

Gary Gwynne speaks with great affection for the advertising industry and the colleagues he left. But his subsequent story is highly relatable to current or aspiring entrepreneurs. He highlights the challenges of getting established, the need for the right partners, and the importance of brands.

A keen fisherman and hunter, it was only a matter of time before Rodd and Gunn was born as a part of the Outdoor Heritage brand he built. And as Dressmart celebrates 30 years since its launch, we hear what prompted the arrival of outlet stores to New Zealand in the aftermath of a harsh recession.

Recently New Zealand lost another entrepreneur in Sir Michael Hill, and having worked with him for more than 20 years, we are treated to a wonderful tribute to Sir Michael from our guest.

Gary Gwynne’s story is one of a good Kiwi bloke who had a crack and succeeded. 

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In Leaders Getting Coffee episode 51, our guest is the founder of one of our most influential public relations firms, Deborah Pead.

Deborah was born in the UK, grew up in South Africa and moved to New Zealand with her young family in the mid 1990’s. She’s earned her resilience the hard way and has thrived despite a bomb blast at her employer’s flagship store, a gun held at her head, and a house fire that robbed her of family mementoes and possessions.

But this one woman force of nature shone through it all to build a new life for her family in New Zealand and an influential firm that specialised in creating brands and building reputations.

With a psychology degree in her toolkit, a young Deborah Pead stumbled into the PR business managing publicity for a suburban department store. Her impact was immediate and resulted in a move to head office where she continued to build her expertise and her influence. That influence eventually saw the establishment her own business in Johannesburg.

But the violence was getting closer, and with a husband and young children in tow, the decision was made to move to New Zealand.

On the Leaders Getting Coffee podcast with Bruce Cotterill, Deborah Pead is refreshingly open about what prompted the move and the challenges of starting over in a new country. But failure was never an option, and after several years establishing a PR arm for a well known advertising agency, she cut her ties and went out on her own once more.

The rest, as they say, is history. The big brands followed her, and she’s been influential in the creating and success of New Zealand Fashion Week, the New Zealand Music Awards (the Tuis), My Food Bag, 42 Below Vodka and even Xbox.

As if all that is not enough, there’s another chapter too. A family farm, 90 minutes drive north of Auckland, where something special is happening with the humane treatment of animals and premium angus beef.

Deborah Pead’s story is one of resilience, family bonds and professional success. You get the feeling there is more to come.

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In Leaders Getting Coffee episode 50, our guest is the Mayor of Auckland, Wayne Brown.

Wayne Brown is probably New Zealand’s most colourful and best qualified city Mayors. His has been a fascinating life, with experiences ranging from building a mine in Australia to chairing not one but three of our District Health Boards.

He grew up in Auckland and went to Auckland Grammar which he says he didn’t particularly enjoy. But an engineering degree from Auckland University set him on a course that would take him around the world and back to New Zealand where his fifty years in business and politics has seen him make a substantial impact.

Along the way, he established his own engineering firm and he was good enough at surfing to participate in competitions and good enough at rugby to play on Eden Park. 

Engineering turned into property development and following a move to the north of Auckland, he developed subdivisions and built factories, apartments and commercial buildings.

He developed a reputation for ‘sorting things out’ which led him to chair not one, but three district health boards, a semi political forerunner to him winning the mayoralty of the Far North region, a role he held for two terms.

And then came the big one. He ran for the Auckland Mayoralty in 2022 with a promise to “Fix Auckland”. He won by a margin few had predicted and despite some setbacks, including the Cyclone Gabrielle flooding in early 2023, has made consistent and steady progress against his goals for the city.

During the Leaders Getting Coffee podcast Wayne Brown talks to Bruce Cotterill about a very full life, the decisions he’s made and his hopes for Auckland’s future. He speaks with enthusiasm about two major pieces of infrastructure that will be completed in 2026 – the Central Rail Loop and the Convention Centre at Sky City – both long overdue but both set to make a major impact on the future of the city.

