Personal file:Grant Stapleton

Name: Grant Stapleton.

Birth: Greymouth, August 24, 1958.

Family situation: Married, two daughters.


What do you do?

General manager, Bakers Delight New Zealand, a chain of retail bakeries.

We have 460 franchises in Australasia.

Why do you do it?

It's fun and it's a challenge.

Why is what you do important?

The products we sell are the staple of life.

We see our growth coming through helping people to satisfy their basic lifestyle needs.

What is the biggest challenge facing your organisation?

To sell more bread to more people. To get the right people into our business.

What excites you about it?

There's always a new challenge. The retail landscape is changing, and we consistently need to adapt our performance to how the game's being played.

What was your first career aspiration?

I saw myself as a lawyer. I liked the challenge.

How would you describe your management style?

Fun. I like to think of myself as an architect of an environment where people can achieve their best.

What has been your best moment in management?

I won a scholarship last year to attend a two-week Cornell University management programme.

It was a chance to meet 65 other retailers from all round the world and share ideas.

How do you describe your personality?

Open, friendly, demanding results.

What business deal would you most like to have done?

I would love to have been in on any deals where there was privatisation of state-owned assets.

Who is your favourite politician?

I'd like to say, for the fundamental business sense he makes, [Act leader] Richard Prebble, but he doesn't have credibility among his peers or their support. He is so dogmatic.

[Prime Minister] Helen Clark reads the mood of her audience and compromises sufficiently to get through what she wants to achieve.

What do you find most annoying?

Mediocrity. If people are here for the ride, they'd better ride with somebody else.

What lesson would you pass on to budding managers?

Tenacity. Be patient, but don't lose the opportunity by waiting.

Who is your business hero?

People like [British entrepreneur] Sir Richard Branson and Graeme Evans, an ex-chief executive officer of Woolworths.

Which management guru do you believe in?

The chap who wrote Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman.

Emotional intelligence as a tool for recruitment and management is underestimated.

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

Too many people are spending too much time looking at what the problems are, and not getting on and trying to create opportunities for themselves.

What annoys you most about living in Auckland?

The traffic.

How do you relax?

I spend as much time on the water as I can. I've sailed competitively in the past, and lived in the United States racing yachts semi-professionally.

What is your favourite city?

Auckland, but outside New Zealand, Dublin and Istanbul.

What is your biggest fear?

Failure in the personal goals I set myself.

Fear of failure drives many people, and I'm no different.

Had you not been a general manager, what would you like to have been?

A professional yachtsman.

Do you have a view about whether NZ should become a republic?

I don't think it should. I don't see the benefit fiscally or culturally to do that.

I see us staying as we are or becoming part of Australia.

I don't see any merit in going alone.

What's the key to managing stroppy staff?

Direction, leadership and time frames.