Working on the Lord of the Rings franchise made Barrie Osborne, whose other producing credits include The Matrix, Face/Off, Dick Tracy, and The World’s Fastest Indian, a heavyweight advocate for New Zealand film-making.

Osborne says the key to a healthy career, as well as a healthy industry, is collaboration. Reconciling the different needs and input of different people and departments, and balancing those with practical constraints like time and money, is key to running a good production, he says.

“There’s always potential for conflict . . . and sometimes it’s almost unavoidable. I view my job as trying to serve the picture, and I try to be a great collaborator with a director… you’re trying to achieve the director’s vision. And sometimes you’ve got to try to find a way where you can have a discussion that’s collaborative rather than confrontational, and you try to do that, and it’s very difficult.”

The key is being able to relate to a wide range of people and build their respect.

“You do work really hard when you start out, you don’t get paid much money because there’s so many people competing for those jobs. So I think you owe it to the people who are doing those jobs, if they’re really serious, to give them – to expose them to knowledge and skills and help them along.”

It worked for him. After finishing college Osborne was drafted into the US army in Korea at the height of the Vietnam war. He rose to lieutenant colonel, in charge of plans, operations and training from Seoul up to the demilitarised zone but, rather than pursue a military career, he decided to follow his dreams in film.

Back in New York, he handed out 1000 resumes, talked with union men in the industry, visited equipment houses to learn about the gear, and swept floors in editing suites. Eventually he was offered a job as a runner (an errand boy) for a boutique commercial house.

“The guy that ran production there was a great guy, because…he took the time to teach me how to do things, and he used to give me budgets to do, and I think he did it just as an exercise so I would learn how to do a budget. So he was actually very very generous and that was a great experience. I try to treat people the same way, because I think it’s important.”

Osborne honed his craft working alongside greats such as Francis Ford Coppola, Warren Beatty and Sydney Pollack. The more people you can learn from, he says, the more rounded and knowledgeable you become.

After five years making commercials, on his second attempt, Osborne was selected from 1000 applicants into the Directors’ Guild of America training programme. By then, he knew his way around a film set. He was able to get things done and then offer to help other people, who in return gave him other opportunities.

As a trainee, Osborne worked on The Godfather: Part II, Three Days of the Condor, and All the President’s Men, and then got his first job as a location manager on 1970s detective TV series Kojak. A spot as production manager for a second unit on William Friedkin’s Sorcerer followed, which grew into a larger role, and from there he was recommended as a production manager for Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now.

Osborne continued to build skills and experience, making use of his army grounding working with logistics, which led him into production.

Currently back in the US, Osborne says New Zealand remains well-placed to attract off-shore productions and build a strong film industry.International productions can slash their costs by working in New Zealand.

New Zealand offers cheaper logistical costs, cheaper and more flexible labour (unions in the US have stringent rules enforcing who can do what), and attractive government grants and tax incentives for big productions.

“There’s great government support in New Zealand . . . because the country is of a size that you can actually go and meet with members of parliament [or] the prime minister and they’re accessible and interested . . . there’s a willingness that’s really exceptional.”

But it’s disappointing that New Zealand-based banks have not embraced the opportunities provided by the burgeoning film industry.

“For a studio film it doesn’t really matter, but for an independent film it’s necessary to take the rebate or the grant and borrow against that so you can finance your film with that money, and it would be great to see the banking industry embrace that…it’s not a very risky loan.”

When management turned off the tower’s external lights to do their bit during the midwinter electricity crisis of 2008 they found themselves fielding outraged phone calls from Aucklanders demanding they be turned back on.

“It was public demand – people felt we were being stingy,” Sky City Energy and Environment Coordinator Jonathan Woodbridge Buys says. Not to be deterred, the technology eventually evolved enough for them to install the latest in efficient LED lighting on a remote control system.

The twinkling lights on the skyline are now beacons of efficiency.

When Woodbridge Buys started the role in August 2007 he spent the first few weeks studying the tower and hotel’s $6.5 million energy and utilities budget – concentrating on the areas of biggest spend, looking at where the fastest returns could come from, and investigating new lighting, heating, cooling, and ventilation technology.

Within a couple of weeks he had saved the company more than $20,000.

He says energy conservation at Sky City works to an “it has to do good not just feel good” mantra. They aren’t going to partake in energy saving initiatives unless they pay themselves off and produce a return on investment. Even the gaming machine manufacturers are doing their bit. Their newest offerings emit less light and heat by using liquid crystal displays, flat tubes and panels, and touch screens instead of buttons.

“If you put your hand on top of an old machine it used to be hot and all that heat had to be got rid of in the gaming space.”

The Sky Tower is a somewhat unique example, but what about the more bog-standard office building? There are around 75,000 commercial buildings in New Zealand, which collectively account for 9 per cent of our national energy use – about the amount of electricity used by 1.2 million homes. Analysis by the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) shows that most buildings could save 10–15 per cent of this energy, and much of it with paybacks of less than a year.

“It isn’t rocket science. We’ve worked with many businesses which are stronger and more profitable as a result of good energy management,” EECA Business Account Manager Dan Coffey says.

Companies like Sky City that invest in energy efficiency find not only that it’s good for the bottom line, but it makes a happier workplace. In Wellington, the Reserve Bank has just undergone an energy transformation, cutting energy use in its offices by 22 per cent with a programme of ‘continuous commissioning’. This means they constantly monitor and adjust the heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems to optimise their performance.

