KEY POINTS:
Departing Westpac chief executive Ann Sherry - who earned more than $3 million last year - is so passionate for the little things in business that she has even worked as a night cleaner of the bank's ATM on Ponsonby Rd.
Companies need to harness that passion to create more sustainable businesses, Sherry said in her farewell speech to Westpac clients and partners yesterday in Auckland.
Sherry, who came to the job from Australia four years ago, was walking near her home in St Marys Bay one night when she found the dirty ATM and resolved to clean it whenever she passed that way, helped by her husband, who carried the Spray And Wipe in his back pocket.
A stunned staff member spotted her, word spread, and her action inspired other staff .
Sherry - who in her trademark brassy fashion ditched her written speech notes - said no business could survive if the community rejected it. And communities cared about and invested in sustainable businesses.
"Investors such as pension funds out of the US are looking for that accountability.
"Money is following organisations who they think are ethical and sustainable."
Since Sherry came on board, Westpac has developed a zero waste policy and produces an annual document about its ethical practices and community involvement - which other companies have copied.
Sherry, dressed in a pinstripe suit with bright red fingernails and lipstick, said she had loved being in New Zealand.
"It is a business culture that is quite personal; it is easy to get to people because it is small."
She liked the fact that small companies were at the heart of the economy. "There is an energy about that, that I don't think we understand ... collectively it is an energy that most economies would die for."
Sherry said she had run "the ultimate people business" of 5000 staff with 1.3 million customers.
"We do the most personal business you can do, we talk to people about their money, about their financial situation. We know more about those customers then often their partners or family know about them."
In the past, Westpac had got caught up in the paradigm of arrogance with bold statements such as "the branch is dead" and "all customers will be on the internet in 10 years' time" - great truisms, most of which proved to be completely wrong, she said.
One of her mandates was giving people context about what the business meant. "People like doing business with other people for reasons that are completely irrational. They want to look into people's eye when they sign a document for the biggest debt in their lives, their house."
Westpac found recently it had been losing customers over 55 years of age because they felt unwanted by the bank.
So at Christmas Sherry signed and sent a card to every customer aged over 55. She said she got an overwhelming response from people who wrote emotional letters telling her what the card had meant to them.
"Often when you feel like something is the right thing to do, instead of analysing it just do it."
Sherry leaves next month and plans to return to Westpac in Australia.
