A music man in harmony with himself

Neil Richardson. Picture / Greg Bowker

Reading Neil Richardson's CV brings on the need for a lie-down.

The Hamilton-based Australian, 55, has had a foot in start-ups, academia, investment, governance, marketing, research and public policy - often all at the same time.

He's taking things a bit quieter these days because of glaucoma and arthritis - he's involved in only seven business, research and academic areas right now.

Most notably, the former chairman of AgResearch and the Foundation for Research Science and Technology (Forst) is chairman and a major investor in New Zealand's largest retail and wholesale optical company, Optical Holdings, and chairman and major shareholder in New Zealand Home Loans.

He is a director and foundation investor in Endace Technology and acting chairman and major investor in its sister company, Prolificx.

In his spare time he has been busy with the start-up of Containerscan, a joint venture based on "sniffer" technology developed by AgResearch and Canterbury scientists, and with the MBA programme at Waikato University's School of Management.

When he's not doing this, he's biking, wave boarding and supervising construction of his "dream" holiday home on the Coromandel Peninsula.

The multi-degreed Richardson, who moved to New Zealand nearly 16 years ago to be managing director of the electric fencing and perimeter security world leader Gallagher Group, says his diverse skills all add up to being a "change agent". However, in these less hectic days - he's drawn the line at working 20-hour days and jetting round the world - he's more inclined to label himself a "leader of progress".

"Progress is much harder to lead than change. You lead progress by being clear about a destination, developing strategy in the business model, delivering performance on a day-to-day basis."

Richardson was appointed to AgResearch in 1994 while still at Gallagher's to transform it into a commercial stand-alone Crown entity, and later to Forst, which invests about $400 million a year of government money in technology and innovation programmes, to change that organisation into an "investment-focused" government entity.

Richardson's career may be highly complex but he has some simple rules or "building blocks", as he calls them.

He says Australian actor Jack Thompson summed up his work philosophy neatly, when the actor responded to a question about how he picked a winning script.

"He said: 'Once I take the role, I believe it is going to be the best movie in history.' Once you take on any role you do it in the belief there is going to be a good outcome. Each situation is contextually different and unique, and the key issue is to understand the context and have a business model."

These days, he thinks of himself as an orchestra conductor.

"You've got to make sure the individual component is world class, so the percussion must play to the standard and the winds must play to the standard, and you've got to get them to all play in harmony.

"But the first thing you've got to do is make sure the standard is right, so you don't end up saying to the audience who have paid the money that 'we are a world class orchestra and I apologise to you that it sounded lousy because we are playing in a lousy environment'. That's not good enough. The environment is a starting point, and you work on it and change it. If the concert hall isn't good enough, you change it."

Richardson says managing is not his forte.

Of Optical Holdings managing director Graeme Edmond, a long-time colleague and former Auckland Health Board chief executive, he says: "Graeme is a far better manager than I will ever be."

Richardson says his job is "to help people run faster without becoming exhausted. A lot of people burn out because the environment and the people around them burn them out."

Edmond says Richardson is an "outstanding" strategic thinker and highly intelligent.

"He has his own leadership style and it's really around ideas. He's happier at the strategic level than being the one to make it happen. He sets the strategic framework and is custodian of that."

He says Richardson constantly challenges "intellectually and conceptually".

That challenging style is not always appreciated. His departure from Gallagher in 1996 was acrimonious. Gallagher senior executive Margaret Comer, speaking on behalf of chairman Bill Gallagher, recalls the relationship "was not a good fit in terms of values going forward for the business".

Richardson said he was headhunted by Gallagher to restructure the Hamilton-based business. Comer said he was not. "He was brought in to add value at board level as an independent director."

Comer said Richardson was good at introducing disciplines and challenging people and was quick to identify cost efficiencies.

Richardson says criticism is an "inevitable" consequence of being called into organisations to "fix" them. This means upsetting the leadership and the status quo which implies taking a strong involvement, which is "inevitably emotionally draining".

"That is one of the reasons I have decided to focus on companies I can grow, that I do not have to fix first. It is a far more enjoyable journey and I can focus on helping people succeed rather than having to first deal with people who have failed."

His new journey started in 1997. "I decided I'd made a lot of money and a lot of success for other people, and that financially I had more money than I needed. I would put my money where my mouth was and invest in things I had an interest in."

His plan to spend a third of his time in business activities like Endace and Optical Holdings, a third on board activities like Forst and a third in community work has not quite worked out. About 50 per cent of his time is now spent growing the businesses he has invested heavily in and the rest helping non-profit organisations and MBA students.

School of management dean Mike Pratt snapped up Richardson because he was that rare creature who combined business and academic experience "at high levels" and had expertise in management and governance. The school's governing principle is "research-led, practice-relevant".

Australia nearly reclaimed Richardson in the mid-90s after the fallout with Gallagher but his wife, Jan, also an Australian, did not want to go. She likes the Kiwi attitude and has strong friendships in Hamilton.

Does he like the Kiwi attitude?

"I love the attitude of New Zealanders but I think the attitude of business is not an international one. I had that impressed on me recently when in Sydney for a school reunion. One of my oldest friends is the CEO of a large investment bank and he said they were just about completing their pullout from New Zealand.

"He said 'whenever we do things in New Zealand, there's always a problem with something'."

Richardson is anxious this doesn't sound like a criticism.

"There are a huge number of things I like about New Zealand. New Zealanders are extremely innovative and have a wonderful balance of life. I like the integrity, the lack of corruptness and exploitation, but I think we can do a better job of meeting international standards and benchmarks."

New Zealand has a number of constraints on business - size, capability, distance both geographical and in understanding overseas markets, he says.

But it has fewer constraints than other countries where he has worked, such as the US and Britain.

"To overcome those constraints and be a First World country in an ideas economy, we have to be able to see and eliminate future constraints faster than other countries."

Neil Richardson

Australian

Masters degree - commerce.

Juris doctor degree (US) - business and trade-practices law.

Former: chairman of AgResearch and Foundation for Research Science and Technology; Norris Ward McKinnon lawyers; managing director Gallagher Group.

Now: chairman and major investor at Endace Technologies, NZ Home Loans, Prolificx, Optical Holdings.

Professor - School of Management, University of Waikato.

Home - Hamilton.