And he talks about a health and fitness regime that sees him going into an election where he is seeking office for a term that will take him into his eighties.

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In Leaders Getting Coffee episode 49, our guest is Sky Television’s sports commentator Tony Johnson. As you might imagine, we’re talking sport, but we’re also chatting about the country’s highways, the Sounds murders and Prostate Cancer. 

Like many young sports mad kids of his time, Tony Johnson lay awake in the wee small hours, listening under the bed covers to radio commentaries of the All Blacks playing on the other side of the world. There, to the tones of commentator Bob Irvine, a love of radio was born.

He grew up in the idyllic surroundings of the Marlborough Sounds, and as his father drove his delivery vessel around the famous waterways, those peninsulas and islands became his playground.

A Radio New Zealand cadet programme launched the young Johnson in an industry that would see him become a household name. He talks of lucky breaks leading to opportunities, but one gets the impression that his modesty is underplaying the impact he was making, even at a young age.

After four years overseas working as a news and sports journalist for Radio New Zealand, he returned home to stints as a sports presenter with the Paul Holmes breakfast on Newstalk ZB, and as TV3’s sports anchor, before his dream job came along. And so, twenty five years ago he joined Sky TV’s commentary team.

As you might expect, this is a high energy and fun discussion about sport. Of course there are the All Blacks, who Johnson has toured with 25 times, but we also share a bird’s eye view of the America’s Cup, Wimbledon and his numerous appearances at the Olympic Games.

Like all good media people, Tony Johnson is a storyteller. He talks fondly of memories of his late father and the special affection he has for the rebuilt Kaikoura highway on State Highway 1. There’s even a unique interchange with America’s Cup legend Dennis Conner that most of us won’t have known about.

And then there was the afternoon out boating in the Marlborough Sounds with friends on New Years Eve in 1997, a day which culminated in a few hours at the famed Furneaux Lodge, on the same evening that Ben Smart and Olivia Hope disappeared, in what has become one of the country’s most intriguing murder cases.

On the Leaders Getting Coffee podcast Tony Johnson shares with Bruce Cotterill that his career hasn’t all been plain sailing and he is refreshingly open about his health challenges, He’s had mobility issues since his late twenties, the result of a neurological condition. And a prostate cancer diagnosis seven years ago has led to him using his profile as an ambassador of Blue September. And the message could not be made more clear. Fellas, get a regular check up.

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In Leaders Getting Coffee episode 48, our guest is the Deputy Leader of the Act Party and Minister of Internal Affairs, Brooke Van Velden.

A young Brooke Van Velden walked into a pub with a group of friends to celebrate a concert they’d just given. In doing so they stumbled across a get together of Act Party members and a relationship that was to change her life was born.

Van Velden is now the Minister of workplace relations and the Minister of Internal Affairs as well as deputy leader of the Act Party. She tells the story of her grandfather’s journey to New Zealand after world war two and of a comfortable upbringing in Auckland.

Her shyness at school was eventually overcome when the school’s choir master worked out that she could sing. The music department became her hangout and a shy schoolgirl became a confident performer, a skill that was to suit her forthcoming political career.

That political career started in the back office of the Act Party as she worked behind the scenes on a signature policy, the End-of-Life Choice Act, which passed into law in 2019, and she speaks respectfully of the touching stories she encountered traveling the country as that policy developed.

On the Leaders Getting Coffee podcast, Brooke speaks to Bruce Cotterill about a wide range of topics, including life in the opposition benches in the 2020 – 2023 term and the transition to government for the current term.

We go behind the scenes and find out what it’s like to be a part of the coalition negotiations, and we learn that she only found out about her ministerial appointments when those negotiations were complete.

Business owners and entrepreneurs will enjoy her comments about her desire to create a high wage growth economy with a flexible labour market and creating both the opportunities and the confidence to invest in our country. 

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In Leaders Getting Coffee episode 47, our guest is the Mayor of Hutt City, Campbell Barry.

At the time of his election, and at the age of just 28, Campbell Barry was the youngest ever Mayor of a major city in New Zealand. 