The project had a payback of 12 months and they say the response from staff has been positive. Research confirms buildings tuned for energy efficiency record improved staff satisfaction. Coffey explains it is because the systems are adjusted to ensure they aren’t fighting each other by overheating or overcooling.

 CEO of the New Zealand Green Building Council Jane Henley says an office is more than just four walls. “Buildings are a powerful business service, which shape the culture and wellbeing of the people who spend day after day in them. Many companies are starting to understand the opportunity to reduce operating costs, and importantly to choose space that has high levels of natural light and zoned temperature control,” she says.

Natural light, fresh air and access to outdoor views, as well as control over their own workspace temperature and lighting, can directly affect staff’s productivity.

 “We’re seeing research overseas that shows companies which invest in these features achieve significant productivity gains and cost savings,” Henley says.

She cites the example of Australia’s first six star Green Star rated office building, where productivity has risen by 10.9 per cent since staff moved in, with an estimated annual saving of $2 million. There is a growing movement towards energy-efficient commercial architecture and design, which EECA says will eventually have a flow-on effect on energy use.

The International Energy Agency’s Dr Nigel Jollands says the high global interest in this field makes energy efficient buildings “the new black”, with lots of R&D now focused on energy efficient buildings.  New Zealand has been slower off the mark in this regard, but there are some stellar local examples. The Selwyn District Council in Canterbury commissioned a new headquarters that made the most of passive solar gains. They ensured an energy audit was carried out on the design before the concrete was even poured.

Realistically, most Kiwi businesses aren’t in a position to commission a brand new eco- building, but as companies like Sky City prove, there’s much positive potential in existing buildings. Getting staff buy-in is crucial for an efficiency programme, Coffey says. Half of the energy used in offices is under their direct control – such as lights and office equipment.

“A simple after hours walk-through can deliver returns. There’s often a surprising amount of plant and equipment running unnecessarily.”

Coffey says he’s seeing energy awareness shift from being confined to engineers, to a general management discipline.

“[It] makes sense because why would any well-run business pour money down the drain?”

Dave Chisholm was dux of his school, attended a couple of universities and has recently finished with an honours degree in Architecture. He’s designed a few houses in his spare time (a rare commodity for Chisholm) with his latest projects coming to fruition in Khandallah, Kaiwharawhara, and another in a slightly more exotic location, the waterfront of Sydney. However, he’s not employed in an architecture firm like many of his peers, he is going it alone, armed with a list of ideas a mile long, many not related to architecture in the slightest.

On the day I speak with Dave he is a little bleary-eyed, and admits it’s not often he gets home from work before 10pm. Working long long hours, is part of his routine, which is self-designed, but one he’s hoping wont last forever. “I don’t think I could ever not work at all, but I do hope things will be easier for me one day because of the hours I’m putting in now.” He drifts a little as he mentions his dreams of yachts and overseas travel, but snaps back sharply when I ask the obvious question: “Wouldn’t it be safer to just go and find a job, make your way up the ladder, and become an expert in a specific field?” “No way,” he says, “I’d much rather learn a lot about a variety of things, and have the flexibility to follow opportunities as they arise, than work 9-5 doing the same thing every day for the rest of my life.”

So how did it all start? He recalls his first ever ‘business’ at age 8. It wasn’t completely, erm legal. “My best friend and I decided it would be a great idea to charge all our friends a membership fee to belong to our cricket club. Except there wasn’t really such a thing, we just took the money and ‘invested’ it… in snacks! Eventually, our parents found our Pringles tin full of cash and made us give it all back!” He goes on to describe another ‘learning experience’ where he took all the steps to set up a bouncy castle hire business, only to find it wasn’t exactly what he had in mind; “it looked great on paper, but the one thing I neglected to consider was the impact a yard full of screaming kids would have on my sanity!”

At the age of 14, he then decided to teach himself web design after being repeatedly told what a waste of time it was. Two years later he was making thousands a month by teaming up with an American salesman, who sold the sites and sent the cheques back over to New Zealand. “Can’t say I saved much of the money I made,” he admits, “but I learnt a heck of a lot about the web in the process!”

He’s been designing and working for himself ever since, using the experience he’s gained so far to help him start web business Crescendo Multimedia, with his partner Nadine Isler (observant readers will know Isler also ‘moonlights’ as editor for IN-Business magazine). “It’s been hard keeping up with the work, but in many ways we’ve been lucky, in that we haven’t needed to spend anything on marketing.” They started with a single response from a flyer drop, and since then have grown almost exclusively through word of mouth. “I guess that’s the key in this industry, web designers are a dime a dozen these days, from the teenagers in their basements to the expensive agencies in the CBD, so a personal recommendation goes a long way.”

Chisholm’s latest web venture is Adscape, and he lights up visibly when he starts telling me about it. “It’s a website for advertising opportunities. So if you have any kind of advertising space to sell, you add a listing, and then sell special offers. He’s excited about the website, and while it’s still in its early stages, it has already caught the attention of many prominent media companies and has a lot of growth potential.

He’s also excited about the digital publishing service Crescendo specialises in, which is about converting documents so they can be read online. “It’s already popular in Europe and America, but it’s yet to go mainstream here, perhaps due to the mindset that you can’t beat the tactile experience of physically turning paper pages. The thing is, it shouldn’t be a case of either/or. I think businesses need to see digital publishing not as replacing print, but as an extremely cost-effective and environmentally friendly way to expand distribution and engage with their audience in an innovative way. It’s also a great way to bring documents to life, through rich-media content such as videos, forms and links.”

