The SME Stream

In episode 69 of Leaders Getting Coffee our guest is one of New Zealand’s most successful business CEO’s, Sir Ralph Norris.  

An everyday upbringing in Auckland’s suburb of Mt Roskill, laid the foundations for the humble and softly spoken manner that typifies Sir Ralph Norris. But don’t let that humility fool you. He was an active youngster and clearly bright enough to further his education. However, like many of the time, the family fortunes didn’t enable university study. But he certainly made up for it when opportunity came calling.

His banking career started in the IT department of the ASB Bank, where he was a beneficiary of the bank’s training relationship with IBM and his own curiosity about technology. The IBM training filled in what he’d missed at university and he became instrumental in enabling the massive change that went through the banking system over the following two decades. He speaks of starting with mainframe computers that occupied their own air-conditioned rooms, and he leads us through the changes brought by the personal computer generation, and now the mobile phone centric life we all lead today. 

Over the course of his career, he led three massive companies. In the first, ASB Bank, he worked his way to the top job. The reputation he built there led to the next two. Firstly he was asked to take the reins at a suffering Air New Zealand in 2001, and subsequently Commonwealth Bank of Australia in 2005. In both, he encountered poor customer experience, weak employee engagement, and a flattened growth curve. In both, he led a rejuvenation that still gets talked about.

Norris became the CEO of ASB Bank through that most unusual avenue of the IT department at a time when CEO’s came from sales and marketing. He also became a change manager before there was such a term.

He led ASB Bank from it’s roots as a regional bank, to a national player competing on level terms with the big internationally owned banks. He brought institutional and commercial banking to what was previously a domestically focussed affair. And he created leaders.

On the Leaders Getting Coffee podcast, Sir Ralph Norris speaks with Bruce Cotterill about turning business performance around. The importance of asking good questions and listening to what the people within the organisation are saying is the starting point. Then comes a good plan, and the need for relentless communication. 

There are lessons in this discussion for every current and aspiring leader. And each one delivered in that quiet and humble way. Sir Ralph Norris is one of our country’s best, and this discussion, a must listen, reflects that.

Leaders Getting Coffee – Episode 69 with Bruce Cotterill and Sir Ralph Norris – Former CEO of ASB and Air NZ.

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How do you build a people strategy that supports one of New Zealand's most recognised global brands while staying true to its purpose?

In this episode of HR Unlocked, Lisa Oakley sits down with Faye Restall, Chief People Officer at Les Mills International, to explore leadership, organisational culture, global people strategy, and how HR can create real commercial value.

Leading the People & Culture function for a business that reaches thousands of employees, over 100,000 instructors and 25,000 gym partners worldwide, Faye shares practical insights into building high-performing teams, developing exceptional managers, navigating AI, and keeping people connected to purpose in a rapidly changing world.

From leadership capability and employee engagement to business strategy, organisational development, AI adoption, and the future of work, this conversation explores how modern HR leaders can simplify complexity while helping organisations thrive. Faye discusses why management excellence matters just as much as leadership, how curiosity and continuous improvement create better outcomes, and why People & Culture should always be aligned to commercial priorities.

The conversation also explores how Les Mills has maintained a strong culture while expanding globally, the importance of balancing consistency with entrepreneurial thinking, and why creating meaningful employee experiences starts with understanding what the business is trying to achieve.

What You'll Learn

• How Les Mills maintains culture across a global organisation

• Why People & Culture strategy should align with business strategy

• The importance of management excellence alongside leadership capability

• Practical ways AI is improving HR and employee experience

• How curiosity drives innovation and continuous improvement

• Why simplicity often creates better People & Culture outcomes

• The role purpose plays in employee engagement and performance

• How to balance consistency with entrepreneurial thinking

• Why communication is critical to successful capability development

• How HR can become a genuine commercial partner to the business

Key Takeaways

• Great People & Culture starts with understanding the business

• Strong managers create stronger employee experiences

• Purpose attracts people, but great leadership helps them stay

• HR delivers the most value when it solves business problems

• AI should support real organisational challenges, not create more complexity

• Curiosity and continuous improvement drive innovation

• Simple, practical people strategies are often the most effective

• Culture becomes a competitive advantage when people understand both what they do and why it matters

About Faye Restall

Faye Restall is Chief People Officer at Les Mills International, where she leads the global People & Culture strategy for one of the world's leading fitness brands.

With executive leadership experience across organisations including PwC, Optus and Westpac, Faye specialises in organisational development, leadership capability, employee engagement, business transformation, and global people strategy.

She partners with executive leaders to build high-performing teams, strengthen management capability, and support continued global growth while preserving the purpose and culture that have made Les Mills an internationally recognised brand.

Why This Episode Matters

As organisations navigate rapid technological change, evolving workforce expectations, and increasingly global ways of working, HR has become far more than a support function.