He’s a local boy who has never moved that far away from home. He grew up in Wainuiomata and went to the local high school where he was the First XV captain and Deputy Head Boy. He still lives there today.

On leaving school Campbell soon found himself elected to the Wainuiomata Community Board at the age of just 19, and so began an early local government political career. Two terms as a Councillor at Hutt City followed before, in what he says was a decision made out of frustration, and he threw his hat into the ring for the Mayoralty. A trusting public voted him in and, it seems, they have benefitted from doing so.

Those six years as Mayor have seen him focus on one of Wellington’s biggest issues, water infrastructure, where they’ve increased new pipeline installation tenfold during his term. He’s also overseen the introduction of the living wage among Council employees, an overhaul of rubbish and recycling management, and the completion of the Te Ngaengae pool complex.

But it seems his greatest source of pride is the RiverLink project, a project encompassing flood protection, transport improvements and urban revitalisation, enhancing the riverbank with parks, pedestrian-friendly pathways, outdoor dining and street markets.

During the Leaders Getting Coffee podcast Campbell talks to Bruce Cotterill about the range of challenges facing Councils and the recent showdown with central government over spending levels. He also speaks about his own ideas to raise additional revenue to meet the needs caused by years of under-investment in Council infrastructure.

His comments don’t go unchallenged either, with host Bruce Cotterill raising some of the wasted spending we’ve seen from Councils in recent years. Campbell Barry is up for the lively debate however and an entertaining conversation ensues.

Campbell Barry is departing at this year’s election, and one wonders where he will go next. We don’t often get access to the inner workings of a Council and this discussion on the eve of his departure provides for an interesting commentary on the challenges facing local government.

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In Leaders Getting Coffee episode 46, our guest is Shamubeel Eaqub, Chief Economist at Simplicity.

Shamubeel Eaqub came to prominence in New Zealand as a sought-after economist explaining his complicated world in simple terms to readers and viewers through the New Zealand media. At the time he was the Principal Economist at the NZ Institute of Economic Research.

How he came to that position, from an immigrant boy at age 10 is a worthy story in itself. But this discussion is so much more. A typical Kiwi upbringing followed his arrival, and as a soccer mad kid he found his way quickly. He studied economics at Lincoln University in Canterbury and then launched a career that has seen this passionate economist make a massive contribution to his adopted country.

During the Leaders Getting Coffee podcast, Shamubeel talks to Bruce Cotterill about his journey, new jobs in foreign cities and eventually success.

But it is the study of the local and global economy that makes this story compulsive listening. The conversation covers topics as broad as local school funding and global military spending.

Eaqub says that there is no question that New Zealand’s post covid recovery has been slower than other countries, and he cites our low productivity, slowing migration and fiscal weakness as key causes. And having researched and written extensively on New Zealand’s infrastructure deficit, it is this topic that makes for a most interesting discussion.

But there are plenty of positives too. And in a world threatened by war and America’s tariffs, he cites the unique strength of our relationships around the world and the value we can provide to other countries as the platform from which our recovery can develop. 

This is a highly informative and entertaining conversation about New Zealand’s challenges and it’s opportunities, between two people who think and care about the future of New Zealand.

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In Leaders Getting Coffee episode 45, our guest is Andrew Stone, former CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand and one of New Zealand’s most influential advisors to CEOs.

Andrew Stone is steeped in advertising. He makes it his business to understand businesses and the consumers they seek to attract. And he’s good at doing so.

So much so, he’s led some of New Zealand’s most influential advertising agencies at a time when they’ve been at their peak, with some of our biggest companies and even bigger campaigns.

He cut his teeth in the advertising business with some of the best advertising agencies of the time. He learned the trade with Colenso in New Zealand and Saatchi & Saatchi in London before returning to New Zealand and eventually leading Saatchi’s in his home country.

Along the way there’s been plenty of lessons; lessons that he proudly shares with experienced CEO’s and young people starting out. There’s a family man in there too, and you sense that the dinner table conversations over the years have left his two sons well equipped for their own future.