It’s easy to feel tired after a conversation with Dave, who could happily talk for hours about the ventures he’s involved with. I leave him at his desk surrounded in big screens and paper chaos, and have no doubt that we will be hearing plenty more about this young entrepreneur.

And he must do, he’s building a business with the specific goal of helping New Zealand businesses protect and manage their intellectual property. In fact, when I spoke with him he had just been hit by a car the previous day and he was planning to leave for Seattle the following day to attend the International Trademark Owners Association Conference (INTA). Yet he was still keen to find time to talk about trade marks! “I love business, and I love helping businesses thrive. And IP (Intellectual Property) protection is very important in that. I just love protecting people’s reputations.”

He starts off with an analogy. “Trade mark protection is like insurance. You may have car, home, or contents insurance. The question is, how do you protect your reputation as a business? That’s what trade mark protection is. Making sure your good name and the time and effort you put into building your business is not taken by somebody else. You’ve actually got more chance of somebody stealing your name than of your house burning down. But we all insure ourselves for our house burning down!”

It all started when he was working at the Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand (IPONZ) as the Manager of Trade Marks and as an Assistant Commissioner of Patents, Trademarks and Designs. “I’d get calls from people who had filed for trade mark applications by themselves and with over 70% of them there would be some problem. In many instances they’d lose their money because they couldn’t continue with it, and so they’d ring up and complain. Often I’d ask ‘did you get some professional help with this?’ And the answer was usually ‘no’, because they didn’t have the money to go to a lawyer. So I thought, ‘there’s a need there.’”

Theodore just happens to be a lawyer, but the Zone Corporation is not a law firm. It is an intellectual property consultancy. “You wouldn’t give your real estate portfolio to a lawyer to take care of; you’d give it to a property manager. Intellectual property is exactly the same. Lawyers are necessary when it comes to issues of infringement.. But when it comes to managing your intellectual property portfolio, you don’t need a lawyer. Our approach is to focus on the management of an IP portfolio and provide legal advice through our law firm only when absolutely necessary.

When people think about trade marks, they think ‘expensive’. One of our aims is to bring IP and trade marks to the average New Zealander; to small and medium sized enterprises; as well as provide strategic advice and management for large corporations. We’re here to show all businesses that it’s not that expensive to get high quality advice and strategy.” And after an online hunt, as far as I could determine they are the first private company in New Zealand to focus specifically on managing people’s IP. The other difference the Zone Corporation is proud of is their commercial outlook. “It’s because I’ve owned successful businesses myself,” says Theodore, “so I understand the commercial reality of what these businesses go through.”

One thing he remembers from his time at IPONZ, is being amazed at how many businesses haven’t taken any steps to protect themselves. “It’s just shocking! Having been on the other side, and seeing how many battles occur through the IPONZ Hearings Office, it’s scary to see how many small businesses aren’t protected, and get into trouble. New Zealanders in particular have a ‘she’ll be right’ attitude. We don’t think people are going to want to steal our brand name. But sometimes it’s not that people do it knowingly, it may be completely accidental.”

The Zone Corporation has been operating for a year, and in that time it has quietly and quickly flourished. Three extra employees and some very big national and international clients mean that a constant stream of work is coming in.

And so far they’ve gotten pretty impressive results: “Last year we had a 92% success rate with our client’s applications through IPONZ, and we are still progressing with some of those so I think we will probably end up with a 95% success rate. We do sometimes have to battle with the IP office. Most people would get the rejection notice and put it in their bottom drawer, but we don’t give up – we are out there to help them register their trade mark!”

“What we really want to do is educate people that it is vital to protect your brand name. There have been some high-profile cases in the media such as the Tamsin/Trelise Cooper saga, which bring trade mark issues to the forefront, and show people how important trade mark protection is.” Most people have heard of Burger King, who weren’t able to protect their name in Australia, so ended up calling themselves Hungry Jack’s. “Recently we helped a small business in New Zealand reach a settlement with a large overseas company who wanted to enter the New Zealand market with a similar name. Our clients are certainly very happy about the outcome and the figure they received.”

On the other hand, it can be heartbreaking, Theodore says, to hear from people who have been caught out. “It’s awful when you get someone on the phone who says ‘I’ve been trading for the last 4 months and I’ve just got this letter from somebody telling me that they own my name, what can I do?’ And after reviewing the facts, all you can say to them is, ‘well actually, not very much’ and you have to advise them to rebrand.’ And for a small business, rebranding is not a cheap option. I have clients who, I’ll file their application for them, then a month or two later somebody else is filing for the same mark and for the same goods or services, and they can’t believe it – it happens all the time. If you believe in your business and the effort you’ve put into it, then you have to believe in protecting your brand. It’s an asset, and it will only appreciate in value.

“We’ve also created Trade Mark Zone, which is our online website specifically catering to small and mid-sized enterprises that don’t have huge amounts of money but still need to get trade mark protection. We’re New Zealand’s first online trade mark filing service.” Their online prices are displayed on their website so people know what the cost is going to be.

The Zone Corporation and Trade Mark Zone really have all the aspects of IP covered. “We can do both, we can give basic advice and point you in the right direction, or lead you step by step through a minefield. If any problems arise, we will be there for you. And we really are strategists – we don’t just manage your portfolio, we strategise to make sure we get the best protection for you.”