This episode demonstrates how People & Culture leaders can create measurable business value by aligning people strategy with commercial priorities, building capable managers, embracing AI thoughtfully, and keeping people connected to purpose. Whether you're an HR professional, business owner, executive leader, or people manager, this conversation offers practical insights into creating organisations where culture, leadership, and performance work together.

Resources & Links

• Les Mills International: https://www.lesmills.com
• Connect with Faye Restall on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/faye-restall-a17b6612/

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Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown is about to turn 80 – and is still plainly more interested in the next deal, the next big export market and the next practical problem to fix than in winding down.

In this week’s episode of The Business of Tech, Brown delivers a typically uncensored account of how he thinks Auckland should use technology to drive economic growth. He has little patience for glossy AI rhetoric, power-hungry data centres, or Wellington bureaucrats telling him what to do. 

“The government doesn’t know how to grow the economy, so I might as well do it,” Brown told me fresh from a morning visiting startups as part of the Council’s 100 Days of Startups programme, which sees him shine a light on one of the city’s startups each day in the run-up to Startup Week in October.

Brown says the city’s business people told him Auckland was lacking leadership on tech, despite it being home to around 60% of the country’s startups. He established the Auckland Innovation and Technology Alliance a year ago as a public-private partnership to foster collaboration across Auckland’s tech ecosystem.

Better, cheaper, faster

Brown draws on his engineering background and the lessons he collated in his 2007 book The Five Minute MBA to set a simple test for government, council and entrepreneurs alike. What is the problem you are fixing – and can it be solved better, cheaper and faster?

Auckland, he says, needs more firms able to turn local capability into global businesses, particularly in areas that play to New Zealand’s strengths: medtech, agri-tech, and biotech.

And he wants them to look beyond familiar markets in the US, UK and Australia. Brown argues the bigger opportunities lie in India, China, Indonesia, Brazil and Latin America – markets where Auckland’s diaspora communities, city-to-city relationships and sector expertise could give companies an edge.

His assessment of the political scene as the general election approaches is brutal. Brown describes the party-political offering as an “unappetising smorgasbord”, rails against bureaucracy and corporate welfare, and questions New Zealand’s reflexive alignment with America on trade and technology.

He’s particularly sceptical of the current data centre boom that Auckland is playing host to.

“If they want to come here, what will you do for us to have your f**king boxes here? It’s not the other way around.”

He has even less time for artificial intelligence.

Expect strong language, challenging claims and plenty of eyebrow-raising takes. This is no polished mayoral interview. It is Wayne Brown, in full: opinionated, impatient and with his own firm ideas on how to make Auckland the tech centre of the South Pacific.

Listen to the full episode streaming on iHeartRadio, Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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New Zealand’s birth rate stats just keep getting worse... 

The latest show ‘natural population growth’ has fallen to 18,700 for the year to June – the lowest it’s been since WWII. 

Births are at their lowest since 2003. 

So should we throw money at people to have babies, or are there some other options on the cards? And how bad is it really?  

Today on The Front Page, Infometrics principal economist and lead demographer Nick Brunsdon is with us to break it all down. 

Follow The Front Page on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

You can read more about this and other stories in the New Zealand Herald, online at nzherald.co.nz, or tune in to news bulletins across the NZME network.

Host: Chelsea Daniels
Editor/Producer: Richard Martin
Producer: Jane Yee

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Mercury CEO Stew Hamilton discusses the company’s strong FY26 result, record dividend and $710 million renewable investment programme.

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BusinessDesk senior journalist discusses fresh speculation around A2 Milk and Fonterra's interest in Synlait, and the hurdles any deal would face. He also shares insights from company reporting season and what strong dairy markets could mean for upcoming farm sector results.

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Global fuel prices have been rising again as conflict continues in the Strait of Hormuz. 

The US has now exported much of its diesel supplies – pushing up prices across the US and Europe. 

Crude oil prices haven't risen as much due to China's decision to stop exporting refined fuel, but Brent crude prices are rising again after the US and Iran ruled out extending their memorandum of understanding. 

Westpac Chief Economist Kelly Eckhold told Mike Hosking ultimately, there isn't enough fuel coming out of the Middle East. 

He says the prices of most fuels are increasing, including jet fuel, and petrol to a lesser extent. 

LISTEN ABOVE  

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We break down a stronger Global Dairy Trade auction with HighGround Dairy’s quantitative analyst, with gains led by whole and skim milk powder. Plus, why global protein demand and El Niño concerns are shaping dairy market sentiment.

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Economist Cameron Bagrie says U.S. government debt of around $40 trillion, and tech borrowing for the A.I. boom, is pushing yields to record highs.

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HighGround Dairy’s Stu Davison breaks down the latest GDT results and what they mean for global dairy prices and the outlook for New Zealand farmers.

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