In the Leaders Getting Coffee podcast, Andrew speaks to Bruce Cotterill about some of the big brands, and big personalities, he’s worked with. There’s some reminiscing about campaigns for Lion, Toyota, ASB Bank and others from the heyday of the industry in New Zealand. But there’s room for a thoughtful discussion on the impact of Artificial Intelligence on consumer behaviours and the advertising industry that will drive that behaviour.

In his post advertising life, Andrew Stone has re-imagined himself as a consultant to CEO’s and Boards, helping to lead major transformation projects across rapidly changing industries. So there’s a great discussion about Telecom’s transition to Spark and many years later, Vodafone’s move to One NZ. Again, it’s the people who make the difference.

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In Leaders Getting Coffee episode 44, our guest is Dr. David Teece, one of New Zealand’s most successful entrepreneurs and a highly decorated university academic.

David Teece left New Zealand as a young man having completed his Master’s degree at the University of Canterbury. His destination was the University of Pennsylvania where he would study for a second Master's degree and ultimately a PhD in Economics.

That was the start of an amazing career in academia, one which included some of the top universities in the world. He taught at Pennsylvania and then Oxford and Stanford, before a professorship at the age of just 32 took him to University of California, Berkeley.

That career has seen David Teece ranked as the worlds most cited scholar in the combined fields of business and management and Accenture’s list of the world’s Top 50 business intellectuals.

But his career as an entrepreneur, managed in parallel with his academic career is where his success and influence are equally prevalent. He has built not one, but two global consulting firms specialising in the provision of economic, business, and financial consulting services to businesses and governments around the world.

Along the way, he’s maintained his links to New Zealand. He participated in the Knowledgewave conference in 2001 and worked with Sir Stephen Tindall in the creation of KEA – Kiwi Expatriates Abroad – to leverage the networks, experiences and talents of the more than one million Kiwis who live overseas. And his extensive interests in farming and winemaking in the South Island keep him attached to his original roots.

In the Leaders Getting Coffee podcast, Bruce Cotterill speaks to David Teece about his unique and fascinating career, one which has earned him Royal honours in the form of a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit. And there is also plenty of discussion about the importance of good leadership from one of the world’s leading management thinkers, and some commentary on New Zealand’s place in the world, the current state of Donald Trump’s USA, and his thoughts on a troubled world.

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In Leaders Getting Coffee episode 43, our guest is the CEO of the Breast Cancer Foundation of New Zealand, Ah-Leen Rayner.

It would seem that a career in the creative arts would suit the skills and interests of Ah-Leen Rayner. And indeed she headed off, after what she admits was an unspectacular school life, to pursue an Arts degree.

But it was anthropology, the study of humanity, that captured her attention. You get the sense that it still does.

That study led to an early career in sales, selling to supermarkets. But that was before she was captured by global conglomerate 3M, a company she worked with for 17 years. Her tenure there included a period during which she was responsible for one of the Company’s biggest products. The Post It Note.

Next came a six-year stint in the blokey environment of Kiwirail, where she was responsible for creating tourism opportunities out of what was predominantly a freight network. She calls it ‘creating an asset that connected our scenery with an international audience.’ That’s how creativity is applied to business.

But as Covid came and went, she wanted to do something that aligned with her strong purpose orientation, something that did good for the community. About that time, the Breast Cancer Foundation was looking for a new CEO. The rest is history.

In our latest Leaders Getting Coffee podcast, Ah-Leen Rayner speaks to Bruce Cotterill about that leadership journey and her four years at the helm of one of our largest, and most important, charities.

The messages are well known. The importance of breast screening, mammograms and early detection. But there is more to the Breast Cancer story and we learn of the never-ending battle for funding, the unwillingness of consecutive governments to invest in the best drugs available, and the good news, the new initiatives and technologies being introduced.

With our host calling the Breast Cancer Foundation as “by women, for women” we also get plenty of insight for how we can get men taking their own health as effectively as the women do. And here’s a hint, we blokes need those women to help us.

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