Which we’re willing to bet that many businesses are beginning to realise, is extremely important!

“Education has evolved,” says Open Polytechnic’s new CEO Caroline Seelig. “It’s no longer just about 18-24 year olds that go into University, get a degree and that’s it. Many people now want to learn constantly, throughout their lives, and have the option to do that without dropping everything to go back to it at set times.”
Caroline has been in the sector for 16 years, coming to the job from being Deputy Chief Executive at the Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology, so she has watched this evolution take place.
“We are increasingly a lifelong learning society where the need to keep learning is constant. We are learning informally all the time. For example all of a sudden you might have to learn how to use internet banking. That’s the sort of society we live in. So education needs to be delivered in a way that recognises and suits an individual’s financial situation, family commitments, technology access, speed of life, and that fits around their work or other activities.” Here at the Open Polytechnic the education is flexible, and delivered to students in “their” world – whether home, workplace or community. Whether you are moving cities, living on a boat, travelling overseas, studying at another tertiary institution, have never studied before, or work fulltime, you can still study with the Open Polytechnic at a time and in a way that suits.
The logistics of this kind of flexible delivery are quite mindboggling. With 30,000 part-time students and 500 staff, even just collecting and returning assignments is an enormous task. Caroline compares the Open Polytechnic to a powerhouse, linked with an underground pipeline of information. “It is literally everywhere, in homes and workplaces throughout the country. But it’s also nowhere. There are no big obvious campuses, and if you turned up in Taumaranui you wouldn’t know that there are Open Polytechnic learners there.” This is modern education: a virtual network of learning, and an invisible information flow going through every part of the country.
Most of the Open Polytechnic’s students are people combining jobs and study, making the organisation one of New Zealand’s major educators of people in the workforce. The current economic climate has intensified the need for education for Kiwis. Caroline confirms: “a lot of people are thinking that they need to retrain or upskill, because they may be at risk of losing their jobs because of the recession. This creates huge demand for the Open Polytechnic.” Though the government is watching their spend too, and has capped the enrolments for tertiary education institutions – in the Open Polytechnic’s case at a lower number than Caroline reckons they could probably bring in.

The organisation has also responded to the current recession by offering 1500 fee-free courses for firms using flexible work and training strategies to stave off job losses and for workers who lose their jobs during the current downturn. “We tried to think of ways we could provide extra support. The fee-free courses are a resource that we hope will give firms and workers another option as they work through this tough time.”
Caroline points out that underneath what is going on in the global economy, New Zealand still faces longer-term skill and worker shortages, so upskilling people currently in the workforce is fundamentally important. “It is a national priority which has been identified by the Government and Department of Labour. We need to be investing in skills now for the upturn when it comes, so we can stay competitive as a nation.”
The challenge, of course, is how to do this in the most cost-effective way. Says Caroline: “To keep providing skills at the level New Zealand needs we’re all going to have to work smarter, and this has been recognised. Every government in the world is saying the same thing: How do we get better at making skills available, accessible and cost effective? Open and distance learning is a very cost-effective way of delivering education, whether through direct delivery to students or through different forms of collaboration with organisations working together.”
A key part of such collaboration is the national network of supportive industries, employers, and other learning institutions. “We are a very strong supporter of national programmes and work closely with Industry Training Organisations (ITOs) and other professional bodies. We provide nationally consistent vocational skills-based training, and industry really values that kind of service. Firms also sometimes use our services for their own training programmes.”
“We also complement the regional Polytechnics with a different type of education for a different type of learner. Nearly all of our students study part-time and want flexible learning to fit in with other demands in their lives. But more and more there will be areas in which we can co-operate with other Polytechnics. We can provide courses and services anywhere in the country, for example, and that can be something that other Polytechnics use to cost-effectively expand their own provision. Certainly I get a very positive response when I’m talking to my colleagues in the sector. ”
These developed relationships are part of Caroline’s vision for the future – to be a much more networked institution. “Difference is good – we can all bring different things to the table for increasing skills uptake. We’re all under pressure financially and that’s not going to go away in the current economic climate. One of the challenges for the Polytechnic sector is to find better ways of collaborating, and getting the most value out of it for the good of New Zealand. We are a part of the response to that challenge.”
So where to from here for this ever-changing scenery that is learning?
“For the New Zealand export education industry, the first phase of growth has been to bring foreign students into the country. This has become extremely successful and a major earner for the nation. The second phase is about a much stronger element of offshore delivery. As an open learning organisation we can deliver education and work with partners anywhere in the world, and that’s a big part of our thinking for the future. We’ve also got a very strong reputation in our field internationally. World class organisations like the UK Open University are very keen to explore partnership opportunities with us.”

So in every way, the future is open for the Open Polytechnic and its flexible network of learning.

A few years ago, carbon neutrality was new and overwhelming. Then it became the ‘cool’ thing to do, and now the novelty is wearing off again for some. Wellington Combined Taxis doesn’t give a hoot whether it’s cool or not, they’ve been subscribers for years. Nadine Isler caught up with Ani De Graaf, to find out more about their progress.

Ani, marketing manager for Combined says it was a very long road to get their 442 taxis officially certified as carbon neutral, which perhaps explains why they are the first carboNZeroCert TM certified taxi service in New Zealand. No petrol-only vehicles have been allowed to enter their fleet since June 2008, and any kilometres travelled have already been offset by purchasing carbon credits through the Tararua Windfarm project. “It was really important for us” says Ani “to choose a certification programme that we could trust, so we could be 100% that we are telling our passengers the absolute truth and whatever we claimed was correct and transparent.” They chose to offset the personal mileage travelled in the taxis, as well as while drivers were working.

