Personal file: Andy Blackburn

Full name: Andy James Blackburn.

Date of birth: 12/1/62.

Place of birth: Hamilton.


Family: Son Daniel, 4, from previous marriage, 50 per cent custody; recently engaged to children's bookseller Sarah Ensor.

Qualifications: Master of Business Administration in strategic marketing, Waikato University, 1996. All my other university was by correspondence while working full-time - various business, law and marketing papers.

What do you do? I manage the i2b - ideas to business - for Carter Holt Harvey.

My title is Ideas Accelerator. I work with a team, and we run an ideas competition through CHH where people can put in an idea for a new business and we run a programme where we screen the ideas.

It's truly amazing. Last year, we had 509 new business ideas from within our staff ...

We ended up choosing 50 of them and pulling the people off the shop floor into a business case workshop where we surrounded them with specialists to help them write business cases.

Now we are in the process of launching eight new businesses. This year we received 1534 ideas and are down to 50 at the moment.

Why do you do it?

I honest-to-God think this is the most exciting marketing operation in Australasia.

New Zealand as an economy needs 100 high-growth startups a year to blossom. This programme is starting five high-growth startups a year - that's got to have a major impact.

Why is what you do important?

It's vital for CHH's bottom line; it's inventing CHH's future. We have a sense it's vital for the Anzac economy.

What is the biggest challenge facing your organisation?

Picking the best technologies to back.

What annoys you about it?

Driving to Manukau from Birkenhead. It can take 35 minutes or 1 3/4 hours.

Describe your management style.

I've definitely got a sense of mission, and probably spontaneity and creativity ... I'm probably a bit loose about guidelines.

What books are you reading?

Children's books - I read to Daniel every day.

Name five of your computer bookmarks.

www.redherring.com, a United States entrepreneurial site. www.flyingstart.co.nz, a children's books site that Sarah, my fiancee, runs.
www.8.co.nz and www.thestreet.com, both venture capital sites.

A software and issues open forum chat site called www.edge.org

If there was one thing you could change about your life, what would it be?

I would have bought a bach 15 years ago.

What business deal would you most like to have done?

The startup of The Warehouse, probably New Zealand's most successful startup.

What lesson would you pass on to budding managers?

Have courage, confidence and calmness. If you're doing something you believe in, everything else follows.

Which management guru do you believe in?

This probably dates me, but the guy I really admire is Bob Geldof. He still stands out as an example of a guy who doesn't accept any limits.

Who is your business hero?

The Warehouse's Stephen Tindall. It's taken me years to appreciate what he's done.

He's so far ahead of the game in NZ, it makes me realise that the rest of us should be up there with him - there's no reason why people can't - and he's done an awful lot behind the scenes.

If you could change one aspect of NZ business, what would it be?

The culture and community to support startups, like being able to list easily on the new capital markets.

What annoys you most about living in Auckland?

The traffic.

How do you relax?

Spending time with Daniel. I love hanging out at the beach.

What is your biggest fear?

That one day I will forget it's my turn to pick up Daniel from daycare.

What are your top five values?

Optimism, enthusiasm, belief, integrity and courage - my credo that I try to live up to.