Stuff That Matters Now

For those who live in the middle million (Manawatū), my great mate Margaret Kouvelis is a well-loved and well-known dash of colour and courage for her many roles across education, retail, the rural sector and local government. I was dying to break my post-lockdown pod drought and this chat with Margaret about her work founding Talent Central (connecting youth with employment opportunities) was real balm for my soul. Lots of laughs and lots of locals get a mention in this one! This podcast brought to your ears with the support of Te Awanga Estate.

I was keen to chat with Tim Myers after I heard how he had responded with an open heart and great leadership to the challenges of the COVID-lockdown. As the CEO of Norwood, a company with some 400+ staff operating throughout Aotearoa, what he has done has been life-changing - for both the business and those who work within it. If, after listening in, you'd like to be involved in Tim's initiative, you can get in touch with him via www.norwood.co.nz. This podcast brought to your ears with the support of Te Awanga Estate.

This interview with Liana Poutu was recorded not long after COVID-lockdown to get her take on Taranaki iwi community checkpoints. Her story was nothing like what was portrayed with respect to 'roadblocks' in many media outlets, illustrating the benefit of getting such information first-hand. Liana represents the here-and-now of where Te Ao Māori is at in Aotearoa. I always love talking with her and this chat was no exception. This podcast brought to your ears with the support of Te Awanga Estate.

What does it take, as a young fella, to drive into a valley with a car boot-load of your possessions, and then just a few short years later scoop the prize for producing the best red wine in the world? This is the story I wanted to dig into with Rod McDonald of Te Awanga Estate, our podcast sponsor. He's a modest bugger and keeps things very close to his chest, so I thought I'd have a battle on my hands to get him to open up. I was wrong. It was a delight and I hope you enjoy this epic conversation.

The top benefit of being a podcaster? You get the chance to learn a whole bunch of stuff whilst talking to cool people! Double Denim's 'ace lady' Anna Dean fits right into this league. Gender intelligence is not one of my strong points, and Anna was generous and patient in bringing me (a little bit) up to speed on this important subject. Even though this interview was conducted pre-lockdown, it's more relevant now than ever. Podcast brought to your ears with the support of Te Awanga Estate.

In this podcast resource you'll hear Ian McDougall, founder of Business Genetics and our Episode 16 guest, share with Harv of Collective Intelligence the results of some astounding research he's done with Gen Z'ers. Using a select group of early-stage leaders/execs, Ian identified 8 factors seen as essential 'effectiveness' skills (agility, ambiguity, emotional intelligence, failing, flexibility, integrity, forming trusted & enduring relationships, and judgement) needed to navigate the new world that lies ahead. We can all, regardless of age, learn from this one (and make use of it in our workplace recruitment strategies). Research Context Summary: Ian talked to 30 young people in late 2019. All were Gen Z future executives who were either interns in major companies or at early management level. A very select group who were very articulate and considered. The 'effectiveness skills' are described in the words used by the Gen Z managers of the future, and there was a very high level of consensus amongst the answers given. "Identifying soft skills for the new world" was the brief. Each skill identified relates to each other. They are not stand alone and the managers of tomorrow will have/need an amalgam of these characteristics. Hear about the first six key skills at: 6:15 - Agility (dexterity) - the ability to shift from one state to another, responsiveness to impact and the ability to address such shifts rapidly... 9:28 - Ambiguity - the ability to manage ambiguity (chaos), whilst avoiding paralysis, and accepting it will be part of your professional life... 13:15 - Emotional Intelligence - empathy and the understanding of another person that transcends rational or commercial requirements... 18:01 - Failing - being allowed to fail and having the capability to handle your own failure and learn from it... 21:03 - Flexibility - having 'working' relationships with people and avoiding rigidity in your thinking and behaviour... 25:06 - Integrity - something that cannot be claimed but can only be conferred on an individual... And the final two, most distinguishing factors: 30:16 - Forming trusted and enduring relationships - the ability to build a completely dependable relationship beyond the normal state of expected behaviours… 36:46 - Judgement - the ability to convert real-life experiences into principles that guide sound counsel when you're in unknown territory. Is this learned or innate? In Ian's experience, judgement is highly intuitive… And finally, hear how to apply this in a job interview setting at 41:26. Just think what a team of people with these attributes could achieve together - they would be 'unbeatable'! The two Ian's agree here that the notion of leadership is now obsolete and should be replaced with the idea of 'effectiveness' - and as Ian McDougall points out, 'Collective Intelligence is very good at producing effective people'. NB: this recording (and associated research) was conducted in Aotearoa-New Zealand prior to the world-changing events of March-April 2020 but the skills outlined by Ian and his commentary are more pertinent than ever.

My opening line to Rod Oram was "well, it's been interesting times since we last talked at the end of January!". Since Episode 12 Rod has biked himself around Aotearoa and we've had a virus. I promised you I'd do an annual interview with him on the state of the nation, but as Rod's spent the past month investigating the impact of Covid-19 on our economic and business spheres, the time for another chat is now. Thanks Rod for generously sharing your insights on our response to this event in a global context - after a listen here you can read more in his recent series of Newsroom columns. This episode is a little over 52 minutes, so here's a few cheat times so you can skip to certain bits if you're interested in his thoughts on a particular question I asked him: 2:03 Q | How do you see things unfolding around the globe with this outbreak health-wise? 13:12 Q | How do you see the economic impact rolling out globally as we stand today? 22:51 Q | Where does the Reserve Bank get its cash from? 25:18 Q | How would you rate the job our Governor of the Reserve Bank is doing right now? 29:01 Q | What are your concerns around our inbound/outbound supply chains going forward? 39:13 Q | What are the things we need to be working on as a nation as we move forward?

It's not often I get the chance to sit down with a professional of such immense experience and wisdom as Ian McDougall. He's spent years working in the agency world, on the international stage of Saatchi & Saatchi and others, and his stories are rich and real. Ian generously shares insights from a new research project that his company undertook on the leadership skills Gen Z need to tackle the future (super-relevant to us all, regardless of our 'gen'!). Ian's had a huge influence on the direction of Collective Intelligence and I'm forever grateful for his counsel. His Te Awanga Estate wine choice is on standby for him to enjoy when we're able to connect up in person once again.

Until this interview, I'd never spoken to a CEO with an annual budget of $1.9 billion dollars before! The very humble Robyn Shearer heads up Aotearoa's new Wellbeing Budget - a world first that puts people above everything else. Robyn started her career as a nurse and has worked on the frontline of mental health for many years. I was intrigued to learn how she was coping with this huge role and felt very privileged that she took the time to share her story with me. Robyn chose our sponsor's (Te Awanga Estate) 2016 'Red Planet' Pinot Noir.

I first met Alex when he gave a TED talk about social enterprise. I was like, 'WTF is he on about?', but there was no doubt he knew his topic and was so passionate about it. Back then he was transforming the struggling Hikurangi Trust into the Akina Foundation. Akina went on to host the Social Enterprise World Forum in Christchurch in 2017, where 1600 people came together from across the globe. Alex is now in Brisbane at the Yunus Centre, where he holds a professorship for being such a smart bugger. Alex's Te Awanga Estate wine choice is on standby for him to enjoy with us when he's next back across the ditch.