“This has been my baby for the last two years,” she says. “I had so much to learn, I actually started having nightmares about carbon emissions for a while!” She thinks that regardless of customer interest, it was something they would have looked into anyway. “But there was a need apparent which made me look into and investigate it sooner rather than later. It’s unfortunate that we couldn’t do it even sooner, but because of the size of the fleet and because it’s shareholder owned and operated, it took a bit longer and we wanted to make sure we did it right.”

Like any major change project it was not all plain sailing for Ani, first she had to sell the concept to her boss, then to the board of directors and of course to the drivers. “She got plenty of grief from some of the drivers initially,” a driver tells me later, “but she stuck at it, learned fast and worked at getting support from the likes of Ministry for the Environment, and Meridian Energy.”

The process has not been cheap; Ani smiles and will only say it cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, but they are determined not to pass the cost on to passengers. She says it has been worthwhile to give customers what they want, and what everyone knows is the right thing to do.

“We are very proud of this” says Ani, it’s been a lot of work and a great achievement which makes sense for our environment, community and our business, but ultimately its only part of giving our customers what they want, along with a commitment to safety, full traceability of all trips, a range of cost effective payment options and detailed reporting systems”.

They aren’t all too worried about the competition following in their green footsteps either, after all, “it’s satisfying to be an industry leader in something so important.”

Ani knew she was going to face scepticism when she embarked on this project, but overall has been amazed at the support. “It’s been embraced by so many people. I think in general people have realised that it’s a difficult thing for a company our size to do, and we’ve really had to make a stand.” Many of Combined’s drivers have gotten behind the initiative enthusiastically, whether through the promise of saving money through being fuel efficient, or in learning more to talk to their passengers about.

Warren Quirke is one of these drivers. He first became interested in carbon neutrality when he had to buy a new car and wasn’t impressed with the options available. He is an ex-mechanic and began the process to bring in more fuel efficient vehicles into the fleet.

He also has an idea which is possibly a world-first, and certainly a nationwide-first. He’s suggested that Wellington (and eventually other cities) should set some designated ‘green’ taxi ranks, where only certified low-emissions vehicles from carbon neutral companies, are allowed to pick up from. He argues that we should be careful not to affect the other operators within the city, but at the same time we should give people the clear choice at the stands. The idea is currently being investigated further, he is putting a proposal to the council, and has had some great feedback so far.

“We hear all this talk about 100% Pure,” says Warren, “so why not live up to it?” He proposes that the first one should be on Lambton Quay, between tourist destinations Kirkaldies & Staines and the Cablecar. “We could start with a portion of one or two stands as a trial, and go from there. Policing it would be the trickiest thing, but losing a passenger licence is a big threat to drivers, and the council owns the land the stands are on so it would be up to them to be tough on who parks there.”

So where to from now? Ani says the ‘green’ initiative certainly doesn’t end here. “It’s still a big focus for our company, it’s not just ‘oh we’ve got this certification now and that’s it’. We have been careful to avoid greenwashing, and will continue to do so.”

With three million passengers taking Wellington Combined Taxis a distance of 45,000kms every year it sounds like it’s a good thing the company are aware of their own footprint.

We would love to hear what you think about Warren’s idea. Would you like to see designated carbon neutral taxi ranks in Wellington? Email the editor at nadinei@in-business.co.nz with your thoughts.

Beverley Main had 11 years of sleep to catch up on when she started her sabbatical in mid May this year. The Chief Executive of the Human Resources Institute of New Zealand used her newly acquired spare time to talk about her life and career with Katie Foley.

Beverley Main lives, thinks and speaks fast. She is using the abrupt change in pace of her sabbatical to write a book. It is inspired by attending badly organised company conferences, the ones that seem carelessly thrown together without theme or cohesion. Now in the middle of her three months off, she has set up her laptop on a quaint little desk in a room with a view at her Mount Victoria house.

Beverley has an eclectic CV, she has owned and run small businesses from consulting to catering to construction, to being a part owner in a glass manufacturing company.

“I just get bored, but the thing that is consistent about what I have done is that I have worked around employment – unemployment, self employment and now large employment,” she says.

Beverley started a 12-month contract with HRINZ in 1998 and 11 years later, her sabbatical is the first attempt to loosen the apron strings. She hopes her absence will enable her second in charge to begin to take the reins and reduce the organisation’s dependence on her as a source of organisational knowledge. She says frankly that if there comes a time when she is not working full time or spearheading some kind of project, it will be because she is dead.

Those first few days of her three months off left her bored to tears and quietly jealous when her husband answered the question, “How was your day?”

But with the pressure now off she wonders how she ever fitted it all in.

“Doing long hours on a regular basis and running a home and doing everything else that you are supposed to do – it’s actually quite nice not having to be under that pressure,” she says.

A workaholic who was frequently still going at one or two in the morning, she already has her eye on several future projects. Like many of her generation Beverley, now in her 50s, is a graduate of the school of hard knocks. She says few young people these days take the path she did, nor would she recommend it.

“I fell in love with a boy, left school and had a baby very young. Not continuing my education is one of my regrets in life,” she says. She later began an MBA but stopped when it became clear her peers were in the classroom simply because they did not know what else to do.

