KEY POINTS:
Jonathan Ling
CEO Fletcher Building
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Something you wished you'd learned 20 years ago?
I can't even remember 20 years ago! I would have been 32. At that stage, I didn't know what I didn't know. There's something good about ignorance being bliss. I was very happy then and I didn't need to know any more than I did.
If you weren't CEO of Fletcher Building, what would you be?
Chief executive of [panel and benchtop maker] Laminex. [This was Ling's former job]. I loved the business. I loved that job. It was terrific, a good business, good market position and well respected within the community. They were terrific people and it was a fun place to be.
You couldn't live without?
My wife, Dianne.
Business books you like reading?
I generally have a view that [publishing business books] is a great business but business books complicate business. Business is a very simple process. However, when I was about to join Laminex, one of my friends said I should read Battle of the Titans [by Auckland writer Bruce Wallace telling of the rise and fall of Fletcher Challenge]. So I did.
