Baruch Ter Wal - What you see is what you get

Baruch Ter Wal is known for being a strategic thinker, but he's also a creative and practical person. Although he operates in the quintessential understated way, his confidence comes out when he talks about design and making it work hard for businesses. These days, when he's not working, you will catch him thinking, collaborating and 'being' with his team and his family.

No one engages a design agency these days for pretty pictures, especially in the current volatile markets. Baruch is Managing Director of Lee Ter Wal - a business-to-business design agency that works with the Icehouse and is the design partner for many innovative exporters.

Before founding Lee Ter Wal, Baruch worked as an Associate with McKinsey & Company and as General Manager of R&D within a Carter Holt Harvey business unit.

Hometown

I was born in Diemen, on the outskirts of Amsterdam, but was brought up in Tauranga (when it was a lot smaller than today).

Hobbies

I used to have hobbies. Then I had kids. Luckily language and psychology are two of my passions, and watching them develop in the minds of my 3-year-old and 1-year-old is endlessly fascinating and informative.

My Favourite Time of the day is:

My wife and I are constantly reminding each other to make "Now" our favourite time. When we get that right, everything goes smoothly. I wish we got it right more often.

I really enjoy...

Going for walks, whether in the Waitakares or around the block with my kids, looking for spider webs.

List a few of your recent accomplishments that you are proud of:

1. We reviewed our last 12 months work and, in almost all cases, were able to measure outcomes for our clients that dwarfed our fees.
2. We managed to codify some of our most significant IP (linking design principles to recent findings in cognitive psychology) and turn it into a digestible seminar which we are running at the moment
3. I got home before my kids went to bed every single night this year so far.

Did you celebrate them? How?

We don't celebrate enough - always onto the next thing. Then again, we take the team out to lunch every week, and always talk about outcomes.

I am busy at the moment doing:

Thinking about the right people to bring into the team, and whether this can be done partly though really tight partnerships. Network models for service delivery seem to be working so much better now than 7 years ago when we started. Not sure if it's a change in us, a generational or zeitgeist shift, or the ubiquity of broadband.

My big hairy audacious goal this year is to:

Grow the business by 50% while still getting home in time to play with the kids.

I knew I was onto something when:

I was reading a cognitive psychology textbook that was outlining recent research findings, and saying repeatedly: "I know that already."

My secret for getting things done is to:

Know and respect your own personality type - and that of your team. At Lee Ter Wal we're a little obsessed with Myers-Briggs/Keirsey profiles. In my case, I set myself deadlines, but I don't decree when and where I'll work on those things. When I'm in the mood to do a task, I do it five times quicker.

My darkest hour was when:

It looked as if my unborn child and wife had serious medical complications.

I came through it by:

Reminding ourselves that we wouldn't change places with anyone. The fact that things turned out to be fine probably helped, too.

What would do if you were not ...

That question is getting harder and harder for me to answer. I think I'd be a more active member of the social innovation movement here.

What do you do to cope with stress?

Meditation's a great start to the day. And I take a walk if things get antsy. Someone told me that stress is a fight or flight response, and not dong any exercise during the work day means that stress sort of congeals inside you. That's not a pretty picture.

What is the most important piece of advice you'd give to people who are struggling to create a positive change in their lives?

Figure out what you really want. Then organise your life around those things. It's simple. The hard part is figuring out what you want, and separating it from what you think you're supposed to want.

What is the hardest lesson you've had to learn in life?

Not to judge myself according to other's opinions of me. I think it's an ongoing lesson.
What separates successful people from unsuccessful people?

I think successful people know when to trust their gut. Sometimes your gut leads you wrong, but that trains your gut. If you don't go with your gut, you don't train it.

Do you have any school/study qualifications?

MA in philosophy; BA in mathematics and political science.

What are the three most important personal qualities you've had to develop to become business owner?

Understand the value of process (I love inventing, and that risks reinventing the wheel, or making things too ambiguous for my team). Steve jobs says that, at Apple, the system is that there is no system - but that they definitely have process.

What are the three most important skills that you would advise up and coming youngsters to develop?

* Learn to listen.
* Learn to filter.
* Learn to act, not just plan. All of those things are really re-learning - we did all of them naturally when we were kids.

Who inspires you the most and why?

My kids inspire me the most because they are so in the moment, and their reaction to the moment is usually to laugh.

Do you have a formal goal setting process?

We're putting that in place in this year. We rapidly reached all the informal goals we set for the business, so can't really be stretching ourselves.

Have you ever been scared to .........? What did you do about it?

I've been scared by lots of things. What I do is talk to people about what I'm scared by. That makes most of the fear go away. People don't think less of you when you talk to them about your faults or feels.

What comes first...success or confidence?

Everyone's different. How many insecure over achievers do you know. And secure under-achievers for that matter!

The Parting Shot:

Trust your gut.

* Dwayne Alexander, our goal guru, is founder of LiveMyGoals, the social network for goalgetters.