“It just wasn’t that exciting or that demanding. It wasn’t going to take me to where I wanted to be,” she says.

Beverley was born in Napier, but moved to the Hutt Valley at 10and doesn’t hesitate to call herself a Wellingtonian. She comes from a highly entrepreneurial family on both sides, this has been very influential to the way she does business. Her son Aaron runs a successful IT company with his step father, Beverley’s husband Evan, and the company also employs Aaron’s wife. Beverley’s step son Michael is currently setting up his own business as part of the young enterprise scheme at school.

She says this independent and enterprising spirit meant she was not hindered by not having a university education.

“What I have lacked in education I have made up for in actually having ownership of things.”

Despite being the Chief Executive of the national body, what she enjoys most about her job is not the actual HR, but the bigger picture.

“What I like about working for the institute is that we can influence HR people who influence the workplace to actually do things differently – do it better.”

She is quick to point out that HR is not an easy path.

She says many who take it because of a desire to work with people will only have personal contact when there is a problem.

“You have to be prepared to do a job where you might not always be considered everyone’s friend in an organisation, you are often seen as the bearer of bad news,” she says.

It’s said that everyone has a novel inside them. Beverley has a guide to conference organisation.

It will be a how-to of good conference organisation, stressing the importance of attention to detail, theme, and cohesiveness.

“it’s hugely stressful and incredibly detailed driven, you have got to be a really good finisher.”

She says her conversations with the international speakers she brings in for her conferences have shown her that New Zealand is years ahead of the ball in terms of HR. “I don’t want to be smug and say New Zealand is leading the world because we certainly aren’t doing that. We are certainly about five to ten years ahead of the HR thinking in Australia and always have been.”

She says Kiwis tend to have more of an eye on the bigger picture.

“New Zealanders always have been much more up with the issues and in more of a position to be part of a senior management group of influencers rather than just doing the compliance stuff. I think a lot of Aussies are still stuck in the whole industrial relations model, the doing rather than the thinking”.

Beverley is a big thinker, she speaks fast and with real conviction and this coupled with an engaging manner makes her a champion networker. She says that her networks are probably what got her the job at HRINZ, they are what she will again be focusing upon her return to the office.

“What worries me is that I don’t put enough time into those networks and building new ones as well, when I come back the plan is that that is what I am going to focus on.”

]]> http://www.in-business.co.nz/three-months-off/feed/ 0 http://www.in-business.co.nz/the-decision-makers/ http://www.in-business.co.nz/the-decision-makers/#comments Wed, 06 May 2009 00:23:44 +0000 Andrew Gregory http://www.in-business.co.nz/?p=601

Situated in the creative Cuba quarter of Wellington, the office commands impressive views over the cafes and culture of Cuba Street. On our arrival coffee is offered and accepted. It proves to be the equal of any from the many cafes in the Quarter. “Caffeine is still the fuel that drives the IT industry,” claims Eamonn Kelly, playing up to the IT stereotypes in a light-hearted fashion. Beneath the humour lies an insight into Capella IT Consulting. The three directors have moved past the stereotypes they share a dynamic bond and outlook on business and consulting that sets them apart.

According to Julie Allison the three directors’ history together is a long one, “we worked for Team Comtex on the ACC account back in 1989, which was a benchmark client in the early IT industry for many people. We then contracted together and kept in touch over the years.” In 2001 Julie and Eamonn started Capella IT Consulting and later joined by the third director, Kerry Eade in 2003. With impressive combined experience, all three directors still have loads of enthusiasm for the IT industry.

What is most interesting is their unique partnership approach toward their services and customer relationships, a noticeable point of difference with Capella. Customers are referred to as ‘partners,’ and the three are focused on strategic relationship building that underpins an innovative new information management system they have created, based on a concept of information and ‘reporting fusion.’

Like many IT consultants they offer a range of services and products, but one in particular, Management Reporting System (MRS) is creating something of a buzz in government departments and the financial sector. Not wanting to give the game completely away, the Capella directors remain tight lipped on some of the organisations using MRS. But, one notable area of success has been with a major computer industry vendor, which has become a ‘strategic partner’ with Capella and uses MRS as reporting platform across their customer base.

The Capella directors agree that many organisations seem trapped in an ‘Excel culture’ of information management and share the same associated business problems. The 2008 Gartner Report describes these problems as is “when users extract data from internal systems, load it on to spreadsheets and perform their own calculations without sharing them companywide. The result of these multiple competing frames of reference is confusion and even risk from unmanaged and unsecured data held locally by individuals on their PCs”. According to Capella these are familiar problems for many organisations dealing with a high degree of information management, but ones that MRS solves.

MRS evolved from an earlier system designed to provide consistent and uniform reporting for the different projects they were engaged in. The system has grown into an integrated information management system being used by 23 New Zealand organisations, each one capable of generating over 1,500 reports daily. Some organisations are using the daily reporting capabilities as a means of monitoring the ‘health’ of the company and can quickly identify, focus and address the areas of the business that are not performing.

“It’s a tool that allows you to design, visualise, manage and deliver real-time reports via the web, it can combine multiple data sources into one report and publish these reports to anyone, anywhere, anytime. MRS sits on top of your systems as a presentation marker with a web interface, and builds those reports.” Eamonn says.

Kerry adds that, “historically there has been a period of waiting if you need a report. If you wanted a three monthly report you would make a request to the reporting people and they would say ‘okay here’s another reporting request,’ put it to the back of the queue and maybe two weeks later you get the information you were after. MRS allows you to run that report yourself and takes away the user frustration,” Kerry says.

Julie feels that by removing some of the human element through MRS, the information process becomes more streamlined, efficient and economical. In some instances organisations “would have one or two report writers engaged for three to four days, we found some were flying in contractors from overseas to do the report and get it out to customers. With MRS you can build the required reporting templates information and every month it will automatically produce a report. Essentially you regain and retain control over your knowledge without the expense.”

It’s still a changing business landscape, yet Capella remain excited about what MRS potentially means for redefining information management and are confident of its potential success with its benefits to businesses. In regards to the future, “the current economic climate means we need to stay focused on our core competencies, doing what we do best and making sure that our partners and customers see a return on their investment with us. So in real terms it’s business as usual but with more focus on working smarter, ensuring that we show our true value as a business partner to our customers”, says Eamonn.

With coffee and IT industry stereotypes aside, Capella leaves me with this final thought for businesses. It’s said knowledge is power and now more than ever, businesses need good information and reporting to make critical decisions. Businesses using systems with the ability to produce, analyse and distribute real-time information have a much needed competitive advantage.

It may sound like a true Wellington cliché, but it’s hard to escape the smell of roasted coffee when you work directly above a cafe. So it’s no surprise when coffee is the first thing RICHARD EDGE, Director of PlasticStudio wants to head out for when I visit him at his premises – above the Lido Café.

PlasticStudio is a creative company specialising in websites and branding, but that alone isn’t what sets it apart. Edge’s business philosophy is unique for taking the values and qualities of pure craftsmanship and placing them in a modern IT context. It’s less about taking in as much business as possible and pushing through an average mass-produced product. It’s more about, “making websites that people love. That is what we strive for within each project and is the measure of success,” claims Edge.

When he explains the creation of PlasticStudio, it sounds like the ‘big-bang’ theory of the bursting dotcom bubble. “I went to work for quite a big dotcom company working on flash projects, which was the new technology of the time. When the company went bust, it blew apart and split into five or six successful IT companies. And that’s pretty much where PlasticStudio started.”

PlasticStudio has around ten regular ‘bread and butter clients’ extending out to clients on a one off basis. Projects, are personally handled by Richard and contractors make up additional staff numbers on an ‘as needed’ basis, allowing PlasticStudio to stretch and adapt depending on the size of the project. According to Edge different projects require different skills “so if we need a gun-programmer, flash programmer, animator or illustrator in a certain area we bring them on board.”

Edge is happy to stay small, and in his opinion, “the bigger you grow the more likely you are to drop the ball and stop delivering the real value your client initially went with you for, such as an individual approach or losing the ‘hand crafted’ feel of the product. All that stuff goes out the door when you take on too many projects. So it’s no sweatshop here with people knocking stuff out, everything has a considered approach. We intend to stay specialised and on the innovative and creative side of things.”

“We don’t believe in a one size fits all approach,” to creating a website, instead PlasticStudio focuses on the clients requirements. In return the clients are “dealing directly with the people who are working on their projects, there’s not the big lunches out [which can be disappointing for some clients] nor a hierarchy of account managers to deal with,” he admits. According to Edge, “There’s a fear that all web developers babble technical jargon and don’t listen.” Edge appears to have foot in both worlds – talking ‘geek’ when needed and translating this into understandable terms to achieve a client’s needs.

“We’re pretty old fashioned in that sense, it’s not about the latest gadgets, it’s about the content and the message there-in.” PlasticStudio works with clients they feel have a good fit with their own work philosophy. Edge is certainly not an elitist, explaining that finding the ‘right business’ from a creative point of view is as simple as asking, ‘can we add value for them?’ He also maintains that content, not technology or software is the real value of what is created on a website.

Taking a unique view on building websites, Edge believes in open source philosophy instead of locking into expensive software. “As far a technology goes, there are a lot of software focused companies out there selling their latest gadgets upgrades and peddling mass produced products. But if you just tap into the open source market it’s already there, technology and software is at a point where it is the easiest part of the project. Your hardest decision should be what goes on your home page not what website package and software you have to choose to run it. When creating a website it’s important to remember essentially clients don’t care what is running your website, they’re there to get your message.”

From a business perspective Edge tells us websites are become more personalised. They are changing, from autonomous websites to ones where you know there is a person on the other end. ‘About Us’ is becoming a hugely popular section as more people become interested in finding out who are the faces and people behind a company. The ‘about us’ section is now getting as much traffic as some of the popular products section. He calls it the ‘end of the corporate curtain.’

“You now have social networks and people want to deal with individuals and build relationships. For example most CEO’s now have blogs where they talk about interesting things that shows they are passionate experts within their field. Ten years ago organisations hid their CEO’s away and sent occasional media releases about that person. It’s becoming a scenario of ‘these are the people involved and this is who you are talking to – It’s putting a human face to the organisation.”

Draining his short black, his final words are for businesses considering the ‘were to or what next’ for their websites is whatever you do, “now is a perfect time to increase the communication and connect back with your clients”. In the current economic climate, “you need to get back in front of them before your competitors do!”

Economists and jargon go hand in hand, and Dr Nana is no exception. He uses economics-speak, but at least in the next breath retracts it.

“We have got to have a strategy. Gosh, I hate that word: ‘strategy’ - a ‘strategy’, a ‘framework’, call it what you like.”

When we first meet he is politely distant, with that faint air of academia. But as conversation drifts towards economics and policy his passion is obvious – he is animated, vivid and engaging.

He believes economists knew about sustainability even before it was cool, that the skills shortage is a good sign, and that collectively New Zealanders have “locked ourselves into a high interest rate, low wage cul-de-sac.”

Dr Nana is a Wellingtonian born and bred, with his parents immigrating from India and establishing what he refers to as “the iconic kind” of corner dairy in Upper Hutt.

As a school leaver he lacked a definite ambition but “knew that I sort of liked numbers”. This affection for figures grew into a Victoria University economics doctorate and a long, successful career in research and economic modelling, both here and overseas.

His most recent incarnation is as the Chief Economist for BERL (Business and Economic Research Ltd), where he has been full time since 1998. His job is one he loves and one that he says without question he can still see himself doing in ten years time.

Like many native or adopted Wellingtonians, he holds a profound love for the city, he has lived and worked overseas but wonders aloud why you would ever leave.

“I went out for a run on Sunday, and you just wonder, why do you search for any other place, is there any other place in the world like this?”

Green may be the new black but Dr Nana maintains that economists knew about environmental friendliness all along. “Sustainability appears to have appeared on the horizon relatively recently. I think economists have known about sustainability for a long time – we call it investment.”

“If you don’t look after resources then those resources become unproductive. Any business with an unproductive resource goes out of business very fast.”

While economics in itself is a very theoretical art, Dr Nana despairs at economists and policy makers who become lost in the numbers and cannot see the real face of an economy: people, jobs and livelihoods. “It is a matter of taking the textbook away and looking out the window to see what is happening in the real world.

“The textbook for New Zealand is so different. We are a small open economy, very vulnerable to what is happening in the rest of the world. We need to set policies that are relevant to New Zealand.”

He disagrees fundamentally with certain aspects of our economic policy, which has been “set in Biblical stone for the past 20 years” and he is adamant that we have an obsession with controlling inflation. He believes it is a single-mindedness that is hampering our economic growth.

With inflation boundaries being the only economic target set in law in New Zealand, this “gives Inflation a higher status – I think, wrongly.”

He believes the inflation preoccupation is blinding the powers that be to the plight of exporters, and overshadows other equally important issues like the skills shortage, while also ensuring that we continue to live and work with low wages and high interest rates.

He is no longer impressed by the Reserve Bank’s ability to keep inflation within its bounds. “It’s easy to hit that target – they have been hitting it for so long but what about the collateral damage to exporters in the process?”

While he is dedicated, Dr Nana is not all work and no play. His children, aged 10 and 15 give him an opportunity to indulge his love of Cricket.

He speaks fondly of his time spent umpiring and scoring and sees it as an important part of every parents role in the community.

With his youngest about to head off to high school, I asked if perhaps he would become involved with the school in an economical capacity, but wisely he prefers to keep some work life balance.

“There are inevitably the discussions on the side lines at cricket games about the pros and cons of various economic and business issues.” But he says with a kind of weary optimism, “Saturdays and Sundays are supposed to be sacrosanct.”

Dr Nana has an intense pet hate for television news presenters who imply that “the little arrows going up and down” can be classified as either good or bad, as if economics is black and white.

“That is not economics, there is this notion that an arrow going up is good, it’s never as simple as that. What are those indicators doing for the real economy, for the production, the employment?

“To be honest, the fact that the arrow has gone up since yesterday hasn’t made any difference to the productive wealth of the economy.”

It can be slightly unnerving to the casual observer when economic commentators say conflicting things. Gareth Morgan, Rob Oram and Ganesh Nana are all highly qualified to be giving their personal opinions, but if everyone is looking at the same economy why is it that they can be poles apart?

By way of reassurance Dr Nana says the economical indicators we see on the news and in the daily papers tend to be short term and volatile: exchange rates, interest rates, house prices.

He tends to look at an economy from a primary level and when he does publicly comment he is putting those short term indicators into a more long term context. “It’s the concrete stuff whether its trees, meat and sheep, or whether its education services, health services, all those other things.”

“It’s about the short term versus the long term and do we ever get to the long term because here we are, worrying about these short term indicators?”

He sees an urgent need for real business, community and political leadership in New Zealand that are willing to take on the challenges.

We need leaders, he says, that will “tell it as it is and not pull the wool over our eyes, and say that we do these wonderful things and that we will be back in line with Australia next year. We are not going to catch up with Australia for a long time.”

Training and skills are two things he considers absolutely integral to the future of New Zealand business, but not in the way you would think.

“I actually consider a skills shortage a positive because that is a signal that we are continuing to grow, that businesses are searching for skills, and searching to improve their product. The moment we stop talking about a skills shortage is the signal that things are stopping.”

It is worrying to him that talk of the recession seems to have blotted out talk about the brain drain and the lack of availability of highly skilled workers. “We can’t ignore it, we need them.”

When Dr Nana is asked about his own personal – or BERL’s – ability to influence the government, he laughs heartily. “Without a doubt we are on the outer of the received wisdom in terms of the advice that goes forward from the Government from the officials.”

This, despite the fact that a report done by Treasury, which ranked 16 forecast providers on the accuracy of their GDP forecasts from 1996 to 2005, placed BERL as the top performer.

“BERL is on the outer and we openly know and admit that, but it doesn’t stop us saying what we believe to be correct for New Zealand.”

By Katie Foley